Committee cuts millions in funding for Mid-South organizations | News
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Tennessee lawmakers are proposing cutting millions of dollars in funding for several organizations in the governor’s proposed 2025-2026 budget, including a dozen groups in Memphis that help children, the unhoused, and fight crime.
Included on that list was Stax Music Academy, which is celebrating twenty-five years in South Memphis, and had asked the state for $500,000. President and CEO Pat Mitchell Worley said the money would have helped pay for some operational items, including scholarships.
Mitchell said about eighty percent of the 125 students at the academy rely on scholarships, including seniors Zipporah Israel and Pasley Thompson. They said Stax Music Academy has been life-changing for them, and they hate to hear about the possibility of losing any money for the program.
“Stax literally came in and changed my life, genuinely,” Thompson said. “Because the people I have met over the past few years have been some of the best people, the music I have been able to create and write and the things I’ve learned.”
“If I had not found this place, I do not know what I would be doing with my life. I know I’m a talented person, like, I know I have a creative passion, but I would have nowhere to put it,” Israel said. “This place is literally like the real world in one building, like it shows the ins-and-outs of the music business, marketing.”
Among the other organizations on the chopping block for state funding: Man-Up Teacher Fellowship, Hope Works, Memphis Allies, and Africa in April, which is set to happen over the weekend.
Africa in April founder David L. Acey said the group was asking for $50,000, half of its budget. “It’s going to really hurt us. Fifty percent of the budget will cut us way back,” Acey said. “It’s really detrimental to Memphis, not only to Africa in April culture. It’s so important in the arts, period.”
Memphis representative Antonio Parkinson said the cuts are disappointing, but he hopes they encourage private donations to help fund the important work the organizations provide. “Keep trying, you know, if you don’t get it this year, try again next year,” Parkinson said. “Money from the federal government, money from the state government, it seems to be getting smaller and smaller. But those people, they’re providing the things that improve people’s quality of life.”
The budget could pass on the House and Senate floors as early as Wednesday.
