There are 11 article(s) tagged First 8 Memphis:

• August 2025

  • Universal pre-K in Memphis navigates Head Start shakeup

    As Porter-Leath works to enroll thousands more prekindergarten students, early-childhood education organization First 8 Memphis is continuing efforts toward free, quality classrooms for kids.

    By Laura Testino August 26, 2025

• June 2025

  • Excess xAI tax revenue could be earmarked for Memphis pre-K

    The council also talks Tuesday, June 24, about an MPD plan to install license plate readers along the city’s rights of way of state highways as a crime-fighting measure.

    By Bill Dries June 24, 2025

• April 2025

  • ‘First Eight’ prekindergarten program expansion clears County Commission

    The Shelby County Commission approved unanimously an expansion of universal prekindergarten services.

    By Bill Dries April 14, 2025

• April 2021

  • Opinion: Teacher’s Discipline Act sets schools up for failure

    The “School to Prison Bill” prioritizes punishment over care for vulnerable and disadvantaged students.

    By Kandace Thomas April 13, 2021

• February 2020

  • First 8 hires leader for early childhood education efforts in Memphis

    Kandace Thomas, who was with the Irving Harris Foundation in Chicago for the last 13 years, will start work April 1 at the Memphis organization that oversees funding for early education initiatives.

    By Jacinthia Jones February 22, 2020

• November 2019

  • First 8 Memphis plans to serve 30,000 children and their families by 2025

    First 8 Memphis was formed earlier this year to financially support and advocate for more early childhood programming in Shelby County. 

    By Omer Yusuf November 15, 2019

• September 2019

  • 13 people will shape Shelby County’s vision on early childhood education

    The goal of First 8 Memphis is to bring together enough money to pay for pre-K for any child in Memphis who wants to attend, especially children in low-income neighborhoods.

    By Caroline Bauman September 26, 2019

  • Memphis coordinates preschool funding to boost quality

    A joint commitment to fund early education and prekindergarten services, including money for the first time from the city of Memphis, seeks to save thousands of prekindergarten seats that were in jeopardy when federal funding ended June 30.

    By Jacinthia Jones September 13, 2019

  • New early childhood nonprofit First 8 Memphis hires first director

    Longtime United Way of Mid-South executive Regina Walker was named executive director of First 8 Memphis. 

    By Omer Yusuf September 12, 2019

  • Pre-K advocacy group First 8 Memphis holds first public meeting

    The First 8 Memphis board discussed the early stages of its pre-k program and moved forward on a search for a permanent executive director. 

    By Omer Yusuf September 12, 2019

• June 2019

  • Now is the time to invest in early childhood

    Local data from pre-K this year shows the effectiveness of high-quality early childhood programs. Eighty-five percent of the 7,800 children who attended finished the year "ready for kindergarten," and more likely to read on grade level in third grade. 

    By Kathy Buckman Gibson June 20, 2019