A $25,000 grant from the Gannett Foundation’s A Community Thrives initiative is the final piece of funding My Cup of Tea needed to build four affordable single-family houses in Orange Mound.
“It was a game changer, in terms of being able to see this come to fruition,” said Mike Carpenter, My Cup of Tea director of marketing and development. “Rather than just be an idea, or a big dream, it put the final pieces of the puzzle together.”
A Community Thrives is a grantmaking and crowd-funding program from the USA TODAY NETWORK and is part of the Gannett Foundation. Supporting non-profit organizations with projects focused on community building, A Community Thrives has contribute more than $26 million since 2017. In total, Memphis area organizations received $100,000 in 2022, the largest combined total of grants of any of the cities that received A Community Thrives grants.
My Cup of Tea is one of five Memphis area nonprofits to be awarded a Community Thrives grant. The other recipients are: The Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis, which also received $25,000; the Memphis Library Foundation ($25,000; Hope House Day Care Center ($15,000) and Rising Together Foundation ($10,000).
In Tennessee, grants from A Community Thrives totaled $200,000 to 16 non-profits, including the five Memphis grants.
“Congratulations to this year’s A Community Thrives recipients,” Michael Reed, chairman of the Gannett Foundation and Gannett CEO, said in statement. “The Gannett Foundation is honored to support these vital organizations that work tirelessly to empower their communities to thrive.”
My Cup of Tea offers job training and employment opportunities through a tea line. Everyday, women gather to package and distribute the line of more than 65 different tea blends and products My Cup of Tea offers. Each participant also receives training in such areas as computer literacy, child-rearing education, GED training, job readiness, cooking, sewing and gardening.
But the grant money going to My Cup of Tea won’t be going directly into the tea business. My Cup of Tea partnered with United Housing to build the four single-family homes in Orange Mound, each of which will be rent-to-own. Anyone in the community will have a chance to apply for them once they are built.
“Our mission is about helping women in the community escape poverty, but it’s also about investing in the community and trying to do our part to be an anchor in the community and trying to revitalize Orange Mound that once was a thriving middle class community,” Carpenter said. “We think this is an extension of our mission and just another investment in the community. If the community’s thriving then My Cup of Tea is going to thrive and women who work there are going to thrive and it’s going to be mutually beneficial.”
The Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis is a group of pastors and other church leaders focused on civic engagement, economic empowerment and criminal justice reform. This is the second year the Collaborative has received A Community Thrives grant. Last year, the Collaborative’s $10,000 grant was used to help develop community gardens that can supply neighborhood farmers markets.
“We hope that by hosting [open air markets] and growing our own produce that one, we will respond to food insecurity and food deserts, but also bigger than that, we talk about economic empowerment- healthcare costs are of critical importance to low income communities and communities that are faced with health disparities,” said the Rev. J. Lawrence Turner, founder and president of the Black Clergy Collaborative. “And we also know that one’s diet plays a major role in the economy of one’s health. And so we hope that by providing this locally grown produce and making it available in communities that desperately need it that we’ll be able to begin to turn to the tide around African-American health outcomes.”
The grant money this year will help the Collaborative continue to build the project.
“It’s huge,” Turner said. “One, in allowing us to continue the project in the first place. Number two, it’s big for us that we’ll be able to do more for our community and touch hopefully more lives,” said Turner, who is also senior pastor of Mississippi Blvd. Christian Church. “Receiving this grant means a lot and this is an area that’s often times overlooked but it’s going to allow us to concentrate with funding in the communities that really need it and give the help to the people who desperately need it.”
Now in its sixth year, A Community Thrives seeks to help improve lives in local communities by awarding grants to significant causes, said Mark Russell, executive editor of The Commercial Appeal.
“In Memphis, the $100,000 awarded to five non-profits represents the biggest donation to a single market where Gannett operates newsrooms,” Russell added. “We are proud to support organizations that are making a positive difference in Memphis.”
For the full list of grant recipients, go to www.gannettfoundation.org/act.
Gina Butkovich covers DeSoto County, storytelling and general news. She can be reached at gina.butkovich@commercialappeal.com
