Memphis, TN–Young, Gifted & Green (YGG) is proud to celebrate a significant win for voters in Memphis and Shelby County just day before the nation’s 250th anniversary. On June 29, 2026, the Shelby County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to pass the “Resolution urging the Shelby County Election Commission to disseminate updated Congressional District information to Ensure the Education of Shelby County Voters on changes to Congressional Districting across Tennessee.”

This resolution comes in direct response to the recent and sweeping redistricting across West Tennessee, which threatened to leave residents of Tennessee’s largest county without adequate notice of their new voting districts. YGG and our partners organized to make sure that would not happen.

Richard Massey, lead youth organizer for this campaign and a recent University of Memphis graduate, reflected on the victory. Community members stepped up when state officials sought to silence them. “Memphis and Shelby County deserves representation and adequate notice of their new voting districts. I’m proud to have stood by residents and advocates who fought back successfully against the State in their efforts to confuse and muzzle voters in Tennessee’s largest county and second largest city.”

While this resolution is an important step forward, our work is not finished. The strategies currently presented by the Shelby County Election Commission are still not robust enough to reach all impacted constituents. We have, however, observed voter information mailers going out as of this week, an encouraging sign of movement in the right direction.

To keep that momentum going, YGG has launched a community survey to learn directly from fellow constituents about the ways they believe voters can best be educated on these changes. We will use those insights to push the Election Commission to improve and modernize its outreach efforts and to take full advantage of the state’s reimbursable funding available for this work. Community members, leaders, and aligned organizations can access YGG’s Social Media Kit to help spread the word on the new survey.

We are grateful to Commissioners Erika Sugarmon and Henri Brooks, who have been vocal and steadfast supporters in pushing the Election Commission to do right by Shelby County voters.

YGG will continue to stand with the residents of Memphis and Shelby County until every voter has the information and access they deserve.

About Young, Gifted & Green

Young, Gifted & Green (YGG) is a national environmental justice and civil rights organization with the purpose of bringing like-minded organizations together to collectively take action and advocate against the crisis of lead exposure and environmental injustices in disadvantaged communities.