Anna McQuiston is Toppling Barriers to Collaboration in the MidSouth

One of my favorite stories is I, the mayor of Southaven, Mississippi, which is a booming area in our region right now, said to us one time, "You know, this regional thing is sort of like a family Christmas gift that, you know, every year for Christmas everybody in your family, you know, has the list of, you know, I want this book, I want this game, this sweater," whatever it is.

He said, "But sometimes you say, 'You know what? We're all gonna take a little bit less as a, of our individual gifts, because this year we also want a big screen TV that the whole family's gonna benefit from, and we're gonna put it in the den so everybody has access to it.'" And that's sort of what this regionalism is like as well, too.

[upbeat music] Welcome to Pathbreakers, a podcast from The Kresge Foundation.

On each episode, we explore who has the power to shape a city.

We're talking with change-makers and city leaders who are tackling big problems in unexpected ways.

We'll learn more about the pathbreaking work that they do, get into the nitty-gritty of how they get it done, and get some lessons from their playbook that you can implement in your own city.

Hi, I'm Tracy Pearson.

I work on the communications team at The Kresge Foundation.

And I'm Tracy's co-host, Jamie Bennett.

I work at the intersection of arts, culture, and equitable community development.

This is episode four of our Memphis City series.

And in Memphis, we've been looking at what it takes to create conditions for long-term family stability, what it takes to create a place where families can really thrive for generations.

And up till now, we've been focusing on the city itself.

But like all cities, Memphis is not an island.

It sits in a state.

It sits in a region.

And on this episode, we wanna zoom up to that regional level.

One of my favorite stories is I, the mayor of Southaven, Mississippi, which is a booming area in our region right now, said to us one time, "You know, this regional thing is sort of like a family Christmas gift that, you know, every year for Christmas everybody in your family, you know, has the list of, you know, I want this book, I want this game, this sweater," whatever it is.

He said, "But sometimes you say, 'You know what? We're all gonna take a little bit less as a, of our individual gifts, because this year we also want a big screen TV that the whole family's gonna benefit from, and we're gonna put it in the den so everybody has access to it.'" And that's sort of what this regionalism is like as well, too.

[upbeat music] Welcome to Pathbreakers, a podcast from The Kresge Foundation.

On each episode, we explore who has the power to shape a city.

We're talking with change-makers and city leaders who are tackling big problems in unexpected ways.

We'll learn more about the pathbreaking work that they do, get into the nitty-gritty of how they get it done, and get some lessons from their playbook that you can implement in your own city.

Hi, I'm Tracy Pearson.

I work on the communications team at The Kresge Foundation.

And I'm Tracy's co-host, Jamie Bennett.

I work at the intersection of arts, culture, and equitable community development.

This is episode four of our Memphis City series.

And in Memphis, we've been looking at what it takes to create conditions for long-term family stability, what it takes to create a place where families can really thrive for generations.

And up till now, we've been focusing on the city itself.

But like all cities, Memphis is not an island.

It sits in a state.

It sits in a region.

And on this episode, we wanna zoom up to that regional level.