Cleaning Up Our Block: Youth-Led Community Blight Removal in Memphis, Tennessee

Project Summary

12 homeschool students ages 4–18 at Micaiah’s Gaming Mansion in Memphis, TN explored air quality, water access, and neighborhood blight through hands-on, accessible learning — including a water tasting, recycling education, and a community cleanup field trip — with intentional adaptations for students who are blind or have dyslexia.

Detailed Story

ShaRae Hicks runs a homeschool program called Micaiah’s Gaming Mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, where 12 students ages four through eighteen are learning about climate and environment through lived experience. The group tackled three interconnected environmental topics: air quality, water access, and waste and recycling. Students with lived experience of asthma described firsthand what poor air quality means for Southern communities dealing with pollution. To make the learning accessible to all students — including those who are blind or have dyslexia — ShaRae incorporated braille and multi-sensory approaches to topics like waste sorting and recycling, helping students identify which household containers are used for recycling and what actually belongs in the bin. Elementary-age students held a water tasting party comparing bottled water, tap water, rice water, and coconut water, with parental consent and allergy reviews in place. Older students assessed blight in their neighborhood and took community service field trips to clean up their surroundings, equipped with materials and a focus on safety. The photos submitted document overgrown lots and fallen trees — the real conditions these young people identified and worked to address. Students responded enthusiastically to the hands-on, outdoor format, and many expressed pride in finally having a space where they could be recognized as capable, contributing community members. A Cognitive Shift Analysis captured the depth of student learning: students moved from “plastic just goes in the trash” to understanding microplastics’ harm to wildlife; from “old clothes are useless” to seeing materials as candidates for upcycling; and from “science is just facts in a book” to thinking like engineers solving local problems.

Impact Statement

12 students — including learners who are blind and those with dyslexia — took real action in their Memphis neighborhood, from water quality exploration to hands-on blight cleanup, while building environmental literacy through accessible, multi-sensory learning. Students reported feeling proud and capable for the first time in an educational setting.