Programs

As a privately-funded catalyst focused on enriching and impacting the community, cityCURRENT underwrites and hosts more than 150 events each year. We host a variety of workshops, seminars, receptions, luncheons, social mixers, golf scrambles, and large Signature Breakfast Series events with nationally recognized guest speakers. We organize a number of specialized lunches and events, such as weekly executive lunches, Referral Rectangles, CFO and CMO lunches, Women in Business & Philanthropy Lunches, and Professional Connection Lunches with the University of Memphis, where business professionals are mixed with students for moderated discussions about leadership, career development, personal branding, and more. 

The Signature Breakfast is one of the most recognizable series of events hosted by cityCURRENT. The events feature a national guest speaker and we hold eight (8) per year with an average attendance of more than 400 prominent business and community leaders. They're known to be the largest regular gathering of decision makers in the Mid-South. The goal is to provide a fast-paced, information-packed morning filled with valuable content and positive news and to bring a cross-section of leaders from all sides of our city - business, nonprofit, education, faith, and government - together to foster teamwork and collaboration.

cityCURRENT also coordinates and hosts volunteer days, nonprofit tours, school tours, fundraising events, Cultural Connections, nonprofit board training events, and more. In essence, every event has an element of philanthropy associated, so that it's woven into everything we do. 

cityCURRENT also produces and hosts a variety of broadcast media that serves to promote positive news and efforts, and increase engagement, as well. Our cityCURRENT Radio Show is pre-recorded each Tuesday morning and then airs Sunday from 7-8 AM across all four of Cumulus Media Memphis' radio stations, Kix 106, 98.1 The Max, 98.9 The Bridge, and 103.5 WRBO. Our television show, The SPARK, airs on PBS' WKNO/Channel 10 the third Friday of each month at 7:30 PM. Our annual televised awards show, The SPARK Awards, also airs on WKNO and is broadcast around the holidays. We have a ChangeMakers podcast that's produced monthly, along with a weekly "Giving Back" column in The Commercial Appeal, which is published each Sunday and authored by cityCURRENT CEO, Jeremy C. Park. Park also contributes to Forbes and has written two books, Giving Back with Purpose and Giving for Growth, which both share advice for achieving success in life and business in a way that helps and benefits others in the process. Then, we also hire freelance journalists to cover even more positive stories under the banner of GOODworks. 

So, a typical year will include our 8 Signature Breakfast Series events featuring national guest speakers, along with workshops and seminars, executive and Professional Connection Lunches, volunteer days and tons of other events. Also included in the count are the broadcast media shows that we produce and host, like the radio show and television show, since we coordinate all aspects from booking the guests and getting the prep materials to hosting the shows and even post production, as well. In fact, we view every event we host as a full production because we want for you to walk away saying the experience was meaningful and impactful!

Example of a Typical Year

52   cityCURRENT Radio Show Tapings

40   Executive Lunches

24   Lunch n’ Learns/Seminars/Workshops/BIG for Memphis Meetings

12   Tapings of our TV show, The SPARK

8     Signature Breakfast Series Events

8     Receptions

6     Professional Connection Lunches with the UofM LEAD program

5     Women in Business & Philanthropy Lunches

4     Nonprofit Tours

4     Social Mixers, Happy Hour Mixers, and Annual Holiday Celebration

4     Give Back Afternoons

4     Referral Rectangles

3     Give Back Lunches

2     Samaritan's Feet Shoe Distributions

1     McKellar Lake Cleanup

1     Annual Golf Scramble

1     Taping of The SPARK Awards (Special event taped for television broadcast)

1     End of Year Luncheon

180  Total Events