About Project MI 

The United States is number one in the world for incarcerating its citizens and Memphis has the sixth highest incarceration rate in the country. Project MI is a collective of volunteer citizens, educators, students, academics, and social organizations joined by the mutual mission of ending mass incarceration and connecting impacted communities to law makers. Project MI is not a non-profit or for-profit corporation, but merely a collective of inclusive socially engaged and concerned citizens. We are an ethnically, economically, and educationally diverse group of individuals of various ages, political affiliations and religions. 
Given the many problems suffered by communities of color in Memphis, including poverty and educational access, it is Project MI’s position that a cultural shift must occur in tandem to the reforms we seek to effectively address mass incarceration. 

The 2018 Youth Activism & Leadership Summit will invite 200 youth and youth advocates from across Shelby County to participate in a full-day of energetic and engaging speakers and workshops that will raise awareness about the school-to-prison pipeline, restorative justice, and mass incarceration. The summit will also ask youth leaders from all segments of the Memphis community to participate in the development of youth justice involvement intervention strategies.