The Greater Memphis Chamber and Ford will be partnering to bring the car company’s City:One mobility innovation competition to West Tennessee, providing funding to help explore community-developed ideas for how to solve regional transportation challenges.

A two-year challenge, Ford will provide grant funding and expert advice to people who come up with the best ideas on how to solve mobility challenges in West Tennessee. The challenge was announced Tuesday during the chamber’s annual chairman’s lunch.

“The mobility solutions that we're looking at here are going to be about connecting urban and rural communities through sustainable, electrified transportation,” said Jack Gray, co-founder and team lead of City:One for Ford Motor Company.

This is the ninth time Ford has run this challenge program. According to Ford’s website, the challenges “are designed to address systemic mobility inequities while informing the future of safe, sustainable, accessible, and equitable solutions.”

Essentially, it’s meant to connect residents who see a transportation need in their community to funding to get solutions off the ground. Previous winners have included a mobility hub developed by a group of high school students in Detroit, streamlined pick-up and drop-off solutions to reduce traffic around schools in Miami and wayfinding technology for people with cognitive disabilities.

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Some of the projects have gone on to win additional funding from state and federal government agencies.

Chamber president and CEO Ted Townsend said one of the most frequent questions asked since the announcement of the $5.6 billion BlueOval City project, was how can Memphis take full advantage of its proximity to the electric vehicle and battery manufacturing plant.

Solving transportation issues is one way, said Townsend, who took the helm of the organization Tuesday. He said the chamber and Ford wanted to hear every and any idea Memphians had about how to fix mobility challenges around them.

“Dare to be audacious. Because we are in a bold time of revolutionary technology advancement. And we know that there are some incredible ideas out there that can bridge that divide between rural and urban,” he said. “We want to collect all of the ideas and to shepherd them and provide resources and support and the basic scaffolding so that they can see that dream or technology or idea come to life.”

Gray said anyone, regardless of age or business experience, can submit a proposal. Details on how and when to do so, and how much grant funding will be available, will be announced at a later date, he said.

Recognizing Beverly Robertson’s legacy

The annual luncheon was also a chance to honor Beverly Robertson, who this week stepped down as president and CEO of the chamber. FedEx Express President and CEO Richard Smith called her “a dynamo” and praised her work guiding the organization through the aftermath of the death of Phil Trenary, the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

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“Just know that you are leaving behind a legacy here at the chamber as a trailblazer, the first Black or female CEO,” Smith said. “You’ve contributed to your even greater legacy here in Memphis.”

Her husband, Howard Robertson, joked that the National Civil Rights Museum and later the chamber lured her away from Trust Marketing, the business they built together, with hypnosis and warned others not to try to lure his business and life partner away again ― though he acknowledged he understands why they would want to.

“She’s fierce, she’s fearless, she’s a change agent,” he said. “She’s absolutely the one you want to be in the foxhole with.”

Howard Robertson also held his wife up as an example of the many successes that can come from opening up positions to diverse candidates.

“If you’re looking to hire people who look like us… just because they haven’t done the job, doesn’t mean they can’t do the job,” he said.

Beverly Robertson said she will never forget the opportunity she had to run the chamber.

She also took a moment to remember what she considered some of the biggest achievements of her tenure and the past year. Robertson spoke about the deal to bring a Ford plant to West Tennessee, launching a campaign to get a third bridge across the Mississippi River and setting up job training centers in some of Memphis’ most underserved neighborhoods.

The highlights of 2022 also included drawing a USFL franchise to the city, chamber board chairman Doug Browne said.

Corinne S Kennedy covers economic development, real estate and healthcare for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached via email at Corinne.Kennedy@CommercialAppeal.com

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Ford to bring City:One mobility challenge to Memphis: How it works