Slingshot Memphis and MDRC announce partnership to improve anti-poverty programs


MEMPHIS, Tenn., July 31, 2020 – Slingshot Memphis and MDRC today announce a collaborative, working partnership in Memphis, Tennessee — the first of its kind in the region. MDRC and Slingshot are working toward several goals, including enhancing Slingshot’s impact measurement tools and methodology, furthering a strategy to better align the work of multiple stakeholders intended to reduce poverty in Memphis, and co-publishing information about these efforts.

“Slingshot strives to assess, support and fund its partners with the utmost objectivity, and we are continually refining our evidence-based approach,” says Slingshot CEO Justin Miller. “MDRC is providing in-depth technical assistance and expanding our capacity to assess a growing portfolio of nonprofit partner organizations in the most cost-effective and precise manner possible.”

By working alongside Slingshot through this world-class partnership, MDRC will uncover actionable intelligence around community-based poverty interventions. This intelligence will bolster Slingshot’s mission of developing a results-driven poverty-fighting ecosystem – simultaneously strengthening Memphis’ poverty fighters and funding community. Enhancing the fight against poverty on both fronts ultimately creates a better quality of life for under-resourced Memphians.

“MDRC understands Memphis’ ‘untapped opportunities’ as it relates to estimating impact and directing resources – financial and otherwise – toward solutions with the greatest impact,” Miller said. “Solidifying a partnership with MDRC is the definition of being more bold and strategic. To reduce poverty in Memphis, we must target and establish best in class partnerships.”

Founded in 1974 (as the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation), MDRC is best known for mounting large-scale demonstrations and evaluations of real-world policies and programs addressing the needs of under-resourced communities; it also provides programmatic technical assistance, data and measurement support, and implementation research targeted at helping organizations improve. Founded in 2016, Slingshot Memphis aims to create a demonstrable reduction in poverty by promoting a results-driven poverty-fighting ecosystem.

About Slingshot Memphis:

Slingshot Memphis aims to create a demonstrable reduction in poverty by promoting a results-driven poverty-fighting ecosystem. Its proprietary assessment process estimates the poverty-fighting impact of its nonprofit partners – celebrating what works while uncovering opportunities to further enhance their impact. Slingshot’s evidence-based platform attracts and directs resources – financial and otherwise – toward solutions with the greatest impact. To learn more about Slingshot, visit http://www.slingshotmemphis.org/.

About MDRC:

MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, is committed to finding solutions to some of the most difficult problems facing the nation — from reducing poverty and bolstering economic self-sufficiency to improving public education and college graduation rates. MDRC designs promising new interventions, evaluates existing programs using the highest research standards, and provides technical assistance to build better programs and deliver effective interventions at scale. To learn more about MDRC, visit www.mdrc.org.


MEDIA CONTACT: Justin Miller, justin.miller@slingshotmemphis.org (901-340-2212)

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