Memphis Flyer: Whole Child Strategies partner, Innovate Memphis, Launches Rides to Resources Program

By: Kailynn Johnson

Innovate Memphis is offering a new phone service targeted towards older adults and people with disabilities in Shelby County. The Rides to Resources program will provide these individuals with “reliable transportation options to get to their destinations,” with no mobile app required.

Innovate Memphis says the program can be used for activities “related directly to essential health care and social determinants of health (SDOH)-related services.” The Office of Disease Prevention and Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines these as the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks.

“We continue to ask ourselves and our nonprofit partners an important question: How can we keep Memphis seniors moving?” said Innovate Memphis executive director Jessica Lotz. “Rides to Resource will increase accessibility to a variety of basic needs beyond primary and urgent health care. Aging adults are encouraged to use this free, reliable service to get them where they need to go — safely and on time.”

For this service, eligible destinations are behavioral health appointments, case management sessions (medical or non-medical) and food access points.

Courtney McNeal is the city innovation director and chief of staff for Innovate Memphis. The 901RideChoice program was launched in 2019 as a free phone service for the aging population and people dealing with disabilities to connect them to reliable transportation options within the city. It was initially presented as a way to address non-emergency rides.

901RideChoice is a phone service program that connects older adults with a variety of transportation options and is funded by the Memphis Area Transit Authority and the City of Memphis through a federal Department of Transportation 5310 grant.

Through this program, callers would receive the best option to procure a ride depending on circumstances.

“We noticed that it was high call volume with the emergency telephone number, which increased the hold time for those who actually had emergencies,” said McNeal. “This was a way for us to focus on that — to decrease the number of non-emergency related phone calls, as well as to address the need of getting seniors to and from different places depending on reliable transportation options.”

It started as a way for the organization to get the word out and connect this population with resources, however as time went on, more opportunities became available for them to form partnerships with other agencies to provide subsidized rides.

The Rides to Resources program is free, and funded by Local Initiatives Support Corporation and Uber Health. Innovate Memphis said that this grant is “meant to help solve transportation barriers in the city as it relates to health care services and detriments of service accessibility.” According to Innovate Memphis, callers can schedule rides to and from health care appointments, homecare provider services, and services that address SDOH.