Symposium to End the Preschool-to-Prison Pipeline
📅 Date: Saturday, April 26, 2025
🕘 Time: 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM CDT
📍 Location: Virtual
Join professionals from Memphis and across the country to develop AI-powered solutions that interrupt the preschool-to-prison pipeline and uplift the systems that shape our students' futures—from classrooms to courtrooms. This virtual symposium, hosted by STEM4US!, seeks to spotlight ways technologies like artificial intelligence can support students, parents, educators, mentors, law enforcement, and the broader community. We’re examining conditions in Memphis as a national model for how AI can help better prepare our youth for jobs and improve public safety.
🎙️ Confirmed Speakers:
Representative Hester McCray, Mississippi House of Representatives
Commissioner Britney Thornton, Shelby County, TN Commission District 10
Harold Collins, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County Government
Imam Abdul Al Muthakir, Muhammad’s Mosque #55
Rome Withers, Ernest C. Withers Historical Photographic Foundation
David Owens, Energy Industry Executive & Chairman, STEM4US!
Attorney Talib I. Karim Muhammad, Executive Director, STEM4US!
Sharifah Mastin, Tech HR Executive, Mission2Change Founder
Isaiah Harrison, Blakio, Tech and Trading Coach
Marion C. Williams, Tech & Cloud Engineering Professional
💼 Event Sponsors:
Office of the Shelby County Chief Administrative Officer (Harold Collins)
David Owens
Abe Legal
Page Global
Mission2Change
Dr. Hassan S. Karim, Ph.D.
Why This Symposium Matters?
Memphis located in Shelby County, TN — home of Collusus, the wordl’s largest super-computer built in record time is emerging as a hub for technological innovation, attracting global attention from tech leaders like Nvidia—valued at over $3 trillion in 2025. Experts see the region as a potential "Silicon Valley of America’s AI Revolution," with an estimated economic impact on the region of up to $1 trillion over the next decade, creating thousands of high-paying jobs in AI, cloud engineering, and data science.
Yet, workforce leaders are concerned about the region’s readiness, given the challenges facing young people:
Academic Struggles: Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) students have reading, math, and science proficiency rates of approximately 20%, 15%, and 18%, respectively, placing the district in the bottom 10% of Tennessee.
High Suspension and Absenteeism Rates: A 25% suspension rate among MSCS students contributes to the preschool-to-prison pipeline, while 28%+ chronic absenteeism hampers educational outcomes.
Juvenile Delinquency: Over 500 juvenile charges in 2023 highlight the urgent need for early intervention to prepare a future workforce for a tech-driven economy.
🎯 Our Goal
This symposium provides a vital forum to responsibly leverage AI to address Memphis’s challenges by:
Transforming Memphis into a model where AI helps parents and educators engage studens and keep them in classrooms, not courtrooms and jailhouses.
Elevates the call for a $100B HBCU-AI Fund to transform HBCUs into incubators for innovations to end the Preschool to Prison Pipeline.
Advancing policies for court transparency, school board accountability, and public safety reform.
Symposium Schedule
9:00 AM – 9:10 AM | Welcoming Remarks
David Owens, Chairman, STEM4US!
Opens the symposium with a vision for how AI can support students, families, educators, law enforcement, and communities in Memphis and beyond.
9:10 AM – 9:20 AM | STEM4US! Impact & the $100B HBCU-AI Fund
Attorney Talib I. Karim Muhammad, Executive Director, STEM4US!
Highlights community programs that have impacted 5,000+ students since 2020 and introduces the $100 Billion HBCU-AI Fund—an initiative to build AI data centers on HBCU campuses. He will also share details about a new cryptocurrency effort to provide long-term revenue for HBCU-based AI education and justice reform work.
9:20 AM – 9:25 AM | Shelby County’s Role in AI-Driven Reform
Harold Collins, Chief Administrative Officer, Shelby County, TN
Offers a government perspective on how AI can help transform educational outcomes and the justice system at the county level.
9:25 AM – 9:30 AM | Break
🎥 Video: The Impact of AI in Education
9:30 AM – 10:05 AM | Panel 1 – Reengineering Our Education System: From Pre-K to Postsecondary
Explore how AI can improve student discipline, leadership accountability, family engagement, vocational education, and values-based learning. Specific focus on recent efforts to reform Memphis, Shelby County Schools (MSCS) including the work of past MSCS Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins and the TN General Assembly MSCS Education Reform Bill. Includes live Q&A.
Business Student Moderator: Ms. Kaadia Thompson
Confirmed Panelists:
Isaiah Harrison, Tech & Investment Coach
Marion C. Williams, Tech & Cloud Engineering Professional
10:05 AM – 10:10 AM | Break
🎥 Video: Justice Reform Success Stories
10:10 AM – 10:40 AM | Panel 2 – Justice Reform & Oversight in Courts and Schools
Discuss how policy reforms—like oversight of Memphis-Shelby County Schools and restructuring family court—can reduce the number of youth entering the justice system. Live Q&A included.
Business Student Moderator: Ms. Tyaira Polk
Confirmed Panelists:
Representative Hester McCray, Mississippi House of Representatives
Commissioner Britney Thornton, Shelby County, TN Commission
10:40 AM – 10:45 AM | Break
🎥 Video: AI-Driven Community Solutions
10:45 AM – 11:15 AM | Panel 3 – Economic, Healthcare, and Workplace Impacts of the Pipeline
Analyze how school failure and youth incarceration impact local economies including mental health systems, emergency rooms, and workplace safety. Panel includes Q&A.
Confirmed Panelists:
Rome Withers, Ernest C. Withers Historical Photographic Foundation
Sharifah Mastin, Tech HR Executive, Mission2Change Founder
11:15 AM – 11:20 AM | Break
🎥 Video: Family Support Strategies
11:20 AM – 11:40 AM | Panel 4 – What a Successful Student Home & Support Network Looks Like
Learn what environments help students thrive—two-parent households, structured routines, parental engagement, faith communities, and school partnerships.
Business Student Moderator: La'Rie King
Confirmed Panelist:
Imam Abdul Al Muthakkir, Muhammad’s Mosque #55
11:40 AM – 12:00 PM | Closing Plenary – Memphis as a National Model
This session will feature a presentation of proposed AI-driven solutions to end the preschool-to-prison pipeline—generated from the ideas and insights shared throughout the day. These solutions will be modeled using Grok, the world’s largest supercomputer developed by xAI, and ChatGPT, to create scalable models for intervention.
We’ll also outline next steps for continuing this work, including:
A follow-up symposium
Ongoing community engagement and workforce development
Opportunities to support the $100 Billion HBCU-AI Fund
Confirmed Speaker:
Attorney Talib I. Karim Muhammad, Executive Director, STEM4US!
💼 Sponsor Registration – $500+
$500 Bronze: Name listing, social media shoutout
$1,000 Silver: Logo placement on website + program listing
$2,500 Gold: Verbal recognition during event + logo + social mentions
$5,000 Platinum: Premium logo placement + invitation to speak or introduce a session
$10,000 Visionary: Headline branding across platforms + featured remarks in Closing Plenary
How it works: Click “Sponsor” and enter any amount of $500 or more.
Speaker Registration – $50
The opportunity to speak on a panel or during the closing plenary
Promotion as a featured speaker on the event website and program
Admission for one guest
This is your chance to elevate your voice in front of parents, educators, policymakers, and tech leaders working to reimagine education and justice through AI.
🎓 Students & Guests – Free Admission
Mentorship Opportunities: Engage with leaders in AI, education, and policy.
Networking: Connect with peers, professionals, and potential mentors.
Come be part of the conversation and grow your network in a welcoming, knowledge-rich environment.
