Blog
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SHIFT Chattanooga: Investing in Public Education Friday, November 11, 2011
“My one wish for education is that we all work together for the children…that the whole community begins to invest in the school system,” said Hollie Steele a 4th grade teacher at Ooltewah Elementary School in a recent SHIFT Chattanooga Conversation.
“When you see communities where every kid is waiting till graduation to leave, I can tell you the future of that community,” said Pete Cooper, President of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga. This is not our community, he goes on to say. We’ve begun to understand that our greatest strength is understanding our individual assets and asserting them in targeted and deliberate projects. We can see this tangibly in the structures that we celebrate Chattanooga with every day.
SHIFT CONVERSATIONS Rachel Gammon from ShiftCha on Vimeo.
When we discuss education, and the inequities between some schools over others, it is more imperative than ever for our community to explore our individual resources, and how we can engage ourselves in public education. “I think that my one wish for education would be that every child enters school being valued and every child has the ability to reach all of their dreams and that there’s not a disparity between the education someone is getting in one part of town and the education someone is getting in another part of town,” said Rachel Gammon, Executive Director of the Neighborhood House.
This can become difficult when we are transfixed with debates over education reform, like school vouchers or teacher evaluations. We can become distanced, feeling like we are unable to participate in substantial support for public education because we aren’t the ones responsible for decisions concerning public education. And this is not true. We can support our children through giving teachers the resources to provide quality education, such as donating time to read and mentor children or giving school supplies to classrooms or telling teachers how much we appreciate what they do for our community.
Regardless of whatever occurs with the Equal Opportunity Scholarship Act, currently being debated in Nashville, public education will still exist in Hamilton County, and it is up to us to ensure that every child in Hamilton County receives a strong education—because it will impact the future of our community.
As Pete Cooper, President of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga said, “Every body feels like this is a community where they own it, they have a stake in it, and it’s their community. This isn’t some place where they’re living, waiting to go somewhere else.” And that’s what makes Chattanooga special.
Posted by in Environment
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City Share: Meet PlayLab Thursday, November 10, 2011
On November 16th, City Share will feature The Office of PlayLab, Inc., founders Archie Lee Coates IV and Jeffrey Franklin, who met several years ago as undergraduate Architecture students at Virginia Tech. After moving to New York and working with well-respected design firms, they quickly realized, they were bored and wanted to pair fun with work. They wanted to work towards solutions that the world didn’t know it needed. “PlayLab is here to explore, discover and learn. We can’t do that without play. Human innovation starts with human imagination.”
Since forming PlayLab, they’ve been exploring social innovation projects around the world. Archie and Jeffrey have a background in graphic design, illustration, printmaking, architecture and industrial design, and they never view them as exclusive. “They are all related: they are working to solve problems, and helping the people involved. Graphic design and architecture may differ in their scale, scope and result, but they both have constraints and require working towards a solution,” Archie explained in an interview.
Based out of Brooklyn, New York, PlayLab is currently engaged in building a floating and self-filtering pool in Manhattan’s East River, an interactive exhibition in Stockholm involving magnification, and Artypes, an informational, inspirational, educational, and economical art resource. Pie Lab, located in Greensboro, Alabama and one of their first projects, developed out of a two week Project M session as “an incubator for dispelling racial tensions in the surrounding areas.”
Chattanooga Stand is excited to have Archie and Jeffrey bring a fun and innovative approach to community-focused design. We hope to see you on Wednesday the 16th.
CityShare is free and open to the public. Lunch will be provided.
Please RSVP to this event or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)Posted by in Economy
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48 Hour Launch: Get Started: 11.11.11 Wednesday, November 09, 2011
48Hour Launch from MMLabs on Vimeo.
Posted by in Economy
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Public Meeting: Gateway Plan for the North Shore Parks District Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Photochrom print of Moccasin Bend from Lookout Mountain, Tennessee by the Detroit Photographic Co. in 1902.On Monday, November 14, 2011, the community is invited to attend an Open House and Financial Presentation from architecture firm Jones & Jones in the Tennessee Room at the University Center on the UTC campus. The public meeting will focus on final concept plans for the Moccasin Bend Gateway and Stringer’s Ridge, which will be available for public viewing throughout the day, followed by a formal presentation at 5:30pm. The event is hosted by the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency.
The area being studied includes the Manufacturer’s Road, Hamm Road, and Cherokee Boulevard corridors.
“The North Shore Gateway plan will provide fundamental walking and bicycle connections throughout the area, connecting downtown with the national park, Stringer’s Ridge Park, and serve as a new link to Red Bank. Extending transportation options, and especially active and environmentally friendly options, is important to provide accessibility to these resources of our community,” says Philip Pugliese, Bicycle Coordinator at Outdoor Chattanooga.
From 10:00am – 5:00pm, maps, drawings, and a fly-through video will be on exhibit. The Regional Planning Agency staff and members of the design team will also be available throughout the Open House hours to answer questions.
At 5:30pm the formal program will begin with a short video by Grant Jones, Principal Emeritus with Jones & Jones, followed by a presentation of the final “Gateway” concepts, and an opportunity for the audience to ask questions.
To ensure adequate seating, please RSVP for the Public Presentation to the Regional Planning Agency at 423-643-5901 or at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Light refreshments will be served.
Free parking will be available in the 5th Street garage after 5:00pm. Prior to 5:00pm there will be a charge for visitor parking.
For additional information, please contact:
Karen Hundt, Regional Planning Agency
423-643-5913
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)Posted by in Economy in Culture in Environment
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48Hour Launch is less than a week away!
On Thursday, we had our pre-event pitch night, where over 120 people packed into the room to hear ideas being pitched and to find the right team to join for the weekend launch.
In case you missed it, you can read about it in the Times Free Press article, and you can watch the videos of the 3 minute presentations below.
If one of these ideas catches your interest, let them know by commenting on their post with your response, especially if you would like to contribute your skills to their team over the 48Hour Launch weekend!
Social Innovation Launch:
OPEN in East Lake: Barbara Brayford
Chattanooga Soul, Your Community Terminal: Mike Thompson
Chinese Rock Garden: Bob Edwards
Online Open City Budget: Andrae McGary
Web & Mobile Neighborhood Watch App: Chris Enter
Sickle Cell Awareness Campaign: Sandra Affare
Open Chattanooga: Tim Moreland
ChattaFont: Jeremy Dooley and DJ Trischler
“All Things Green” Map of Chattanooga: Clifton Burriss
Neighborhood Youth Soccer Tournament: Ben Johnson
Web and Mobile Community Calendar: Dustin Coker
Multi-modal Trip Planner: Jenny Parker
The Awesome Foundation: Bijan Dhanani
Educontribution.org: Reed TomlinsonFollow these on Causeway.org as well. If you want to join a team, comment under the ‘cause’ and add your skill set as a ‘way’ to make this happen!
Product Launch
Modern “wireless” Computer Desk: Paul Thompson
Grocery Kiosk: Clay Odom
Natural Beautiful Me: Alexis WillisTechnology Launch:
Web Based Reservation System: Colin Rymer
Medical Adherence App: Mac Gambill and Phil Beene
ComplexCity: Hoyt Jolly
Crowdsourced Water Quality App: Taylor McDonald
Nibble: Reid Cooper
Let’s Get Foodie Online Magazine: Matt Baxter and Chante Newcomb
Tech Services and Training for Nonprofits: David White
Job Ninja: Ernie DempseyLearn more by visiting CO.LAB.
