Safe Pathways to School
Sometimes the biggest change starts with… a barricade. And this month’s grant winner proves it.
We’re proud to announce JJonJon, The Happy Urbanist as our October 2025 UNFoundation Grant Winner for the project: Safe Pathways to School. JonJon is a local community advocate and national urbanist educator with a clear mission: make streets safer, healthier, and more human—starting where it matters most. In Chattanooga, everyday walking has quietly become risky. Short trips to schools, parks, and neighbors’ homes are increasingly replaced by car rides, fueling traffic, pollution, and disconnection.
Cities around the world have shown us another way: start small. Focus on school streets—the routes kids and families use daily—and safety, movement, and community follow. The problem? Renting barricades costs over $1,500 per day, threatening to drain the remaining budget and stall progress. The solution? A smart, reusable one.
The UNFoundation’s $3,000 grant will fund the purchase of 10 Type III barricades—not just to finish this project, but to unlock dozens more across the city. Once installed, the barricades will be stored and managed by Tucker Build, allowing neighborhood groups, schools, and community organizers to borrow them for free or at very low cost.
This turns a one-time purchase into a shared community asset. Think safer intersections, block parties, play streets, safety demos, and pop-up neighborhood joy—without the financial barrier. The impact will be immediate: Hawthorne Avenue gets finished. And long-term? The vision is bold—100 safer intersections and 100 block parties over the next five years.
This isn’t just about traffic control. It’s about giving people the tools to reclaim their streets, protect their kids, and meet their neighbors. Congrats to JonJon for showing us that safer streets = stronger communities.