12th & Peeples Camp Bicycle Repair Shop | White Oak Bicycle Cooperative

The White Oak Bicycle Cooperative (WOBC) has been awarded our $3,000 grant to build a bicycle repair shop at the 12th & Peeples Camp! It will provide much-needed transportation services to residents of the camp, who often lack access to reliable transportation.

Typically, one crucial and frequently neglected requirement of unhoused persons is transportation. The availability of dependable mobility, such as a bicycle, is vital for this vulnerable population to secure shelter, locate community resources, find employment, access medical services, and maintain connections with loved ones.

Our grant will be used to purchase a wind-resistant storage shed and stock it with new bicycle repair tools and supplies. Additionally, we will purchase u-bolt locks and safety vests.

P.S. If you would like to learn more about WOBC or their work, please visit their website linked above.

Patten Towers Relief | The Enterprise Center

Did you know the nearly 180 residents of Patten Towers were displaced on March 27th, 2020 when there was a fire in their building? The building was condemned due to structural, smoke, and fire damage and all of the elderly, and or disabled residents are now residing in a series of hotels across the city.

The Enterprise Center, along with others, have been providing assistance in the form of volunteers to support daily meal delivery, help to pick up mail, laundry services, Food Bank deliveries, mental health and health care supports, provisioning of needed clothing and medical devices, and more. One of the biggest challenges has been the residents' inability to be mobile - to shop, to bank, to go to medical appointments, to purchase money orders to pay their rent (due June 1) and to visit with family.

Our $3,000 grant was used to provide each resident who is without transportation with an Uber voucher that would address mobility needs. The Enterprise Center will manage the process and will work with partners to disseminate the vouchers and to train the residents on their use.

COVID Gas Card Relief | Metropolitan Ministries

At first glance, gas cards to get to and from work may seem questionable in terms of essential need. But if you live in your car and need it to access services or to transport you to work so you can save for an actual residence, it’s imperative. MetMin (Metropolitan Ministries) will take $5,000 from our March grant to buy gas cards.

Not familiar with them? MetMin is a 40 year old nonprofit missioned to prevent homelessness and help those recovery from homelessness by providing emergency financial assistance to mitigate the crises they face. They negotiate with clients' landlords and utility providers to make full or partial payments in their behalf. They are also a 1st responder in disasters, and are in full crisis respond mode now. To support our most vulnerable Chattanoogans, payments for car insurance, gasoline, car payments, custody payments, etc. are needed to prevent them from becoming homeless.

Transportation Matters | Choice Health Network

When you’re sick, you need to get to the doctor. Right? In 2018 we funded Choice Health Network, located on McCallie Ave in Downtown Chattanooga, with food cards that were able to keep HIV+ individuals from going hungry.  Case manager Kelly Smith is charged with identifying HIV+ individuals in the community and assisting them (based on income eligibility) with the things most of us take for granted, our health.

Transportation is one of the services Choice Health Network offers, but the monies provided by the government have run short. The state allows $3000 for the fiscal year, which has never been enough, but with the addition of 15 new clients in the past 2 months, the funding is going faster than ever.  And with their client base projected to double over the coming year additional funding was imperative. Quite simply, our $2,000 grant money will be used to purchase gas cards, bus passes and allow for reimbursement of .47/mile for case managers who use their own vehicles to transport clients to their doctor appointments. Case managers for the win.

Rock and Roll Art Car | Art 120

You would have to travel to Baltimore, Maryland or Houston, Texas to experience an art car as spectacular (take that, Nashville) as the one that now lives in Chattanooga. Master art teacher, Rebecca Bass, has gifted us her latest, student-led, collaborative art car entitled, "It's Only Rock and Roll". This moving tribute celebrates the history, music, and art of the 60's and 70's while featuring several different visual art mediums students can experience firsthand. We are now the art car capital of the region, thanks to Kate Warren of Art 120. "It's Only Rock and Roll" has already been featured on the the History Channel during Car Week and there is talk about doing a documentary on how the car was made. It’s pretty epic.

What did we fund if the car was free? Transporting it to Chattanooga from Houston. Fortunately just in time for the Mainx24 parade December 1st. After that, "It's Only Rock and Roll" serves as a teaching tool for art and career track education students in Hamilton County. It reaches some of the thirty-two elementary schools in Chattanooga that do not have an art program and animates local public events with her presence. Yes, its a she.

Let's Marvel at Black Panther | Tyner Middle School

Let’s face it, enhancing a 7th-grade class curriculum with a major motion picture can be a LOT of fun.  Especially when all 145 kids get to go at once.  Tyner Middle School's racial diversity is made up of approximately 74% African American; 21% Hispanic; and 5% White/other. The film of Black Panther and its release is one of the most important blockbusters for all people, but most importantly for the students at Tyner!

Michelle Dunn, a teacher at Tyner Middle, developed a #BlackPantherChallenge curriculum that included pieces of research, texts, information, and analyzed them together through Socratic Seminars and small group discussions. Then, by going to see the Black Panther movie together as a community, every child was able to discuss the issues presented in the curriculum, make deeper connections within themselves, and each other. And don't forget, when children feel empowered by their own culture, race, beliefs, and history; we see a better well-rounded human, thus a better community. Our community.

Update: Due to discounted movie tickets and overall thriftiness, our $1,870 grant will have a larger impact. A Wrinkle in Time will be studied school-wide and a movie trip again!

The Passage: A mobile learning classroom

Hardy Elementary School is the proud new owner of a used short bus that is being converted into their new mobile classroom. Once tricked out and put into use this educational tool will be called The Passage. At the helm of The Passage is Colleen Ryan and Brittany Harris, teachers at Hardy. The kind of teachers you hope your child gets when they go to school. This was their idea. And they are going to volunteer their time to make a difference. And other teachers and volunteers as well. The Passage will help parents learn essential and effective strategies with their student and a teacher together. Their goal? Have 90% of third grade students reading on grade level.

They already had the bus, so how did we help? Oh you know, little things like Chromebooks, mobile wifi, a generator, a compressor, and some other supplies. We are pumped to fund applications from do gooders like Brittany and Colleen trying to make a difference in the education of our kids. Rock on, ladies.

The LIFT Project

The LIFT project, led by local nonprofit Relevant Hope, provides transportation for Chattanoogans living on the margins during their first month in a new job. With just $2000, the LIFT Project provides 30-day bus passes for 30 folks, and bicycles that can be used well beyond the first month of employment to 10 more. Having also won our October 2014 grant, Relevant Hope is perfectly poised to have a deep impact in the lives of people they help through an operation emphasizing long-term relationships with clients rather than one-time interactions.