Facility Dog | Children's Advocacy Center

The Children's Advocacy Center of Hamilton County (CAC) has a mission to serve those affected by alleged child sexual abuse. [These people have truly noble jobs] The CAC provides intervention, therapeutic, and prevention services to victims of abuse. All services are offered at no charge to clients. Soon they will brighten those services with a trained facility dog from the nonprofit Canine Companions for Independence. #woof

Trained dogs can be utilized in counseling in two main ways. First, by simply being present within the therapy room, but not the main focus. In this method, the dog helps calm the child just by being there. The second way that dogs can be utilized in the counseling environment is to make the dog a part of the therapy itself. An apprehensive child could pet the dog while talking about highly emotional issues.

It may be hard to believe, but the CAC served almost 600 children last year. It takes a community working together to move the needle and create real change. This facility dog will do just that.

HIV and Hungry | Choice Health Network

Everyone needs to eat. Enter Kelly Smith, a Medical Case Manager at Choice Health Network, located on McCallie Ave in Downtown Chattanooga.  She 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. When one of her newest clients revealed he ate a tablespoon of beans for breakfast that morning because he had to make sure his ration of a can of beans lasted him for the whole day Kelly upped her social work game. While she often buys clients dinner with funds out of her own pocket, she's a single mother and her funds are limited. Choice Health Network recently had to reduce their nutrition programming and had many clients struggling as a result.

Chattanooga may not realize it, but there many amongst us who live with HIV. Some are gay, some are straight, some are black, some are white, but all are human. While the virus is not as deadly as it used to be, thanks to outstanding leaps and bounds in medical advances, it can take its toll on an individual's ability to work a steady, full-time job. For those who are older, it is nearly impossible. Chattanooga is already so awesome, but we oftentimes easily forget about the homeless and the hungry while we go rock climbing, kayaking with the kids, enjoying an outdoor market or attend one of the many amazing eateries available to us in the city. After this somber reminder by Kelly, we awarded a full $3,000 grant, and have quadrupled their nutrition funds through next Spring.

Land and Sea | Stove Works

Stove Works, in collaboration with Daniel Fuller, Curator of the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, introduces the exhibition, LAND AND SEA. Through sculpture, video, painting, and sound, LAND AND SEA explores how water, air, and soil, those specifically of Chattanooga and East Tennessee, are altered, inhabited, mythologized, reduced, abused, explored, and celebrated. LAND AND SEA will comprise five separate exhibitions. The series will take place within proximity to the Stove Works site, along Main Street. Each show will be complemented by programming carefully designed to draw out different aspects of each show, extending meaning and relationships not only into other realms of art but also out of the gallery and into the world.

From opening night, August 10th, through closing September 9th you can view all the events here. Everything from a foraging walk with Lauren Hays of Wooden Spoon Herbs to a film screening of Two Went In, 2018 by Erica Scoggins will peak your interest and fulfill your arts desires. Our $2,000 helps Stove Works forge the way into an exciting future for the arts in CHA.

Rivermont Elementary Outdoor Classroom | Eagle Scout Project

J.Y. is 15 years old. He's a sophomore at McCallie School and a member of local Boy Scout Troop 223. To complete his Eagle Scout Rank he's working with Principal Nikki Bailey to design and create an outdoor classroom at Rivermont Elementary School. Our $1,000 May grant coupled with most of J.Y.'s summer break equals completion.

Why? Eagle Scout candidates complete a project to demonstrate leadership of others while executing a project to benefit their community. With the help of volunteers from his troop, the school, the adjacent neighborhoods, as well as friends and family- the classroom includes picnic table seating for 24 students, smaller "stump like" stools, a lectern for teacher, as well as birdhouses placed appropriately in the area surrounding the classroom. And a partridge in a pear tree. Whoa.

Proud Voter // Know Your Vote

Election season living in the South can be tough. We want to see progress for our neighborhoods, cities, counties and state. But sometimes it feels too slow and painful. We're doing two things to help make this November more exciting.

1. Proud Voter will use our $650 to help propel their efforts to get young Chattanoogans registered to vote. It's important. Did you know Tennessee is 40th in voter registration and 50th in voter turnout? The Proud Voter Campaign, is a non-partisan coalition of Tennesseeans, community groups and organizations supporting citizens through voter registration and voter participation initiatives. How exactly will we do it? Marketing. Buttons, flyers, tablecloths for the many events these volunteers already plan to attend before the upcoming election.

2. Know Your Vote will use our $2,350 to create and market an app, built by local tech powerhouse Skuid, to collate data and make possible the ability to compare candidates on key criteria to produce more informed CHA voters with the ease of their nearest tech device. Many voters in Hamilton County have a difficult time finding information on local candidates. We know we do. There is no centralized location with links to candidate websites and other sources, and traditional methods are reaching fewer younger voters.

To Be a Drum: Adrinka Forever | Mario Brooks

Adrinka Forever! We are sponsoring a materials purchase for an arts integration after-school program at Orchard Knob Elementary School (OKES), with the Tech Town tutoring program, based on Evelyn Coleman's book To Be a Drum, about the journey and legacy of African Americans from the Transatlantic slave trade up to modern times.

Students will build djembe drums from household items and design garments all while learning about the symbolism of wax printed adrinka symbols. They will connect the history & sounds of African tribal music and how it has influenced the works of Kendrick Lamar, they will 3d print their own symbols for gifts to the ancestors, they will research prominent trailblazing black women, reflecting upon their accomplishments relative to their lives in writing their own narratives, & they will create their own theme music and a freedom quilt inspired banner.

A team of 5 artists with assistance from the staff of OKES will facilitate and are calling this performance Adrinka Forever, because classes are taking the rich history of not only African Americans but the symbolism and art of Ghana to forever positively influence underserved youth.

Circulating Tool Library | Chattanooga Public Library

Thanks to Jaclyn Anderson and the driven leadership of the Downtown Chattanooga Library we will soon have the opportunity to borrow tools at NO COST to public library cardholders. Tools such as socket wrench sets, cordless drills (yeah, we’ve got SKIL), and power sanders!  The tool collection is being curated for Chattanoogans embarking on home renovation or community service projects, in which purchasing all the necessary tools for a one-time project may not be feasible.  Home repair and other DIY programs are on the horizon. The library plans on supplementing their collection with programming. Dang, we sure are proud of our public library here in #CHA.

Free Kids Film + Sponsorship | Chattanooga Film Festival

We have watched the Chattanooga Film Festival (CFF) evolve over the years with great delight. From the early days when we made a grant to support Mise En Scenesters and their sorely needed new projector, to current times being referred to as “The Sundance Of The South”.  

This year we’re stepping up to sponsor a script reading and also sponsoring a FREE KIDS FILM for all who care to join in our community.  Scripts Gone Wild: Flash Gordon will sell out again this year, and it's hilarious. Here's what's going to happen, an unsuspecting (or entirely suspecting) group of filmmakers will hold a script and a spirit while reading the science-fiction classic, Flash Gordon. Drunken debauchery you will want to witness.

This is the first year the festival will have a few kids films. We're making one of them free! From Directors Patrick Imbert and Benjamin Renner, THE BIG BAD FOX AND OTHER TALES.  Teaser, a Fox that thinks it’s a chicken, and a Duck who wants to replace Father Christmas.  Playing Saturday, April 7th at 10 am. Reserve tickets now.