Gaining Ground Grocery | Holly Martin

A grocery store in Highland Park? Yep. Holly Martin recently started the Chattanooga Sustainable Food Center, a non-profit which focuses on food access, education, and engagement in regional agriculture. Holly recently secured a location within the St. Andrew's Center in Highland Park for the operations of Gaining Ground Grocery to begin. A small, local food-focused grocery store, Gaining Ground will act like a brick and mortar farmers market, with extended hours and nutrition incentives for low income customers.

The two priorities of the grocery will be focused on working with local growers and making the food at the store affordable for the surrounding community. Gaining Ground will provide an outlet for fresh produce in a food desert where options for healthy food are very limited. The grocery space is walkable to Highland Park Commons, close to CARTA bus lines, includes a small parking lot, and features a handicap accessible ramp. Its intent is to be inclusive and welcoming to anyone that chooses to shop there. It will also intend to be guided by community input for featured products. You can take part in that feedback here.

COVID Curbside Connection | AIM Center

Art supplies + groceries for the win. AIM Center is a psychosocial rehabilitation, utilizing the Clubhouse Model, to offer employment, education, housing, socialization, and wellness opportunities for adults living with serious mental illness. They help adults in the Chattanooga community lead fulfilling and productive lives while successfully managing their mental health through engaging in meaningful work and relationships in the Clubhouse community.

Due to COVID-19 and the closure of the AIM Center since 3/17/20, members have continued to be engaged by staff through tele-health services, however, the majority of members are without internet access and operating without a personal cell phone. This leaves them isolated.

Curbside Connection is the solution program manager, Lucy White, had in mind. With our $3,000, a few key things will happen. Art supplies will be distributed to AIM Center member artists, gotta keep the creative juiced flowing to manage stress. Daily “Curbside Coffee and Connection” in AIM’s parking lot as well as six different group homes in which AIM Center Members reside. Weekly wellness walks with healthy snacks provided and weekly social distancing grill-outs at AIM Center’s four Housing Properties.

Budget breakdown is $2,500 for groceries, $300 for gas and $200 for art supplies. The 205 Chattanooga residents living with severe and persistent mental illness will greatly benefit from this outreach.

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.

City Farms Grower Training Workshops | Joel Tippins

Justice through food? Just call him Justice Joel.  Joel Tippens’ involvement with urban agriculture in Chattanooga began in 2011 with the purpose of developing new food gardens with low-income residents of the city.  His work has been intentionally concentrated in historic, predominately African American neighborhoods of the center city and has included growing food in backyards, vacant lots, in schoolyards, on church lawns, and parking lots; in raised beds, buckets and tires, and even in the bed of an old pick-up truck! City Farms Grower Coalition, a new initiative will address issues of food justice through hands-on training workshops. City Farms is an urban farm school with a variety of campuses located all across Chattanooga. Each site provides training opportunities in a variety of urban farming applications. The education is informal but invaluable, with a curriculum informed by seasoned, experienced, local organic farmers. 

The $3,000 UNFoundation grant will launch the pilot project in the neighborhoods surrounding Glass Street in East Chattanooga with 10-12 participants. The grant award provides funding to facilitate four monthly hands-on Grower Training Workshops beginning in March and continuing in April, May, and June, as well as cover the costs of installing ten new raised bed gardens. Food sustains us and we can grow it ourselves. Thanks Joel.

MLK Arts Revival | Keeody Gallery

Black owned and operated art gallery? In Chattanooga? It’s called Keeody Gallery, named for its owners Jody Harris and Keelah Jackson, and they will be offering free classes and workshops as the recipient of our black creative grant for Black History Month.

So where is it? Keeody Gallery lives at 756 E MLK Blvd., #200, Chatt, TN, 37403 on the second floor. The door to enter is right at the lower right of the mural image above. Get ready for free opportunities for the historic MLK community and Chattanooga to attend free art-related events taught by certified creatives. This offering of free art-related events (in many forms) presented in an artistic environment invites people of all ages and from all walks of life/demographics to celebrate the beauty and history of the rich Big 9/MLK culture (Bessie Smith, Dr. Bill Whiteside, Memo's, etc.).

These events will be catered to different ages in order to accommodate and/or inspire a larger audience of art lovers (no matter the genre of art), and each event would include light refreshments. With this grant, the gallery plans to purchase items to host regular, up to 30 person per session, art-related events. What will they buy with our grant? Tables, chairs, disposable tablecloths, variously sized canvases, easels, various paints, notebooks, sketch pads, art pencils, brushes, drop cloths, art aprons, cleaning supplies and more. Be on the lookout for events coming up to celebrate Jazz Appreciation | Poetry Month in April. $3,000 well spent.

National Rebuilding Day | Rebuilding Together Chattanooga

Home owners insurance is a luxury not everyone can afford. Rebuilding Together Chattanooga (RTC) is a neighbors-helping-neighbors initiative to provide safety and health related home repairs and modifications to needy home owners in the Chattanooga area.  Most do not have insurance. Literally all other home-repair programs in Chattanooga require homeowners' insurance by the homeowner.

Most directly, RTC programming benefits low-income, disabled, elderly, veterans, single-parents, and the uninsured. In addition to making needed repairs, projects help households age in place with dignity, reduce their energy bills, improve their quality of life and sense of community, and address safety issues.  Home and community environments have a major impact on health and well-being. At a time when the income inequality gap continues to grow and the costs of homeownership continues to rise, too many of our neighbors suffer from the health and economic consequences of living in substandard housing and unsafe communities. Our $3,000 grant will support a major repair project for National Rebuilding Day, scheduled for April 25, 2020.

English Immersion Day Camp | Language South

In Spring 2020, Language South is opening an English immersion day camp for middle schoolers (current 6th-8th graders) who are English Language Learners (ELL). Students will have an opportunity to experience success with the English language and improve their self-identity as language learners. This personal growth will allow these students to go back into the traditional classroom with an increased motivation that will help them set and achieve ambitious goals for their futures. With our $3,000 grant, Language South will be offering full and partial scholarships to camper families who are not able to afford the full cost of camp. Click here for more information!

Why are we doing this? In the needs assessment conducted with community members, including individuals from Howard High School, ELLA Chattanooga, La Paz, and the Chattanooga Public Library, all felt an English camp would be beneficial for ELL students in the area by helping them advance in the critical area of English language acquisition.

Music and Dance Therapy | Austin Hatcher Foundation

Cancer sucks. Especially if you’re a kid.

In the next year, dance and music-based interventions will be utilized at Austin Hatcher Foundation to aid in the physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual well being of their recovering childhood cancer patients. Music-based therapies have demonstrated success in improving patients' communication, self-esteem, and aid in physical recovery. For one patient, in particular, music-based therapy enabled him to communicate both through sign language in dance and verbally through audio. This young man is both a cancer survivor and suffers from cerebral palsy from the unfortunate side effect of life-saving medication. Because he struggles with communication, his mother has been very thankful that this intervention that has become available to her family at no cost thanks to the contributions made by the UNFoundation of Chattanooga. These interventions will be available year-round to all patients at no cost, regardless of race, socioeconomics and age.

Our $3,000 grant will pay for a mix of individual and group-based dance and music classes in the Spring of 2020 and will allow Austin Hatcher to host group music and dance therapy at their 2020 summer camps in June/July of 2020. The instructor is Louie Marin, and he will be in residence as the instructor for all classes.