Did you give your input recently about ideas for the new house banners for Glass Farm residents? This summer and early Fall, the Neighborhood Pride committee – including Block Leader, Miss Janette, business owner, Mr Joe, emerging young leader, Asia, and Pops, who has been living and renting in the Glass Farm area for a few years –  reached out and had conversations with their neighbors about what the community was most proud of and what they wanted to see represented on the new house banners.

The committee worked with their neighbors so that ideas from the residents of Glass Farm and the business owners along Glass Street would be shared with the creative team designing the banners for homes and light poles.

The design team took all the neighborhood input, worked hard and listened closely. Now that design proposals are in, there will be one more chance at Glass Street LIVE! for residents to choose the best design idea that will become the new banner.

Miss Janette is encouraging residents to visit the Glass Farm Block Captain tent at Glass Street LIVE! this Saturday. She will be on hand with volunteers helping distribute simple surveys for residents to fill out while attending the block party to help choose the best design for Glass Farm.

“The biggest number of votes for any one design will be the one chosen. So this is your chance to vote while the designs are in the booth and surveys ready,” Miss Janette said.

Also if you are one of the first 50 residents to give input  just remember to leave your contact information and receive a free house banner once they are produced. You can be one of the first Glass Farm residents to hang the new banner on your home!

Janette says she believes things can improve when more people in the neighborhood are involved in what goes on in their neighborhood and choose to get involved in shaping what’s coming next.

“House banners and a Pride program will help too. We want more people interested in what’s in their neighborhood now and what’s about to take place in their neighborhood. It will be alot better.”

Miss Janette says that this project is nearly complete. She hopes to receive a lot of surveys for the best design at Glass Street LIVE! so the committee can get the banners produced and delivered to residents soon.

Don’t miss the chance to leave your vote and check out what the committee and creative team accomplished after gathering input and inspiration from the community.

Glass House Collective would like to thank Miss Janette for her leadership and helping see this project through. We are proud and grateful of her entire committee, Mr. Joe, Pops, Asia, for their time and effort bringing in community ideas and new voices.  We would also like to thank the project’s funders from The Lillian Colby Foundation. We can not wait to see these banners hanging proudly on homes in the coming months!

This year Joel Tippens of Grow Hope Urban Farm successfully advocated for his East Chattanooga community garden to be a 2018 Clean and Green special project site. He partnered with the Glass Street neighborhood and volunteers from Cigna to plant hearty herbs like sage that won’t require massive maintenance or water to sustain growth. Joel grew the starts over at Grow Hope Urban farm and donated his plants and time because of his commitment to connect neighbors to healthy sustainable food sources.

After taking advantage of the beautiful bright day to generously donate their time with the Glass Street planter box project the volunteers finished the day by weeding and planting with Joel in his garden. We are so grateful to the organizers of Clean and Green 2018 as well as Joel Tippens and volunteers from Cigna who all made this project possible. See you all again next year!

Regardless of degree of experience with hand saws or loppers, we each jumped right in to take the lead on following through with yard pruning and plantings, and even minor tree/branch removal that had been requested and mapped out ahead of time, walking the neighborhood together. “Our foundational relationships built as we’ve worked on qualifying home repair projects, surveying, and collaboration with Glass House Collective, has made this year’s Blitz prep much smoother,” says Daniel Gamble, “which is a good thing, considering this was NR’s highest number of volunteers to direct at one time up to this point.”

Our volunteers were eager to help and received an overview of the focus of our joint work in the neighborhood from Daniel Gamble and Whitni McDonald in the morning before splitting off into their pre-assigned groups, accomplishing work at 17 residences, 3 commercial areas, and a trailhead (with Brenna and Sarah from Southeast Conservation Corps) over the course of the morning and following day.

When residents were at home, several came out to chat and get involved– particularly the younger members of the family, excited to see new flowers being planted and old, overgrown brush removed.

Though the workday mostly wound down on Thursday around lunch time, morale was high among the volunteers who came out. Many commented that they found working in the teams to cover lots of ground very rewarding, saying how the pruning, raking, and weeding came as a welcome challenge and change of pace from a typical Thursday at the office. Perhaps more importantly, they became more familiar with a Chattanooga neighborhood they aren’t used to visiting, and got more familiar with work Glass House Collective, Mark Making, Studio Everything, and Archway are all initiating in this corner of East Chattanooga.

On Friday, there were some loose ends to tie up at a few residential sites, and mulching work to finish, along with garbage removal and additional pruning. This was accomplished with the help of a new batch of volunteers from Lowes, and attended to between dodging patches of rain showers. Overall, the work was satisfying and for the most part, the corresponding media coverage throughout the event reinforced the sense of pride residents take in their neighborhood.

Janette Richie attended both days as a block-leader from the Glass Farms neighborhood, and I attended as an intern from the Glass House Collective. Both of us participated in the building strong coalitions tract on Friday and the community assets tract on Saturday. The first tract was led by a community organizer from Washington, DC, and he taught us how to seek out collaboration with ally organizations and institutions in our neighborhoods, while working against the plans of opponents who desire to do harm to our neighborhoods and communities. Many people offered up payday lenders as a prime example of an opponent, and city government might act as an ally by passing ordinances that disallow payday lenders. Ms. Jannette and I talked about who are allies of the Glass House Collective and thought of people like Rondell Crier and organizations like Habitat for Humanity and H&R Block.

The community assets tract was led by an urban planner from Neighborworks, a national community development nonprofit. He taught us about Asset-based Community Development (ABCD), which tries to support and grow all the good things about a community instead of focusing on what the community needs or lacks. It is a glass half-full approach instead of a glass half-empty approach. Using this model, people who want to initiate change in a neighborhood first identify all the resources that neighborhood has—whether they are businesses, churches, or skilled people—and then uses those resources for change. Ms. Janette and I identified dozens of community assets in the Glass Farms neighborhood, such as Studio Everything, the East Chatt Rec Center, and Sherman’s Reservation.

The question is, how can we best use all of these assets for community improvement?

The gathering proved the perfect setting in which to honor local leaders like Dr. Everlena Holmes, acknowledged by Teal Thibaud and Dawn Hjelseth for her leadership over the Block Leaders program in the Glass Farms neighborhood. Then Dr. Holmes surprised Glenda Welcher, Janette Richie, Johnny Patmon, and Jeffery Evans as well, awarding them plaques in recognition of their work as Block Leaders in the neighborhood. After a nice thank you note and welcome read by Mr. Johnny Patmon, everyone was encouraged to fill their plates and enjoy the music and friendly conversation.

The photo booth set up in the back room by local photographer, Andrew Rodgers, provided goofy entertainment as well as printable party favors that attendees could take home or have e-mailed to themselves to print later. And it felt like not a single neighbor went away empty handed, as dozens of gifts were handed out as door prizes throughout the night. 

Everyone seemed to agree that occasions like this allow for vital friendships and relaxed conversation to flow, building the backbone of a strong proud community where everyone is welcome, taking turns to give and receive.

To liven up our first work week after holiday travels, the Glass House team recruited local block leader, Johnny Patmon and two friendly volunteers, and got busy handing out giant colorful balloons to the passing cars on Tuesday afternoon, January 3rd!

The balloons came to us via the Granfalloon and Zanzibar Studio as a result of our Executive Director, Teal Thibaud, responding to the venue’s owner, Tara Viland’s post on Facebook asking for ideas of where to send a bunch of huge latex balloons to make people happy! After Zanzibar used them for their dance studio promo video, Lacy brought them out to us, stuffed into a large van. These oversized balloons were all the rage for Terra Mae and Dwell Hotel’s New Years Eve parties, so we figured, why not keep the celebration rolling?

Collecting participants, we grabbed four or five balloons each and waved to cars at the corners of Glass Street and N. Chamberlain. The cars honked at our “Happy New Year” signs, and we had a blast trying to stuff the giant balloons through car windows, often having to open passenger doors in order for them to fit!

As much fun as everyone had handing out the colorful balloons, our purpose went beyond just the novelty of the friendly moment. We were also saying THANK YOU!

It’s because of you that these transformations are already underway, and your continued support allows us to forge the key partnerships needed to revitalize homes, build new green spaces, attract and support sustainable businesses, and share our story in creative and compelling new ways!

– Glass House Collective hosted Glass Street LIVE, our annual block party with over 1,500 visitors throughout the day! We kicked off the day with the Wayne-O-Rama parade, explored Sherman Reservation with The National Parks rangers, danced to the music provided by Jazzanooga, watched the live mural paintings, covered a CPD squad car with bright water paints, watched skaters pull fancy tricks at the pop-up skate park, and enjoyed over 50 vendors and delicious local food trucks. Watch our official video footage from the day HERE!

– Wayne-O-Rama ignited a celebration of renowned artist Wayne White’s imagination, and we commissioned him to create giant puppets to march in our Glass Street LIVE parade. They depicted the Civil War Generals Sherman and Cleburne who faced off at nearby Sherman Reservation.

-We partnered with National Parks Service to feature our local 50-acre National Park, Sherman Reservation, shuttling guests up from Glass Street to the memorial battlefield as part of the National Parks Centennial Celebration, and to highlight our neighborhood’s open spaces.

– The former Glass House building has become headquarters for ArchWay on Glass: a venture to equip area youth with business skills through marketing and sales of local products.

– GHC’s How-To Guide and community process was featured prominently at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York as part of their ongoing series, By the People: Designing a Better America.

– The New York Times chose to lead its article about the Cooper Hewitt exhibit citing GHC’s work as its featured example of tactical urban design in action.

– Our Active Trails grant partnership enabled Nikki Lewis, community coordinator to lead 21 outdoor education field trips engaging over 200 area kids on campouts, canoeing trips, stargazing excursions and hikes on nearby trails, as well as using public transit (CARTA) to visit landmarks like Lookout Mountain’s Point Park. Shout out to Outdoor Chattanooga for the partnership!

– Usher Raymond made a special visit to Glass Street, choosing to feature Studio Everything and local artists and kids in his TNT documentary feature that aired over Thanksgiving this year as part of State Farm’s Neighborhood Sessions.

– We founded the Glass Farm Block Leaders, a new community leadership initiative coordinated by Glenwood neighborhood leader, Dr. Everlena Holmes. 15 Block Leaders currently serve as neighborhood point people to share information and welcome new residents.

– Habitat for Humanity’s Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI) has chosen us as an official partner and the Glass Farms Neighborhood as the impact area for their work improving private residences. Their partnership directly correlates with our Residential Improvement lens.

– GHC and NRI hosted a Neighborhood Beautification Blitz on June 5th, where 10 homeowners received landscaping and residential assistance in one day, with over 20 volunteers.

– Habitat’s NRI team and volunteers have surveyed 149 residents around the Glass Farms neighborhood since beginning their focus here in September 2016.

–  Habitat’s NRI team has completed renovation for 3 homeowners, and they are processing 4 viable applications from interested homeowners heading into 2017.

– We commissioned local artists 2$ON and Charlie Newton to create 90 ft. panels of original artwork now installed on either side of the formerly broken and vacant billboard at the Glass Street and Dodson Avenue intersection. This sign was one of our How-To Guide Phase II projects and creates an eye-catching gateway focal point for the neighborhood.

– Local artist Zachary Reynolds of Woodwise designed and coordinated the efforts of local youth to complete 6 tables and 12 chairs fabricated from inexpensive plywood. This How-To Guide’s “Portable Street Furniture” project then provided seating during the September Glass Street LIVE event.

-Under Chris Woodhull’s leadership, Build Me a World, a non-profit focused on mentoring Chattanooga’s at risk youth, now shares building space at 2501 Glass Street with our GHC offices, and hosts Wednesday “Alive and Free” support meetings.

– Empower Chattanooga continues to host free cost saving energy workshops and have held 10 meetings this year in conjunction with our GNN meetings.

– We’ve partnered with Empower and Love Fellowship church members to serve food and engage residents at our pop-up family movie nights series at Love Fellowship. There were 13 movie Nights in 2016 and 520 people attended over the course of a year.

– In partnership with Hardy Elementary, Glass House Collective, Studio Everything and Empower Chattanooga hosted a Back to School Bash to give students a kick-off to their new school year.

– We hired Nikki Lewis as our Community Coordinator, Whitni McDonald as our Communications Coordinator, and Tara Poole as our part-time Director of Operations and Development.

– Nikki Lewis attended 18 neighborhood association meetings and collected over 200 surveys to assess residents’ input about extending trail and park access. We combined their input with leadership from W.M. Whitaker Landscape Architects and Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the Southeast Conservation Corps (SECC) to the table as partners to create a master plan that will eventually connect with the South Chickamauga Greenway via Billy Goat Hill.

– GHC, SECC and TPL and Sierra Club completed the Pennsylvania Reservation connector trail from Glass Street to Sherman Reservation, a 50-acre National Park in Glass Street’s backyard.

– Our partners with the SECC also completed the Fitness Loop connector portion of the trail following an old rail bed that completes the trail loop linking the Pennsylvania Reservation trail to Awtry Street.

– We commissioned artist Geoffery Meldahl to design and fabricate temporary sculptural wayfinding signage for the new SECC trails. Meldahl completed the signs at Studio Everything (fulfilling another How-To Guide project goal), and they are now installed at both ends of the Pennsylvania and Sherman Reservation connector trail.

– Residents and youth partnered with Rondell Crier to design and fabricate two coordinated functional sculptures: the Atlas Ring bike rack and Icarus Wing bike repair station. As bike transport is a main way users make it out to the open studio afternoons on Tuesdays and Thursdays, this How-To Guide project is as practical as it is beautiful and educational.

– We coordinated a Juneteenth commemoration program up at Sherman Reservation, featuring poetry, speeches, and music in honor of the holiday to mark the official end of slavery in America.

– Local businesses received access to a much-requested practical resource: Portable sandwich board signage any group can use to advertise specials and announce active presence on the street. Part of our How-To Guide Phase II effort toward “quicker, cheaper, and lighter” solutions, the signs were built by contracted residents, using inexpensive materials, and came in particularly handy during the Glass Street LIVE party.

– 17 Glass Street youth participated in this year’s Mainx24 Parade as part of the Wayne-O-Rama float waving and making the puppets dance that they helped to create earlier this year for our Glass Street LIVE parade.

– As part of our public space and streetscape impact area, we have expanded our footprint to include the Dodson and Glass Street intersection, and are working with city partners to attract a Save A-Lot grocery store to the intersection, along with parking lot improvements.

– We invited Kevin Smith, Monty Bruell, Carlos Hampton, and Vanessa Jackson to join our Board of Directors.

– We celebrated our Executive Director, Teal Thibaud’s acceptance to National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program hosted at Harvard University.

– We hosted two separate Collective Investment Tours where we shared a meal and invited interested community members to visit us on Glass Street, and plan ways to directly contribute their time and money toward our work.

– We joined the fun with Alex Gilliam of Public Workshop leading Avondale Rec. Center youth through the design build process in partnership with green|spaces and AIA.

– GHC supported this year’s National Night Out at East Chattanooga Rec Center, a fun, safety-oriented community festival with 300 local participants dancing, sharing school supplies, face painting, and serving hot dogs.

– We supported a Community led Halloween Party held at the Avondale Rec. Center ballfields, serving 750 East Chattanooga neighbors, with plenty of candy for the kids!

– This year’s Community Christmas Party was completely resident-led and initiated under the leadership of Katie McCallister through the Good Neighbor Network, with support from the Glass Farms Block Leaders and Mark Making for usage of their space.

This list keeps us motivated to continue exploring creative avenues to better connect and foster new life here on Glass Street. We’ve grown this year! With your ongoing support we hope to continue garnering national attention for our work, inviting everyone to the table, and collaborating to create a place where we can thrive.

Here because we love it here,

Teal Thibaud

Executive Director

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