But it doesn’t end there.

Nearly 75 Glass Farm residents have installed Historic Glass Farm Neighborhood Pride house banners or yard signs in front of or on their homes all around the neighborhood.  Along with our partners at Habitat For Humanity, volunteers spent several weekends this spring visiting, delivering and installing community-designed signs to let everyone know that we love where we live!

Our proud history and bright future together is now on display for all to see.

None of this would have been possible without the vision of Glass Farm residents who care deeply about their neighborhood and the place we call home. Thank you to Glass Farm Block leaders, Janette Richie and others, who worked with artists and members of the community to create the banners. These leaders spent time looking outward and forward for more ways for neighbors to connect to one another and remind one another that, collectively, we can work to lift each other up.

As a result, now it seems like no matter where you turn in the neighborhood, there is pride everywhere you look. These things don’t just happen. It took a lot of work and collaboration but sometimes something as simple as a sign is all you need to tell the world that we are proud to stand together as residents of Glass Farm.

Thanks to the Lilian Colby Foundation for sponsoring this project and making it a reality.

Get in on this! If you don’t have a house banner or yard sign yet and would like one for your home or rental, please stop by the Glass House Collective office for a free sign or email info@glasshousecollective.org or call 423-402-0565!

Speaking of pride, many of the new Glass Farm house banners were distributed at the Christmas party and we were so glad we were there to hear everyone’s excitement and plans to hang their banners on their homes. As always, our appreciation to the Lilian Colby Foundation for sponsoring this project, which was sparked from an idea at a Glass Farm Block Leaders meeting nearly two years ago. It is so gratifying to see ideas from our neighbors turned into action. Now, everyone who drives through Glass Farm, will be able to see banners flying proudly from homes all around the neighborhood. Coming next: Be on the lookout for more neighborhood pride signs to place in yards as we look for different ways to celebrate and utilize the new winning design voted by the community!

In all, the evening was really special and we are so proud to see so many people working together to celebrate one another. Archway, especially Michele Peterson and Nedra Davis, generously hosted the party in their space and were the party sponsor. All the presents were generously gifted by Lee/Santa with Progress Barber Shop on Glass Street. Events With Taste provided the delicious food. And The Glass Farm Block Leaders provided the postage for the Christmas party invitations. Thanks for inviting us!

PHOTOS HERE

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!

Callie Burkhalter, Habitat’s AIP coordinator, told us the idea was born right here in Glass Farm where their home repair work has been focused this year. “We kept hearing from homeowners who were a part of our home repair program that they wanted to volunteer at the next project in the neighborhood,” she said. The Habitat staff decided to do something with all the enthusiasm they kept receiving so a volunteer group was formed and Neighbor Labor was born.

The idea is simple enough. Residents who have received help on their own home repairs can choose to volunteer once a month to help with other home repair projects that Habitat is leading in Glass Farm. That way, homeowners who gained new skills and friendships while working on their own home, can continue to use those skills and foster those friendships while working toward a common goal of improving their neighborhood. “It also gives residents a chance to get to know more people from another part of the neighborhood who they might not meet otherwise,” Burkhalter said, “So it’s a very cool social thing going on while we’re getting our work done. Friendships are forming by working together each month.”

Since launching in February, an average of 6-12 Neighbor Labor volunteers from Glass Farm have helped on 5 different home repair projects through out the neighborhood. These hardworking volunteers are doing anything from scraping and painting to repairing siding and even helping with finishing touches on new construction projects in the neighborhood. So far this year, homes on Davenport Street, North Chamberlain Avenue and Taylor Street have received the helping hands of Neighbor Labor. The next Neighbor Labor project is scheduled for the 2nd week of October, and the rest of the year will be weather permitting.

Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope. Callie said she is inspired to see how the work and mission of Habitat for Humanity to connect neighbors to one another and to local resources is taking on a new life through Neighbor Labor. “It is so great to see neighbors who want to continue investing in a program that they have personally experienced having an impact, and turn that into an opportunity to help others.”

And while elbow grease and sweat equity go a long way to improve our streets, Neighbor Labor gives Glass Farm residents a chance to provide something extra and perhaps more valuable: the act of showing up for each other and being a good neighbor.

For more information about Neighbor Labor please contact Callie at cburkhalter@habichatt.org

ICYMI: Check out this Video from Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga Area’s 4th Neighbor Labor in July where they facilitate needed repairs on homes with neighborhood residents. Neighbors helping neighbors out here in Glass Farm!

This campaign, funded by the Lillian Colby Foundation, will create a visual celebration of neighborhood distinctiveness that enforces our community’s identity, cohesiveness, and pride of home. That means soon you’ll be seeing and hopefully displaying custom designed house flags, yard signs, videos, and banners.

To get the ideas flowing, the Glass Farm Block Leaders formed a committee early this summer and set out to gather input from the community as a way to identify what we’re most proud of in the historic Glass Farm district as well as the business district along Glass Street. The committee is comprised of a homeowner, renter, business owner, and youth from the Glass Farm Neighborhood. These passionate neighbors will each receive a stipend for their time and commitment.

The committee distributed and gathered surveys in the recreation center, the residential neighborhood and the business district. The survey asked a few simple but important questions, including: What are you proud of in your neighborhood? And, If people were more proud of this neighborhood what it would look like?

Amber said she is most proud of “The amount of effort people are putting in the community to make it great.” Audrey is proud that there are “Expectations of becoming a great community.” Glenda mentioned that she feels most proud of “Neighbors keeping up their yards and houses.” Charlotte is proud that “Everyone knows everyone and everyone watches out for each other.”

Now that the surveying is complete, creative teams are forming to take the lead in turning all of this great input into a meaningful visual campaign that tells the world how proud we are to live, work and play in East Chattanooga. In the meantime, The Chattanooga Design Studio put together a collage of images of places in the neighborhood our resident committee is proud of. The creative teams will draw their inspiration from the over 50 surveys and photographs completed and combine that with a few more community work sessions. “This process is in place to empower our neighbors and business owners to work with a team of artists to instill a sense of pride amongst the residents and provide skills development opportunities to the area through Rondell Crier’s Studio Everything,” Community Relations Manager, Nicole Lewis, said.

The goal is to reveal the exciting results at the Glass Street LIVE block party on November 3.

If you’re a neighbor with more ideas, please get in touch with Nicole Lewis via email or phone to be added to the campaign contact list and stay informed about future planning sessions. nicole@glasshousecollective.org | 423-618-9865

What brought you to the Glass Farm Neighborhood?

FM: I was a part of the Habitat For Humanity new build program. I had a lot of choices between the Southside and over here in East Chattanooga. The people that were in the program with me soon became family and we wanted to be each other’s neighbors. Thankfully, we had that option over here in Glass Farm.

What do you hope to accomplish living in Glass Farm?

FM: I want to continue growing with my neighborhood and stay involved in projects. Maybe one day I’ll be knocking on doors asking people to come to our monthly Good Neighbor Network meeting. I am thankful for opportunities like cleaning the Glass House Collective space under my franchise company. I hope to always be informed so I can inform my neighbors.

Block leaders in the Glass Farm neighborhood recently coordinated a yard sale to raise funds to jumpstart the initiative. It was a huge success in pairing neighborhood investment with support from the CFGC and Lillian Colby Foundations. Block Leaders coordinator Janette Richie is excited to discuss ideas with her fellow neighbors. “I take pride in my neighborhood just like for us to become one big family.”

Thanks to foundation investment, it looks like we now have the funds to move forward.

Using national models, our Neighborhood Pride campaign plan is to produce banners, house flags, yard signs, and videos using our well-known resident – artist centered protocol.

We’re excited to continue partnering with Habitat’s Neighborhood Revitalization team to implement the residential component of the pride campaign including the yard signage and house banners. Studio Everything will be another crucial partner in designing and building pride signage to help mark and welcome passers-by to the neighborhood.

If you’re a neighbor with more ideas, please get in touch with Nicole Lewis via email or phone (nicole@glasshousecollective.org 423-618-9865) to be added to the campaign contact list and stay informed about future planning sessions.