We received community input on how, where, and what should be designed at the corner of North Chamberlain and Glass Street.  ADA-compliant, handicap accessible sidewalks, streetlights, curb bump-outs, and traffic calming trees were all installed based on a design the using neighbors’ input. This was a big win for our community. The City of Chattanooga investment $350,000 into this intersection and since then we’ve seen 1.8 million dollars of public investment go into purchasing and renovating buildings along Glass Street.

In 2016 at the Next Big Thing Urbanism workshop, GHC was advised to “book end” Glass Street with similar improvements at the intersection of Dodson Avenue and Glass Street, and our neighbors were very excited to participate in generating design concepts. So, we made that a priority and raised funding to both solicit feedback and begin the project.

In 2017, residents imagined a landscaped Glass Street at the intersection of Dodson Avenue and Glass Street. They participated in an interactive activity at Glass Street LIVE that invited color-coded post-it style feedback to indicate preferences for green space, desired or undesired land use, and a color for new ideas.

Under the leadership of Nicole Lewis, our Community Relations Manager, the 80 responses received at GSL were collated, and GHC further engaged residents in what they would like to see take shape at the intersection of Dodson Avenue and Glass Street. During February and March 2018, Nicole initiated twelve community input design sessions engaging 200 neighbors in the East Chattanooga area. Building on the input gained during 2017 Glass Street LIVE, the process focused on partnering with community leaders, neighborhood associations, local elementary schools, and neighbors.

The artistic process for gathering feedback was created and facilitated by 800 Collective’s Josiah Golson and Mary Ann Twitty. The Chattanooga Design Studio was involved in the initial meeting with 800 Collective about the information needed to be useful for planning. Shawana Kendrick, who was an assistant facilitator in the 2014 community input sessions centered around the North Chamberlain and Glass St. intersection, was hired to help with facilitation of the larger meetings.

With funding from the Lyndhurst Foundation, Glass House Collective had the opportunity to invest dollars in neighbors to host the streetscaping dinners, instigating a flow of welcome and pride through sharing hospitality with friends new and old. Residents invited their neighbors into their homes for small group discussions about improvements needed at the intersection. Over 50 neighbors participated in the dinners. Many of these neighbors had never previously engaged in traditional meetings and had no interest in doing so, but were grateful to be engaged in a non-traditional manner. A Larger meeting was hosted by Councilwoman Coonrod and another one with Darien Scott from the Chamber at the Orchard Knob Elementary Community School PTA meeting. Habitat for Humanity and local neighbors were involved in the Recreation Centers meetings.

Since this streetscape project was so inclusive and creative, our application about the project was chosen as a panel presentation at the Intersections 2018, Smart Growth America’s placemaking and complete streets conference held nearby in Nashville, TN. Session overview can be found here. Speakers included:

·       Bert Kuyrkendall, P.E., Senior Transportation Engineer ()

·       Blythe Bailey, AIA, Administrator (Chattanooga Department of Transportation)

·       Nicole Lewis, Manager of Community Relations (Glass House Collective)

·       Josiah Golson, Artist (Glass House Collective)

·       Greg Heath, DHSc, MPH, Guerry Professor of Exercise Science, Health and Human Performance (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga)

During the neighborhood dinner sessions, common themes of safety, landscaping improvements, new uses for existing buildings, and new uses for a vibrant public space were included in the recommendations and analysis given to architect, David Barlew. The report and analysis can be found here. David created technical drawings from the analysis. He also estimated all costs for the project based on unit costs provided by CDOT.

At Glass Street Live 2018 on Saturday, November 3rd, David and a team of volunteers and neighbors installed a “tour” of the proposed permanent changes by along a 40-foot stretch between 2200-2300 Glass Street to take some of the ideas off the drawing board and temporarily illustrate them on a human scale. This provided for another chance to voice opinions. This short block was chosen as the “life-sized street sketch” for a few reasons, including the desire for wider sidewalks and a more pedestrian-friendly area. This stretch includes existing 9-foot sidewalks already, making it a great starting point to expand on that pedestrian-friendly idea.

Glass Farm resident Johnny Patmon volunteered to help kick things off in the morning and said he appreciates how the block party became a place for productive conversations directly with the community who are impacted and advocating for change on Glass Street. “That’s who you should ask in the first place, is the community who wants to see change and improvement in their community. So we asked people if they lived in the neighborhood and for how long because that’s important,” he said.

Feedback on the streetscaping proposal and signatures of support were gathered in different ways throughout the day at Glass Street LIVE. Gail McKeel, who has lived near Glass Street for years, prepared several signs expressing different opinions of the mock-up and streetscaping plans. Visitors to the installation were asked to pose for pictures with signs of their choosing that expressed their opinion of the proposed scheme. In all, Gail collected more than fifty photos of individuals, friends, couples, neighbors, and families sharing their thoughts about the mock-up. All 60+ photos of residents participating in this activity can be found here.

Our common public space comes alive only to the extent that we view it as a shared resource in which as many neighbors as possible participate and understand the difference design makes for everybody. We look forward to activating the area between now and when the permanent changes are underway.

]]> http://www.glasshousecollective.org/activating-intersections/feed/ 0 http://www.glasshousecollective.org/warmth-hope-end-year/ http://www.glasshousecollective.org/warmth-hope-end-year/#respond Fri, 04 Jan 2019 02:36:13 +0000 http://www.glasshousecollective.org/?p=5593 The staff of Glass House Collective were the invited guests of the Glass Farm Block Leaders Christmas Party and as much as we love to host, it was unbelievably special to arrive to this lovely neighborhood party as guests. Seeing neighbors gather together at meaningful times, neighbors organizing themselves around ideas and events to create connection and change, neighbors working toward common goals and showing their pride in Glass Farm… is the only gift we need.

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

Highlights from the day include that awesome streetscape simulator, watching all the Glass Street superheroes in their new capes, Gospel On Glass, delicious food made by our neighbors, and local art from around the community.

The Glass Farm Block Leaders booth was a busy place as Miss Janette and her volunteers gathered surveys and input from the neighborhood to select the design for new house banners for the Glass Farm historic district. The winning design will be revealed at this year’s Christmas party on Friday night! Janette said the survey participation during Glass Street Live was terrific and she really appreciates everyone who took the time to stop by the GFBL booth. Remember if you participated in the survey and signed up to receive a free house banner, free banners will be given to the first 50 who come to the Christmas Party Friday night, December 14th, at 6pm at 2523 Glass Street.

It was great to see so many people interact with the streetscape installation, lead by architect, David Barlew. Glass Farm resident, Johnny Patmon, volunteered to help kick things off in the morning and said he appreciates how the block party became a place for productive conversations directly with the community who are impacted and advocating for change on Glass Street. “Thats who you should ask in the first place, is the community who wants to see change and improvement in their community. So we asked people if they lived in the neighborhood and for how long because that’s important,” he said.

Feedback on the streetscaping proposal and signatures of support were gathered in different ways throughout the day at Glass Street LIVE! Barlew said that Gail McKeel, who has lived near Glass Street for years, prepared several signs expressing different opinions of the mock-up and streetscaping plans. “Visitors to the installation were asked to pose for pictures with signs of their choosing that expressed their opinion of the proposed scheme. In all, Gail collected more than fifty photos of individuals, friends, couples, neighbors, and families sharing their thoughts about the mock-up,” David said. The pictures will be delivered to CDOT to show support for the proposed streetscaping.

As usual, Glass Street Live’s food vendor’s did not disappoint. In fact, Miss Dunyetta of D’s Eggroll’s says the block party continues to be a great venue for her small business and 2018 was her best year yet. “GSL is great for exposure. It opens our menu up to a lot of new customers. It’s so exciting to see the people and the support that they gave us. We really enjoyed ourselves,” she said.

GHC Community Relations Manager, Nicole Lewis, spent the day helping some of the neighborhood’s youngest superheroes earn their capes. Judging from the number of capes buzzing around Glass Street Saturday afternoon, the Capes and Superheroes activity was a hit. “The kids really enjoyed completing the tasks,” Lewis said. Be on the lookout for a fun campaign coming in the new year to celebrate these young neighbors who are superheroes for their neighborhood.  Also, a special shout out to Leo Ascarate. Leo screen printed Glass Street on the back of the capes. Thank you, Leo!!!

Hardly last and never least, starting the day with a full program from Gospel on Glass was the best. GOG curator and musical director, Deborah Bledsoe, did an amazing job selecting the performers and pulling the stage together. Miss Deborah said the whole day “felt like a big holiday celebration with friends and family!” Indeed.

Let’s do it again next year !

REVISIT THE DAY! Browse the photos here

We have included links to some of the media coverage the event received and appreciate the journalists who came out to cover this important and developing story. Those links include plenty of background information and additional resources surrounding this hot topic.

“We are concerned about the limitations that the newly proposed M-1 industrial zoning will place on future development possibilities. We wholeheartedly support the redevelopment of the Harriet Tubman site, but there must be clear measures of accountability to ensure that our input is acted upon and that low-income and working- class families will actually benefit from redevelopment,” according to the statement released at the Tuesday press conference.

Glass House Collective is thankful for the Unity Group’s bold statements and direct action on behalf of our community.  Please note that there are two upcoming important public meetings listed below concerning the rezoning request that are happening the beginning of next week. We hope to see many familiar faces standing up for their community at both the City Council meeting and the Regional Planning meeting.

Unity Group’s full public statement can be read here.  The 6-page document includes a call to action regarding the redevelopment plans for the former Harriet Tubman Homes public housing site, outlining “existing community needs and future steps we would like the City Government to take to ensure that the 44 acres of public land are used to create real opportunities for working families in East Chattanooga.”

Among other things, the Unity Group are putting forth four specific requests as well as a general plea for consideration and collaboration with East Chattanooga residents and stakeholders on any projects considered for the Tubman site.

One of the four requests includes the creation of an enforceable community benefits agreement (CBA) with the developer(s). Unity Group describes a CBA as “a project-specific agreement between a developer and a broad community coalition that details the project’s contributions to the community and ensures community support for the project. They can address a wide range of issues and are legally binding when properly structured.”

This new rezoning request comes while the Area 3 Plan process is still underway, with recommendations from that plan expected in early 2019. This summer, Glass House Collective along side so many of our neighbors took time to participate in the development of the Area 3 Plan where we discussed land use and a community vision; we drafted values, priorities and goals.

Jonah Williams, who has rented homes in several of the Area 3 neighborhoods, is now a Glass Farm home owner. Jonah says he is confused by the rezoning request, especially after participating with the RPA’s public input sessions for Area 3.

Area 3 includes Avondale, Battery Heights, Bushtown, Churchville, Boyce Station, Ferger Place, Gaylan Heights, Glass Farms, Glenwood, Highland Park, Oak Grove, Orchard Knob, Park Central, Ridgedale, Riverside, Watehaven and Wheeler.

“We’re not against good ideas. But this request now contradicts what was already started and all the strides in conversation we had as a community this summer. RPA spent time collecting data. So this feels a bit like putting the cart before the horse, when we don’t even have the results of that plan. That’s confusing for me,” Mr. Williams said.

While Area 3 is a large area that also includes the Tubman site, the 44 acre site is a big topic of discussion when it comes to determining community-lead priorities for land use within Area 3. We expect as a result of the effort put into the Area 3 Plan to be working collaboratively with stakeholders, developers, residents and city officials once that plan is complete.

TWO IMPORTANT MEETINGS
Monday, December 10,  1pm
Public Hearing With Regional Planning Agency
County Commission Room
Hamilton County Courthouse
625 Georgia Avenue

Tuesday, December 11 6pm – 7pm
City Council
Assembly Room, City Council Building
1000 Lindsay Street

In Case You Missed It:

• WRCB-TV3: Unity Group Wants Input For Former Harriet Tubman Complex
• Times Free Press: Community Leaders Want Andy Berke to Pull Rezone Request For Former Harriet Tubman Housing Site
• WDEF-TV12: Community Group Outlines Steps For Harriet Tubman Site
• YOUTUBE: video from WRCB-TV

Reaching back across GHC’s six-year span of work instigating various projects around Glass Street, Beckett writes about the effectiveness of celebrating historic, cultural, and artistic assets as a way to inspire confidence and pride of place.

“Pop-Up Projects generated quite the buzz where exhibits were formed to further solidify the growth of the artistic community, as well as demonstrate the rich history, and flourishing transformation that is currently engulfing Glass Street.”

Read Beckett’s full article by clicking the image link below.

Urban Art Bike Camp: Art 120, a non-profit organization set out to teach kids appropriate welding and design skills to create a unique art bike to ride during our upcoming Glass Street LIVE parade. The two week camp, run by Kate Warren, was held at the East Chatt YFD Center and created a lot of buzz amongst not only the kids participating in the camp, but also amongst the kids in the neighborhood since they were able to see the progress of the bikes from start to finish. From a ladybug to a red race car swivel bike, each camper was involved in the designing and creating of their pieces from beginning to end. The campers, along with their recently finished bikes, will be able to participate in the Glass Street LIVE Parade on October 8th.

Magic Markers Teens: Mark Making of Chattanooga, an organization started by local artist, Frances McDonald, held its third year of Magic Markers Teens this year. The work readiness program has provided local teens a creative space to come together and create three murals to hang around the neighborhood. These murals are not only aesthetically pleasing to the community, but also provide an important message of hope. During each session, the teens are led by a group of local artists to pick three inspirational and relevant words to create the murals. This final session’s three words were “Growth”, “Develop”, and “Help!”. To learn more about Magic Markers teens, visit the recent article Times Free Press wrote about them here.

Archway Kids: Michele Peterson, local businesswoman, started Archway Kids about a year ago in what is now the Archway building on Glass Street. Every Wednesday night young adults in East Chattanooga gather together to learn various marketing skills from Michele, all while practicing the social and professional skills essential to working and collaborating with others in a business environment. Although Michele believes it is important for these young adults to learn these important skills, this doesn’t mean all work and no play! Just recently Michele and the rest of Archway crew went rafting down the Ocoee River! To learn more about Archway Kids visit their facebook page here.

Mozilla Haunt Camp: We are so excited to announce the launch of the first Mozilla Haunt camp this summer! GHC’s Community Coordinator, Nicole Lewis received a separate grant to run the pilot program, and has been teaching kids in the community the skills to create their own video games. In addition to learning the physical process to creating a video game, the participating youth were challenged to create a game that highlights some of the various problems teens face today in the East Chattanooga community.

We were so pleased with his work, reminding us once again how important a solid team is, as we depend on one another to accomplish progress in this community.

Together we’re here on Glass Street, listening to our neighbors, planning and hosting meetings where crucial conversations and enlightening exchange can take place, fundraising and organizing those funds, pushing up sleeves and lacing up boots to get outside, clearing paths, building partnerships, telling the stories of people proud to be living here as they reach for improvements and resources needed to make their neighborhood shine.

Read more about who we are, and see the new photos here.

– 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

]]> http://www.glasshousecollective.org/2016-highlights/feed/ 0 http://www.glasshousecollective.org/gearing-christmas/ http://www.glasshousecollective.org/gearing-christmas/#respond Fri, 09 Dec 2016 17:54:49 +0000 http://www.glasshousecollective.org/?p=4278 Neighbors are definitely getting excited about the developing plans coming together for this year’s community Christmas Party, hosted by Good Neighbor Network and local Block Leaders, along with GHC.

This year friends and partners of the neighborhood revitalization work in this community have all been personally invited to join the fun as we mingle and share food together. It’s been a challenging year for many, but those organizing agree that there is also so much to celebrate and be festive about, so we welcome the chance to join in.

The party will take place at Mark Making on Thursday, Dec. 15 from 6-8PM.

Please RSVP  via e-mail if you have not yet done so and plan to attend:

teal@glasshousecollective.org or call Nikki Lewis at 423-618-9865

Last week we joined our community in giving thanks, even in the midst of challenges and loss. As we gathered with family to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, the Glass House Collective team was grateful for some specifics, and want to share our list as we gear up for tomorrow’s #chagives campaign. Here is a list of the top 5 things the Glass House Collective is thankful for this year:

1. Our Kids. To celebrate the creativity going on here on Glass Street, Usher Raymond chose Studio Everything as a site to film part of his edition of State Farm’s Neighborhood Sessions. We were so excited to tune in together to watch as the TV special aired Wednesday, November 23 on TNT! The kids who work with Rondell Crier at the studio were so excited when he came for the surprise visit! The special highlighted Usher and State Farm’s efforts to revive music and arts education in Chattanooga.

2. Our Neighborhood. The more we get to know our neighbors, and listen to real input from them about priorities, the more we have to be thankful for! Glass Street is just one thoroughfare in the midst of East Chattanooga, but during big events like Glass Street LIVE or at regular Good Neighbor Network meetings, we keep catching the signal that this is a community ready for life to surge! We’re also thankful to appreciate brand new views of this place via aerial footage captured by Kelly Lacey during Glass street LIVE, as well as new access to Sherman Reservation on fresh cut trails by our friends at the SECC!

3. Our Partners. We firmly believe in our success depending on fostering solid partnerships, which is why we’ve recently devoted time away from our regular work day to team up with Habitat for Humanity’s volunteer crews as they focus in on the Glass Farms neighborhood for their Neighborhood Revitalization program. We also hear the excitement from local kids talking about the business learning happening on Wednesday evenings over at ArchWay. Recent guests touring to learn more about how to partner with us asked many questions about both ArchWay and Studio Everything, as they explored how best to lend their resources to our work.

4. Our Inspiration. We’re thankful for work with inspiring artists right here on Glass Street, like Rondell Crier, our Studio Everything partner paving the way for mentor-relationships with budding artistic craftsmen like 2$ON and Christian and Amari. We also thrive on the infusion of life from seeing the work of outside artists and urban designers paving the way forward in the arena of community engaged design. Friends like Public Workshop’s founder Alex Gilliam who came from Philly to design and build with kids at the Avondale Rec Center, and artists like Wayne White and Mimi Pond who have been working for months to create the awe-inspiring Wayne-O-Rama. The relationships these and many other artists foster here at GHC make ripples that continue to energize our specific work in this specific place.

5. Our Community. The list of organizations participating in the #chagives campaign this Giving Tuesday is a great reminder that we get to participate and do our work within a caring and responsive community, taking care of one another when painful tragedies hit home. It was great to celebrate and feast alongside partners at Causeway as a part of their citywide One Table feast. We also shared info and resources about how to best support those in our city hit with loss last week with the Woodmore Elementary bus accident and the Art120 building fire.

Happy Thanksgiving from Glass House Collective!

Additional Note:

Please remember to reach out tomorrow! Many are hurting after unimaginable loss, following the Woodmore Elementary Bus tragedy last Monday 11/21. According to the Times Free Press lines to donate blood were out the door at all area locations, directly following the accident. In the midst of grief, we’re thankful for a community that cares and responds. Here’s United Way’s list of the best ways to continue offering help and support.