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!

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

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.

Since 2016, Glass House headquarters has been located at 2501 Glass Street—a rented space that serves as a brick-and-mortar center for community connectivity, where we host community meetings, creative events, and partner programs. GHC’s plan to transition into a newly restored building site is in keeping with our model to inspire activity and investment in the buildings we’ve occupied. For example, when we began work in 2012, we partnered with architects and local craftsmen to restore space at 2523 Glass Street, now owned by Michele Peterson, a local entrepreneur who has furthered the restoration process, creating a beautiful event and office space there.

The former Ray’s Records building at 2513 N Chamberlain Ave. is a collaborative restoration project between the building’s owner, Mary McSears, New Blue Construction contracting with local plumbers, electricians, and other craftsmen, and Habitat for Humanity’s Neighborhood Revitalization program volunteers, and featuring designs by Jared Hueter of Cogent Architects.

Daniel Gamble, program coordinator for Neighborhood Revitalization with Habitat explains the unique opportunity the renovation work has been as a partnership project with Glass House Collective:

“Working on Ray’s is a chance for us to gain more experience and stretch and translate our residential restoration abilities into what works for a historic commercial space. It’s also been cool that New Blue employs local tradesmen from the neighborhood… to have so many businesses join together to bring quality work that’s cost effective and locally supportive.”

So far, the transformation has been huge. The layers of plaster in the space reflect the layers of use within this commercial site. As the antique sign out front says, the site has been home to Fosters Clothing Supply, Ray’s Records, among others over the years. Therefore, the process is about revealing the historic and well-crafted bones within the space, while updating and making it structurally sound, something GHC has relied heavily on Stuart Gaines of New Blue construction, and member of our advisory board, to direct. Reflecting on the progress of the work throughout this year, Gilbert Gann, of the New Blue team shared:

“When New Blue got involved at the old Ray’s record building on Chamberlain Ave, we found a space that had been started, but need to be finished in order to bring the building into a modern, working order. Now, the space has transformed while exposing and highlighting old elements of the space. There will be modern touches of design and build, pushing the space to be a viable option for business and gatherings.

Working with sub-contractors from the neighborhood, Glass House Collective, Habitat for Humanity, Cogent Studios, Studio Everything, and the neighborhood building owners have afforded the unique opportunity to be part of a restoration from the ground up, involving literally dozens of people. It will be wonderful to see this space live again, and we hope it can attract similar fates for the buildings around it.”

Glass House Collective and our partners and neighbors are all very excited about the progress in this new space. We like to think that our restored commercial space proves the potential of this historic district and its unique architecture.

By the end of the day, the porch looked years younger, and sturdier, thanks to the crew’s TLC. The rest of the house repairs and improvements extended to a full gutter sweep, roof and siding scrub, porch carpet removal and scrub-removal of mold and flaking paint, and removal of invasive vines causing partial damage to the home’s siding. Inside, one room was also receiving drywall repairs and replacement patching where walls and floorboards were showing signs of damage. It was tough, sore-muscle work that renewed our respect and appreciation for the hard work Habitat’s staff and volunteers take on each week, and also rewarding to pitch in and practice new ladder skills.

We’re consistently hearing positive feedback from residents who have gone through Habitat’s NR program, many of whom bridge from their participation on their own residence, to caring for the neighborhood collectively, by attending and participating in meetings and events like the Good Neighbor Network meeting held the first Monday of every month.

During the last meeting, Deborah and David Bledsoe shared about what a blessing it had been for them to experience the Habitat NR program for themselves, as the most recently completed home in the neighborhood. We look forward to finding out what good leadership their renewed energy might bring to our community.

This year the Blitz will span two days: May 11 and 12. On Thursday, the main work day, we’ll be leading a group of 70 volunteers from the Keller Williams Realtors Association in landscape improvement to 17 private residences in the neighborhood and three commercial spaces along Glass Street. Projects will center around brush removal, pruning, mulching, flower planting, and debris/garbage removal.

Additionally, Brenna Kelly, SECC director, will lead brush clearing at the Awtry terminus of the connector trail they completed this winter. On Friday, we’ll be joined by Matt Whitaker of WMWA Landscape Architects, for final tree work and commercial space work wrap-up with Lowes volunteers.

It’s amazing to see what’s blossomed in this partnership over the course of a year, with 139 surveys conducted, dozens of homeowners entered into Habitat’s NR program, a Town Hall event to review overall neighborhood impact, and ongoing support of one another’s team as we strategize how to best engage and build on the unique assets neighbors here have to offer. We’re so grateful to be able to team up and tackle work that underscores pride of place.

The day kicked off with coffee, donuts, and cheerful, early morning mingling before the official welcome and overview about our collaboration, offered by Teal Thibaud, GHC Executive Director, and Daniel Gamble, Habitat’s director of the pioneering NR initiative.

To accomplish maximum results in one day, we were split into groups to tackle residential repair work for two local homeowners, clean-up and restoration work at one local business: Ashanti Hair Designs, and conducting neighborhood surveys.

Rondell Crier recalls that stepping away from the studio to work on porch repair at Gloria’s home gave him a sense of tangible usefulness. “The artistic work I do both on my own and with the kids at Studio Everything often feels abstract, but this was a day to roll up my sleeves and serve in an immediate need. That’s why I’m so supportive of the Neighborhood Revitalization work model that Habitat does here in East Chattanooga: they team up with the homeowners to involve them in the entire home improvement process.”

Although Rondell had to get to another meeting in the afternoon, and was unable to return to the work at Gloria’s residence, we were able to share lunch conversation, during which she spoke about her skills with sewing and dream of perhaps even turning her craftiness as a seamstress into a creative business venture. Without the whole day committed together, the casual lunch discussion wouldn’t blossom in such an open way.

During the morning, Nikki Lewis, GHC Community Coordinator, worked with the crew clearing out the storage area adjoining Ashanti Hair Designs. She felt encouraged to have the extra enthusiasm and support for Tina, the owner of Ashanti, as she works to keep her business thriving. Nikki recalls: “Even when we were tired and hot, we knew that once we got done Tina’s upstairs would look amazing, and she could begin to have a broader vision for her upstairs.”

Teal Thibaud, Executive Director of GHC and Whitni McDonald, Communications Coordinator, were each paired up with Habitat for Humanity staff to visit homes and ask survey questions, opening channels for discussion and assessing the neighbor’s overall experience living on his or her particular block.

Both were glad to have the chance to connect with our neighbors so directly in this way, and found that being paired with Habitat for Humanity allowed for a more neutral stance for engaging in vulnerable, honest conversation about neighbors’ day to day life experience as Glass Street residents. The survey includes many questions about quality of life experience, safety, community trust, and access to various types of resources. Additionally, there is a survey question about any particular skills or talents the resident may want to mention.

Teal was just overwhelmed with appreciation for the fact that Habitat invited their entire staff and board, and even closed their Re:Store, a commercial enterprise, in order to allow the entire staff time to participate together out here in the Glass Farms neighborhood.

David Butler, the Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga was struck with how different residents’ impressions were depending on what block we were visiting. Some residents shared that they felt safe, generally liked the neighborhood, and gave the impression that they were satisfied. While others felt pessimistic about safety, yet had plenty to share about personal goals and talent areas. As David expressed, “I was struck with the importance of keeping an open mind as conversations progress. One young father seemed reluctant to have us approach at first, but he’s talented (an artist); enterprising (has his own construction business) and open (spent at least 45 minutes with him, and he was very honest about his thoughts). Overall, I learned a lot and feel that the day made me more aware of the work that Neighborhood Revitalization is doing in the area.”

There’s really nothing more powerful than a joint effort to get out and engage with an entire neighborhood, asking questions and directly assisting projects that transform a home from a costly liability into a source of pride and value. As Habitat’s NR Director, Daniel Gamble has taken on the challenge of coordinating efforts focused on one particular neighborhood at a time. Now in Glass Farms, he values the partnership GHC fosters with NR, as their work directly fulfills our Residential Improvement strategic focus lens, which articulates the 2 year goal to restore residential property in the immediate neighborhood. It was a particularly satisfying day for him, as he had the opportunity to share his method and projects with the whole Habitat for Humanity Chattanooga team.

As Daniel expressed in reflecting on the day, “I can’t imagine how it could have gone better. Individuals from each level of our organization experienced the same things I do every day: the hospitality of the residents, the impact of the work, and the strength of our partnerships. I felt privileged to see all of the moving parts working together, exemplifying what Neighborhood Revitalization is.”

After laying the groundwork, the Blitz event was able to come off as a successful cooperative event where 10 local homeowners were served in one day. Daniel could then follow-up with those neighbors during the following week to set priorities through June, and ongoing needs.

Often Habitat Chattanooga’s work in their home repair operations (NRI) focus on a longer scope of action with one family at a time. But this unique event allowed the volunteers to reach a higher quantity of residences. The Beautification Blitz also served as an introduction to the neighborhood for volunteers, kicking off Habitat’s focus of impact in the Glass Farms Neighborhood, setting new boundaries for the focus of their work.

In spite of some rainy weather local Abundant Life Church arranged a hearty Fish Fry from local business, Glass St. Breakfast and Lunch House, as a way to nourish the busy volunteers and facilitate social camaraderie over good food.

For Glass House Collective, this partnership is a natural branch growing from early “next big thing” community feedback, setting goals for residential improvement. At least one of the families we worked for was a homeowner not contacted before, but they responded positively and now looped into activities as a direct result of the Blitz.