Meet Glass House Collective’s Advisory Council

Things Just Got Real

We are so happy to introduce the new and inaugural cohort of the Glass House Collective Community Advisory Council for 2021. This is a great and passionate group of Glass Farm leaders and emerging community organizers from a cross-section of our neighborhood. From church leaders to business owners to resident activists, the Advisory Council has already hit the ground running holding their first meeting and giving input on several current projects.

Jamila Dunigan – Preschool Teacher, Glass Farm resident, and homeowner.  Jamila was one of the original members of Good Neighbor and loves working as a team to get things done. She brings tons of resources and relationships from within and outside of the community. The two neighborhood issues Jamila says she cares about are affordable housing & speeding.

Rosalyn Stewart-Kalaukoa – Physician liaison, Glass Farm business owner|operator. Rosalyn comes from a family of Glass Street entrepreneurs and is involved with the family business on the commercial corridor including All Good Coffee and Books and the vintage furniture store next door. She was a part of the team that produced the Drive-thru Nativity on Glass Street in December. Rosalyn says her outspokenness and organization skills make her an effective leader whose strength is communications and strategic planning. The issues Rosalyn would like to see addressed in our neighborhood are crime and helping existing homeowners.

Ricardo Noche – Glass Farm community organizer. Ricardo works with our partners at GreenSpaces working with Empower Chattanooga and B.I.G., and serving on the deportation defense team at Tennessee United. Ricardo will be also joining the economic mobility task force this year with CALEB.  Ricardo says his leadership style puts what is right before what is easy. He brings an understanding of people and open-mindedness to his work. The issues Ricardo wants to address are community resiliency and homeownership.

Audrey McClure –  Erlanger, Glass Farm resident, and homeowner. Audrey has been involved in her community for quite some time. She has worked alongside and within Glass House Collective, Good Neighbor, Glass Farm Block Leaders, and the old Glass Farm Neighbor Association. She says she loves serving and staying active as a neighborhood leader. Audrey is most concerned about safety and beautification in Glass Farm. 

JaMichael Jordan – Glass Farm Pastor. Pastor J has been involved in community work through his church ministry, numerous community service projects, and resource distribution in East Chattanooga. Pastor J says seeing injustice compels him to respond with his involvement whether that is through his teachings, mentoring, or public speaking. The issues that concern him the most are equity and family development. 

Deborah Bledsoe – Caregiver, Glass Farm resident, and homeowner.  Deborah is another long-time friend of the Collective and is a supporter of several local organizations. She is a compassionate leader and a people person who is always ready to help others. She brings a relaxed communication style and her gifts as a musician and gospel singer. Deborah’s priority issues for her neighborhood are beautification and safety.

Latoia Glatt, Esthetician, Glass Farm Business owner|operator.  LaToia is an active community volunteer whose business also gives back, especially when it comes to helping youth learn about important health and hygiene practices. Latoia says she wants what’s best for all people around her and as a leader does what needs to be done in order to help others survive and thrive. She brings a strong will and determination to get things done, as well as a spirit of creativity and spontaneity. The issues that concern her the most are beautification and being able to bring the community together as a whole.

Tina Stewart –  Glass Farm business owner. Tina is a longtime East Chattanooga entrepreneur who is continuing to build generational wealth while improving the Glass Street Commercial Corridor. Her Child Development Center has cared for countless neighborhood kids over the years whom Tina no doubt continues to motivate as they become young adults. She brings experience, enthusiasm and skills learned at the Leadership Academy to her advisory role. Tina’s issues in the community are focused on the children. 

ABOUT THE ADVISORY COUNCIL
The Advisory Council will provide input on Glass House Collective’s projects, lend knowledge for community initiatives, and participate in a training program to build neighborhood capacity. Participants will play an active role in decision-making for the future of the neighborhood, meeting to discuss GHC and community issues.

Members will be expected to participate in the following initiatives:

• Glass Street Gateway Intersection Plan
• Equitable Development Initiatives
• Glass House Collective’s Comprehensive Report
• Art Means Business Grant
• Glass Street LIVE 2021

The Advisory Council members will also participate in a community organizing training program aimed at building power at the neighborhood level called “Sway: The People’s Guide to Community Organizing”. This program consists of eight guided sessions with both residents and artists through a curriculum developed by CALEB. 

Glass House Collective’s Advisory Council
The deadline to apply is January 15. 

Applications are now live to apply for Glass House Collective’s Advisory Council. GHC has always worked towards meeting the needs of our community, and we are creating this council because we want to ensure that residents have a say in the decisions that affect our neighborhood. We believe that the true experts of this community are the people who live and work here, and we value your perspective and insight.

To that end, we are only accepting applications from people who live, work, and own in the Glass Farm Neighborhood. 

The Advisory Council will provide input on Glass House Collective’s projects, lend knowledge for community initiatives, and participate in a training program to build neighborhood capacity. Participants will play an active role in decision-making for the future of the neighborhood, meeting to discuss GHC and community issues.

Members will be expected to participate in the following initiatives:

• Glass Street Gateway Intersection Plan
• Equitable Development Committee
• Glass House Collective Comprehensive Report
• Artist Activation Grant
• Glass Street LIVE 2021

The Advisory Council members will also participate in a community organizing training program aimed at building power at the neighborhood level called “Sway: The People’s Guide to Community Organizing”. This program consists of eight guided sessions with both residents and artists through a curriculum developed by CALEB. 

If selected to join the council, you’ll be making a big commitment. We value your time and effort, and we’re providing a stipend of $1,500 for council members to participate in the GHC input sessions and Sway. Funds will be distributed at various intervals throughout 2021. Our community is diverse and it’s crucial that the makeup of this council reflects that. We value all participants sharing their perspectives and will be accepting applications accordingly. 

Click here to apply. The deadline for applications is January 15, 2021. Email info@glasshousecollective.org with questions.

The Art of Music

In my journey with GHC as a Creative Strategist, I get to meet, know and in some cases, I get to collaborate with people in the community. That’s the best part of my job. It’s even more amazing when the community member is a Creative as well. I light up with excitement.

I had the humbled honor of sitting down with Glass Farm Resident and local singer Deborah Bledsoe. She and her husband, also a musician, are members of the band “2 Deep Within.” I sat down with Mrs. Deborah at the All-Good Coffee and Used Bookstore located on Glass Street IN the Glass Farm community. 

I MUST pause for a moment to explain and describe the spot I chose to interview Mrs. Bledsoe.

Picture this: 

Have you ever seen an alluring space of knowledge?

Have you ever seen a dope coffee shop in a tv show and wanted that same vibe?  

I have felt and wanted this and then BOOM!!!  I experienced it in All-Good Coffee and Used Bookstore. This is Black-owned by a family resident. It is managed and curated by Kahla Stewart who is an amazing Creative herself. 

I sat down with Mrs. Deborah near a street window surrounded by books and art as Etta James plays in the close distance. I don’t know about you fine folks but when there are books, art, food, coffee, and music in the space nothing but great conversation can happen.  

I met her over a year ago during the planning and creating of SWAY: The People’s Guide to Community Organizing. I didn’t realize that I knew some of her family until then as well. I saw her band perform in Gospel on Glass street.  She has a soulful voice filled with strength and knowledge.

I asked Deborah about her early life and she told mE that it was filled with lessons. 

She lived a hard life that has taught her over the years how to appreciate all things.

She reminisces of times past when she was young.  She smiled in a nostalgic manner as she talked about her childhood. She loved singing and writing.  She and her 6 friends pretend to be the famous all-girl group “The Supremes”.  She smiled with such fondness for a carefree time. She knew back then that music and fashion would play huge roles in her life and she was content with that.  

She uses her voice to bring people together.  She and her husband have a very talented band named “2 Deep Within.”  She married into a singing family and spoke of how enriching it was to be able to communicate using music.

When I darted out into the street of conversation, I said “Do you consider yourself a Creator?  She without pause or question said, “Yes I am.”  She has created some inventions over the years. She hasn’t had them patented but that is creating with a purpose. She is also a talented seamstress. She is an amazing writer.  

I have had the pleasure of creating and performing with her and the band in 2019’s Glass Street Live. Her band played behind myself and 4 other local spoken word artists. It was a spiritual moment.  The music, the singing voices, and our poetry.

So very powerful!

Mrs. Deborah was a very important part of the entertainment committee for Glass Street Live 2019.  

I also had the inspiring opportunity to write for a documentary film  “Rhythm of Life” that highlighted Glass Farm residents and how their lives changed during the early months of the pandemic.  The Bledsoes are featured in the video with the words that I wrote.

Mrs. Deborah says that she enjoys being a part of the community working with GHC. She wants to see the community grow closer and become more involved in the building up of the neighborhoods. 

We have our work cut out for us and we are ready.  It is so refreshing to have community members that want to get involved and that don’t mind the hard work. 

Thank you again for returning to read my thoughts as I hear those in the community and amplify their message. 

Till next time….

#onelove #throughglass #heardandamplified

Rolling Surprise Rolls With The Changes 

Lessons in Resilience Come In Many Colors

A few days after we posted this teaser about a Rolling Surprise coming through the streets of Glass Farm at the end of July, we received the news that our partners with the City of Chattanooga’s transportation department (CDOT) decided out of an abundance of caution that they could not participate after all and that the committee’s impressive and instructive physical distancing guidelines and plans to proceed should be put on hold.

After months of planning, the news came the night before ‘game day’ and the creatives who concocted this fun idea of a safe and physically distant uplifting event for our community were busy putting all the final touches on their surprises.

The idea was a collaboration between City Artist, Jules Downum with Pop Up Project, ART120, Sound Corps, CDOT, Glass House Collective, Good Neighbor Network, Reach 1 Teach 1, Purpose Point Community Health and Hardy Elementary Community PTA. Early on in our discussions, it was agreed that whatever shape the rolling surprise took it should also include a fun way to distribute a few needed resources along with all the joy the artists would be providing.

BIG thanks to Sophie’s Shop and Creative Discovery Museum who donated a few essentials to put in a goodie bag that would be dropped on our neighbors’ lawns as the surprise rolled by. The colorful reusable bags included masks, art supply kits, journals, informative resources, school supplies, and bubbles.

While a few of the partners also had to pull out alongside CDOT, Gail McKeel, and Audrey McClure and other residents with Good Neighbor Network decided the Rolling Surprise could be rescued! It might look and feel a little different than originally imagined but the intention to keep the community first was at the heart of the idea in the first place and worth keeping in mind as they reworked the plan.

“True collaboration means no one owns it. The community members who invested their time and took this over really understand that. They saved the event and still found a way to have a great outcome in spite of such a last-minute change,” Downum said.

What was not scaled back was the passion and intention of everyone who showed up Saturday morning to make this happen. Youth from Reach1 Teach1 (R1T1) strapped on balloon jetpacks and pulled kiddie wagons filled with goodie bags and bottled water. We put on our inflatable multicolored crowns and started walking the neighborhood together. We were met with smiles and sweet waves of hello block after block after block.

“These are the things we must do collectively as a city to see a change in our communities!,” Reginald with R1T1 posted on social media. He said the youth in their program are always looking for ways to stay engaged but COVID has cut off many of those opportunities. “Thanks for inviting us to assist with this. This was an awesome and safe event and our youth had a great time!” he said. 

Surprise! Resilience lives in Glass Farm.

Thank you to all of our neighbors who showed up to roll with us or meet us in your yard with a smile. Thank you to ReachOne TeachOne Uca ,  Jules Downum , Gail McKeel, our parade marshall-Audrey McClure,  All-Good Coffee shop and Used Book store for providing dinner, Ms. Audrey Williams and Hardy Elementary Community PTA, Creative Discovery Museum, and Sophie’s Shoppe.  Thank you, Kate Warren, for the idea of the event and all the planning you put into it. We appreciate Purpose Point and The Village 2800 for all of their time helping plan the event too. Lastly, thank you to Good Neighbor Network for making it happen! 

PHOTOS by Kelly Lacy:
Good Neighbor Network on Facebook