The Chattanooga Transformation

Millennial 2020 coordinator Nick Arnett details his travels to his first city stop on his 12 city journey: Chattanooga, Tennessee.

I recently made my first Twelve Cities Project visit. I was Chattanooga-bound in sunny, beautiful 70-degree weather with the magnificent Smoky Mountains looming over my head. As I entered the Tennessee River valley and crossed into the Chattanooga area, it was easy to see why so many people have fallen in love with the beauty of this region.

But I wasn’t convinced that the aesthetic appeal of the place was the reason young talent has flocked there in droves over the past decade. I was determined to dig deeper.

My first morning there, I took a 5am walk (yes, 5AM) around the city’s center. There was a great sense of density and connectivity – everything, no matter what the distance, seemed to be within walking distance. The streets had a beautiful appeal to them, the sidewalks were comfortable to walk on, and there was an appropriate ratio of built environment to greenspace. Yes, they were little details – but they were little details that mattered.

I spent the majority of that morning with an awesome group of enthusiastic residents called CreateHere. Founded in 2007, they were determined to make a difference in both Chattanooga and the nonprofit realm from the start. Upon conception, they have a “supernova” date in mind – on December 31, 2011, they would cease to exist. They dubbed it their supernova date with the idea that a supernova either creates a black hole or shining stars. Based on what I observed during my visit, the latter is definitely true of this group.

In my own words, I’d describe them as an incubator for social innovation. I spent the morning (and a good deal of the week) learning about some of the awesome programs that had evolved out of CreateHere’s enthusiasm and passion for economic revival in Chattanooga. MakeWork, an artist grant program, seeks to change public perception of what art is to include new and emerging forms of artistic expression – new media, documentary production, to name a few. Click here to view a clip of my conversation with Kate Creason, the MakeWork Administrator. For a full list of programs that have been developed out of CreateHere, click here – and prepare to be blown away by seeing the explosive results of mixing arts, culture, economic development, and community attachment.

It was fantastic to see the energy, passion, and enthusiasm this group of young people had for Chattanooga – but I knew that wasn’t the whole story. I was only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Three decades ago, Chattanooga had be named the “dirtiest city” in the county and had hit rock bottom about as hard as it could. How did they rebound? How did they begin to establish themselves as – what I’m calling – the Silicon Valley of the south? How did they go from a “nearly dead city” to having such a vibrant and diversified economy, with such a high percentage of growth among young talent?

A conversation with J. Ed Marston of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce shed a little more light on this. Jed told me about where Chattanooga is today in regards to it’s recent deployment of the country’s fastest internet, and its journey to establish itself as a technology hub on a national and global scale. Additionally, Jed spoke a bit about the steps it took to begin the process – the importance of creating a regional vision that everyone bought into and used as guiding principles for whatever they did. This helped insure that everyone’s agendas were aligned and all worked towards a common goal in a collaborative fashion.

I was now scratching the surface, but I knew I wasn’t digging down to the roots yet. I still hadn’t found the spark that lit the torch for Chattanooga’s transformation.

A conversation with Pete Cooper of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga cleared that up.

As I asked Pete about Chattanooga’s story – where they had come from and what led to it – he emphasized one point: passion. It all started with a group of residents who were determined to see Chattanooga change for the better three decades ago, and they started to do so by taking on the enormous task of attempting to change residents’ perceptions of the city. Though they had made the unpopular decision to be fish swimming upstream, they knew that if Chattanooga’s residents loved the place that they lived – if they were attached to their community – they would be more inclined and willing to invest their time, energy, and talent into enhancing its overall desirability.

This point really hit home with me. On my way to Chattanooga, many had told me you can’t make a comparison between them and Fort Wayne. I beg to differ. Many cited the mountains and beautiful Tennessee River as reasons Chattanooga has seen explosive growth over the past few decades. However, many in Chattanooga pointed out the beauty of our cornfields, forests, and natural assets in Northeast Indiana as ways to attract people.

What it all comes down to is a simple, yet entirely complex shift that needs to occur in the mindset of our resident population. Many of us are deeply attached to Northeast Indiana and couldn’t see ourselves calling any other location home; that’s fantastic! Let’s build upon that. Too many times we focus on what we don’t have instead of what we could be. A vision is only as effective as the willingness of residents to turn it into action. Let’s create the Northeast Indiana we want to be.

Next up: Paducah, Kentucky.

To follow Nick’s travels, visit www.12cities12months.com.