April 2026 - Cvsg-news - list.chattanooga.digital

REMINDER: Chattanooga Venturing Dialogue on Housing, Monday 5:30 PM
by Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. April 24, 2026

April 24, 2026

Are you concerned about housing costs? Do you want housing options that align with community requirements? Please join us for the next Chattanooga Venturing Dialogue this Monday, 5:30 PM (doors open at 5:00), for a dialogue about housing anchored by Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise. Not only will you get insights into our current housing issues, you will help define solutions. In the process you will learn about community engagement methods you can use and actions you can take to address the issues. Do you know anyone working on these issues? If so, please pass this email along! Get more information and register online at https://luma.com/oo948apo — Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Executive Officer and Principal Eduity, LLC www.eduity.net greg(a)eduity.net 706-271-5521

1 0

CVSG April Newsletter: What does community engagement have to do with housing?
by Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. April 17, 2026

April 17, 2026

Chattanooga Venturing Dialogue on Housing What does community engagement have to do with housing? Find out at the next Community Venturing Dialogue on April 27th at 5:30 PM <https://luma.com/oo948apo>! The dialogue will be anchored by Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise's (CNE) President & CEO, Chris Thompson. During this session you will learn how CNE was developed via Venture in the 1980s, the results of CNE's work, and what CNE is doing today, including its 40th anniversary activities. Most of the dialogue will focus on current housing issues and feature learning-by-doing about how to establish a shared understanding and vision among community members. Attendees will dialogue about the issues and evaluate options for addressing them. We will dig into how we might expand access, increase supply, preserve affordability, and prevent displacement. We will also work through partnership opportunities and options for regional and neighborhood strategies. By the end of the session, which will be led by CNE team members, we will identify key housing challenges for our community and bold ideas to overcome them. The objective is to leave with clear understanding of actions we can take as community members and leaders. Please join us and share this with others who are concerned with housing in the Chattanooga area! We will have networking at 5:00 PM and the program will start at 5:30. Get more information and register to attend online at https://luma.com/oo948apo. Information about all scheduled Study Group events is available at https://luma.com/ChattanoogaVenturing. Why Engage the Community? There are three simple reasons to engage community members in planning. First, there is much better and more knowledge about issues among community members, particularly those dealing with the issues directly, than among any small group. This is also the reason to get input from outside experts and learn about what other communities have done. Second, people tend to support that which they help to create. They need to see their input in the vision and their part in achieving it to know their issues will be addressed by the solutions. Third, a common approach to a shared vision provides a flexible framework for collaboration and makes coordination much easier, which makes the solutions much more effective. Every leader should understand the principles based on these reasons. Too few do. That's why the Study Group exists: to apply and promote these principles. It's also why we are evolving our approach. More on that below! Evolving the Study Group The Chattanooga Venturing Study Group is refocusing on applying lessons from Venture and similar initiatives while continuing to execute our program for 2026. We are going to focus on how to genuinely engage community members and connect disparate efforts rather than adding another siloed initiative. The goal is to learn about and share goals, issues, needs, opportunities, and resources across the community... and to learn about community engagement by actually engaging the community: How do we tap into the capabilities and intelligence that is distributed throughout the community? How do we get community members to buy into and support efforts? How do we facilitate collaboration to maximize community benefits and reduce duplication of efforts and risk of conflict? Expanding the Dialogues The Study Group started with a series of speakers reflecting on what Venture did and how it did it. That evolved into our current dialogue series, which is more participatory, focused on today, and action-oriented. We want to expand the dialogues and make them more accessible. This summer we will move to a hybrid format. Dialogues will be conducted as online events for small groups at various locations, livestreamed via social media, and then posted online as podcasts. We are looking for hosts and sponsors! If you are interested, email Dr. Greg Laudeman, greg(a)eduity.net. Taking the Group Online The Study Group now has an online home, thanks to Chattanooga.Digital <https://chattanooga.digital/>. Check it out! https://venturing.chattanooga.digital/. We will use this platform to coordinate Study Group activities and share information about Chattanooga Venture, the practice of community venturing, and related initiatives here and elsewhere. Reviving the Facilitator Bank The Facilitator Bank was a group of individuals trained in group facilitation methods who were available to help community group. It was established by Venture, taken over by the Regional Planning Agency after Venture's demise, but faded in the 2000s. The Study Group is going to need capabilities for the new focus so we're reviving the Facilitator Bank! Members of the Facilitator Bank will be educated about Chattanooga Venture and community engagement as well as trained in facilitation methods. As part of the program, participants will be required to facilitate a few informal "Community Confabs" about what people see as key challenges, resources, and visions for the future. If you are interested in either participating in the program or hosting a Community Confab, email Dr. Greg Laudeman, greg(a)eduity.net. NOW ONLINE: The Chattanooga Venturing 2026 Kick-off video! A video of our 2026 Kick-off, which featured a highly participatory process for identifying issues and mapping assets — and learning-by-doing about community engagement — is now online at https://vimeo.com/showcase/11773651?video=1181464770. Check out videos of our speaker series, including a recap video and a vintage video from 1994, at https://vimeo.com/showcase/11773651. About the Chattanooga Venturing Study Group The purpose the Chattanooga Venturing Study Group is the learn how to engage community members for inclusive, positive, sustainable change by studying Chattanooga Venture, the initiative that transformed Chattanooga from "America's Dirtiest City" to "America's Coolest City," and related initiatives. You received this message because you registered for or attended one of the Study Group’s events, asked to be included, or filled out the interest form. If you know anyone else who might be interested, please forward this email. If this email was forwarded to you by someone else and you are interested in participating in Study Group activities, complete the interest form online at https://cloud.eduity.net/apps/forms/s/KbHkwnS9TtBcBb5fSNFoKmA8 or just register for our next dialogue. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, click the unsubscribe link below. For additional information, contact: Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. greg(a)eduity.net 706-271-5521

1 0

Chattanooga Venturing Spring 2026: Reviving the Facilitator Bank
by Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. April 1, 2026

April 1, 2026

Our March 23rd dialogue on the Bend, the River, and environmental and cultural featured a great information and insights from Sally Robinson, Eleanor Cooper, Tricia King Mims, and Andy Wood. Sally provided a primer on how to engage the community, focused on the work she, Eleanor, and others did in the 1980s for the Moccasin Bend Task Force. Tricia provided details on the current situation and National Park Partner's vision for what the Bend could be. Andy shared the Tennessee Aquarium’s strategic planning process and how community members would be engaged in it. One of the most powerful statements of the night came from Andy when he noted our current challenge and opportunity as a community. He asked “how do we transform our community, again?” How do we build on the past and our amazing assets to increase appreciation of our natural and cultural assets? How do we not only maintain what we have but improve upon it to create the extraordinary? The general answer to these questions is via community engagement and mobilization. Comprehensive community engagement is a way to overcome fragmentation. Chattanooga isn’t one community, it’s many. We have many community-based organizations seeking to engage people. Narrowly focused engagement efforts can contribute to the fragmentation and cause us to lose sight of the forest by focusing on the trees. How do we get a comprehensive, wholistic vision for our community, one that most everyone can benefit from and buy into? By engagement that focuses on people—community members—rather than causes, that is open to any and all causes. While we don’t have the resources or umbrella organization to take such a comprehensive approach, we can still do the practices. The only way to learn how to engage and mobilize community member is to do it. We can learn only so much by studying what Chattanooga Venture and related initiatives did; we have to actually do what they did. Those practices have value in their own right, beyond the benefits of a broad community vision. They are useful skills. And, we need these abilities to listen to the voice of the community, to hear what people want from—and can contribute to—it. For those reason, we are going to revive one of Venture’s most ingenious programs: The Facilitator Bank. It was (and will be) a group of people who are trained in community engagement, facilitation, and small group processes and are actively available to help community groups establish a vision, set goals, and succeed as community ventures. If you’re interested in joining the Facilitator Bank or know someone who might, please fill out the interest form by clicking here <https://cloud.eduity.net/apps/forms/s/KbHkwnS9TtBcBb5fSNFoKmA8> and mention “Facilitator Bank” as an interest. You can also attend our next regular Study Group meeting on April 7 at noon (click here to get more info and RSVP <https://luma.com/g3m0r4sj>). Our next public dialogue on April 27 will focus on housing supply with CNE. You can register online and find more information at https://luma.com/oo948apo. We are also planning a dialogue on urban design and development, hopefully for early June. More on both of those soon. Beyond that, our plans are to adopt a podcast approach, streaming the dialogues live online with a small in-person audience. And, the Study Group will move online via Venturing.Chattanooga.Digital <https://venturing.chattanooga.digital/>. To get involved with National Park Partners, visit their website, http://nppcha.org/. If you would like to directly connect with Andy about engagement opportunities with the Tennessee Aquarium, shoot me an email. Thanks for your interest in the Chattanooga Venturing Study Group! — Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Executive Officer and Principal Eduity, LLC www.eduity.net greg(a)eduity.net 706-271-5521

1 0