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Chattanooga Venturing Dialogues and more!
by Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. March 3, 2026

March 3, 2026

Thank you to everyone who attended our first dialogue on February 23rd, especially Ron Littlefield, as well as David Littlejohn, Karen Rennich, Kevin Roig, and Jill Weitz. We got some important and useful insights about how and why to do community engagement along with recent examples. David and Jill, in particular, shared about exciting initiatives that are all about engaging the community. All in Chattanooga <https://www.allinchattanooga.org/neighborhoodcircles> is establishing Neighborhood Circles—small, informal groups of neighbors who meet in each other's homes across Hamilton County to build community power and create change. All In helps launch each group, facilitates the first meetings, and provides ongoing support and resources. Chattanooga National Park City <https://www.chattanooganationalparkcity.org/> is looking for “Seeds”—place-based, actionable, repeatable projects designed to improve the quality of life for all of us, by connecting us more to nature, that invite real collaboration across our community. They will kickoff National Park City Seed Drive this Thursday, March 5th at 5:30 PM at the iFixit headquarters, 812 E 12th St, Chattanooga, TN 37403. The purpose of the Chattanooga Venturing Study Group to learn from Chattanooga Venture and related initiatives about how to engage and mobilize community members for inclusive, positive, sustainable change. What are we building? An online platform for community venturing: An initial version is online now. We need people to help add content, configure the system, and moderate. Email me if you are interested. A series of dialogues about how Venture worked and its results. Our next dialogue will be Monday, March 23rd at 5:00 PM, and will focus on environmental conservation and education, specifically Moccasin Bend and the Tennessee River. Find out more about our events and register online at https://luma.com/ChattanoogaVenturing. Watch videos of speaker sessions and other events at https://vimeo.com/showcase/11773651. Regular meetings to discuss learning objectives and share progress. To participate in the Study Group, complete the interest form online at https://cloud.eduity.net/apps/forms/s/KbHkwnS9TtBcBb5fSNFoKmA8. We want to include others in our learning! Feel free to share this email with others and encourage them to join the email list at https://list.chattanooga.digital/mailman3/lists/cvsg-news.list.chattanooga.…. — Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Executive Officer and Principal Eduity, LLC www.eduity.net greg(a)eduity.net 706-271-5521

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How (and why) to engage our community
by Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Feb. 17, 2026

Feb. 17, 2026

I hope you will join us this Monday eventing, February 23rd, for a dialogue with former Chattanooga mayor and key leader of Chattanooga Venture, Ron Littlefield. You will have the opportunity to participate in the dialogue along with top folks with the City of Chattanooga, Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency, and community initiatives All in Chattanooga and National Park City. The dialogue will focus on how (and why) to engage community members. Spoiler alert: It’s because that’s how we come up with great solutions that have broad support. Register to attend online at https://luma.com/cz0hwuhv. Two more dialogues are being planned. In March, we’ll focus on the precursor to Chattanooga Venture, the Moccasin Bend Task Force, with Sally Robinson who was an original member of the task force, a leader of other Venture initiatives, and city council member as well as business leader. She will be joined by top folks with the Tennessee Aquarium, National Park Partners, and others. For April we are planning a dialogue about housing anchored by Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise. You can find info about all of these events at https://luma.com/ChattanoogaVenturing. Beyond April, we’re not sure what will happen with the study group. Do you know someone who wants to help reclaim the Chattanooga Way and regain knowledge from Chattanooga Venture? We’re looking for volunteers to help with: Dialogue logistics and planning Goals & objectives Online platform content Outreach & promotions, particularly to get more diverse participation Feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions or suggestions. Sincerely, — Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Executive Officer and Principal Eduity, LLC www.eduity.net greg(a)eduity.net 706-271-5521

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Chattanooga Venturing Dialogue Series and Online Platform
by Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Feb. 5, 2026

Feb. 5, 2026

The kickoff of the Chattanooga Venturing Study Group’s 2026 program was huge success! We engaged over 60 people to experience how Venture worked and got a lot of great input for our program in the process. Provide your feedback and input here <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ucUKJzJTtLqY1Uo_mbuMmZ--HhHppR-rAVKxipXCDQ…>. The purpose of the Study Group is to learn from Chattanooga Venture and related initiatives about how to engage and mobilize community members for inclusive, positive, sustainable change. The two major parts of our 2026 program are (1) a series of dialogues to learn about how Venture worked, what it accomplished, and how we can apply those lessons today and (2) an online platform to share information about Venture and the set of practices we refer to as community venturing. We encourage you to join us! Our first dialogue will be about how and why to engage community members with former Chattanooga mayor Ron Littlefield. Ron was an accomplished planner in 1983 when he recommended citizen engagement as an approach to planning for our community (read his “Plan 2000” memo from 1983 by clicking here <https://chattanooga.digital/plan-2000-memo-1983>). He was also the first executive director of Chattanooga Venture and has deep knowledge of how Venture worked. Kevin Riog, Mayor Tim Kelly’s Chief of Staff, David Littlejohn with Humanaut and the National Park City initiative, and Jill Weitz with All in Chattanooga, will join in the dialog, along with Karen Rennich, Director of the Regional Planning Agency, and Darrin Ledford, Mayor Kelly’s Deputy Chief of Staff… and all/any attendees! This event will take place on Monday, February 23rd, at 5:00 PM. All of our dialogue sessions will occur on the fourth Monday of the month at the Granfalloon, 400 East Main St. Doors open for dinner and networking at 5:00 PM, program starts at 5:30 and raps up around 7:00. Register to attend via https://luma.com/cz0hwuhv. Get more information about this and other dialogue sessions at https://luma.com/ChattanoogaVenturing. Our March dialogue will focus on Moccasin Bend, the Tennessee River, and environmental conservation with Sally Robinson. Sally was a founding member of the Moccasin Bend Task Force, the precursor the Venture, and a city council member. But that is just a hint of her impact on our community. She has deep knowledge of how Venture created major improvements, including the Tennessee Aquarium and Riverwalk. The Aquarium’s Marketing and Communications Director, Thom Benson, and Tricia King Mims, Executive Director of National Part Partners will also participate in the dialogue. Our third dialogue in April will focus on housing and will be co-produced by Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise <https://www.cneinc.org/>. All of the dialogues will be highly participatory. Attendees will have the opportunity to directly engage, question, and share insights with participants. We will capture the results, post them online, and use them to shape future dialogues and other Study Group activities. We are seeking financial support for our program. While there is no cost to participate, there are options to help us cover costs and support future sessions. We humbly request you contribute what you think the experience is worth. We are also thinking about launching a GoFundMe. If you might be willing to help or sponsor the Study Group’s activities, please reach out! — Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Executive Officer and Principal Eduity, LLC www.eduity.net greg(a)eduity.net 706-271-5521 You are receiving this email because you have registered for or expressed interest in activities of the Chattanooga Venturing Study Group. Please add cvsg-news(a)list.chattanooga.digital to your contacts or “safe senders” list. Anyone can sign up for the list via https://list.chattanooga.digital/mailman3/lists/cvsg-news.list.chattanooga.…. You can also create an account to manage your subscription via that page.

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Chattanooga Venturing kickoff and dialogues for 2026
by Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Jan. 28, 2026

Jan. 28, 2026

We had to move our 2026 kickoff out a week to this coming Monday, February 2, due to weather. You can get more details and register online at https://luma.com/b2kwzwo8. Plan to arrive at 5:00 PM for networking. The program will start at 5:30 and our goal is to wrap up by 7:30. The kickoff will include a review of 2025, appreciation of Venture and related initiatives, do some learning-by-doing about engagement methods, and identify priorities for our 2026 program. The first Chattanooga Venturing dialogue will focus on community engagement with former Chattanooga mayor, Ron Littlefield, on February 23. You can get more details and register to attend at https://luma.com/cz0hwuhv. Current plans are for the March dialogue to focus on conserving our environment and natural areas and for April’s dialogue to be about housing co-produced by CNE. If you are working on any of these topics or know of folks who are, please reach out and share. We have established an initial version of our online platform. If you would like to check that out or help add content, please reach out. For background of Chattanooga Venture and more information about the Study Group, visit https://chattanooga.digital/chattanooga-venturing. This page includes links to videos from our 2025 speaker series and other resources. Please share this information with anyone else who might interested in the Chattanooga Venturing Study Group or any of our activities. PS, please mark this email as “not spam” and add this email address, cvsg-news(a)list.chattanooga.digital, to your contacts or “safe senders” list. — Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Executive Officer and Principal Eduity, LLC www.eduity.net greg(a)eduity.net 706-271-5521

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CVSG 2026 Program Kick-off postponed due to weather
by Greg Laudeman Jan. 25, 2026

Jan. 25, 2026

The CVSG 2026 Program Kick-off will be postponed to next Monday, February 2, due to weather. It will be at the same time and location. Arrive at 5:00 p.m., program starts at 5:30 p.m., at Adelle's, 400 East Main Street. We will update the event registration directly. Email greg(a)eduity.net for details or with any questions. Sorry for any inconvenience! -- Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. 706-271-5521

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Join us for the Chattanooga Venturing Study Group 2026 kick-off event, Monday, January 26, 5:30 PM
by Greg Laudeman Jan. 20, 2026

Jan. 20, 2026

Welcome to the (new) email announcements list for the Chattanooga Venturing Study Group! The Chattanooga Venturing Study Group 2026 program will kick-off on Monday, January 26th, 5:30 PM at Adelle’s, 400 East Main St. Register online to attend at https://luma.com/b2kwzwo8. The agenda for the kick-off is: 5:00 PM - Networking 5:30 PM - Welcome “Why Study Chattanooga Venture?” An appreciation of Venture Review of 2025 Overview of 2026 5:45 PM - Brainstorming community challenges (learning exercise) 6:20 PM - Mapping assets (learning exercise) 6:50 PM - Call to action and wrap-up 7:00 PM - Adjourn Our 2026 program includes: Establishing an online platform, You can get a preview at https://discourse.chattanooga.digital/. Hosting topical dialogues between people who worked on key issues with Venture and those working on related issues today. All dialogue sessions will be on the fourth Monday of the month at Adelle’s. Meeting regularly for group discussion. Regular Study Group meetings will be 12:00 PM on the first Tuesday of each month at Adelle’s. You can find more information about Venture and the Study Group at https://chattanooga.digital/chattanooga-venturing. Videos of our speaker sessions from 2025, including the 1994 video, “Chattanooga: A Community with a Vision,” are online at https://vimeo.com/showcase/11773651. If you are interested in joining the Study Group, please complete the interest form online by clicking here <https://cloud.eduity.net/apps/forms/s/KbHkwnS9TtBcBb5fSNFoKmA8>. Feel free to email me directly if you have any questions or suggestions. If you do not want to receive announcements, news, or updates related to the Study Group, click the link below or email chaventuring-leave(a)list.chattanooga.digital <mailto:chaventuring-leave@list.chattanooga.digital>. — Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Executive Officer and Principal Eduity, LLC www.eduity.net greg(a)eduity.net 706-271-5521

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