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Update on Chattanooga Venturing Study Group
by Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Feb. 4, 2026

Feb. 4, 2026

You are receiving this message because I’ve added you expressed interest in the Chattanooga Venturing Study Group. Unfortunately, folks were not signing up for this list directly and it’s not practical for me to selectively email folks, so I massed subscribed everyone who has expressed interest. You can unsubscribe via the link below. The kickoff event on Monday went very well, with over 60 people in attendance. We got a lot of great input for our 2026 program, a summary of which is included below. We had a good meeting yesterday—our regular meetings are on the first Tuesday of the month at noon at Adelle’s, 400 E. Main St.—reflected on the kickoff meeting, reaffirmed our goals for 2026, and established committees for (a) events and (b) objectives. Reply to this email if you’d like to help or have any suggestions. Our first dialogue session will be on Monday, February 23, at Adelle’s, 400 East Main St. The topic will be “Community Engagement” with Ron Littlefield, former mayor of Chattanooga and a key leader of Venture, Kevin Roig, Mayor Kelly’s Chief of Staff, and others. Please help spread the word, invite others, and register to attend at https://luma.com/cz0hwuhv. Thanks! — Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Executive Officer and Principal Eduity, LLC www.eduity.net greg(a)eduity.net 706-271-5521 A Vision of a Better Chattanooga 1. Education - 34 votes / 13 ideas Thriving public education / Public ed as a priority / National role model for public ed / top-rated public school systems (19) Access to Free Early Education (4) Arts education in all schools K-12 (4) Established lifetime learning programs and facilities (3) Training for low income / low skills to build businesses in low income neighborhoods (2) Personal financial literacy in all K-12 schools (1) Being able to afford private schools without having to relocate (1) Better public education facilities Better pay for public school teachers = better quality teachers Higher ACT score in public schools 13->22 (measurable goal!) Community college focused on the humanities Reading proficiency for all African-American males (sound alarm early) 2. Walkability - 15 votes / 5 ideas Places dedicated to people without cars and ADA accessible (4) Mixed Super Blocks for pedestrians - plazas & promenade, eg. Barcelona (4) Inner-city loop of river walk, pedestrian-oriented transit (3) Improved connectivity & wayfinding to public spaces (2) Rails 2 Trails Greenway from river thru North Chatt (2) 3. Urban Design / Roads - 14 votes / 6 ideas Better landscaping in all commercial areas & trees on every street (5) Re-design downtown interstate (bypass?) (2) Reduce traffic, especially the interstate (1) Complete streets Flood-smart city w/resilient infrastructure & ecosystems (1) Improved waste management (sewer & trash) (5)3. 4. Public Transportation - 12 votes / 6 ideas Trolleys! (bring them back!) (6) Improved transportation & connectivity options (3) Fast expansive mass public transit (2) Transportation hub, inter-modal originating in Southside (1) Safe, fun, sustainable transport Transportation hub in the county to the city (maybe at the airport) 5. Governing Structures - 8 votes / 1 idea Metro government (8) 6. Natural Environment - 8 votes / 5 ideas Chattanooga Botanical Garden (5) Environmental protection: places off the table for development (2) Greenspace Investments (1) Reserve at Enterprise South Nature Park as intended Clean water: Room for the River, eg. The Netherlands 7. Housing - 7 votes / 4 ideas Everyone has a place to live. Real affordable housing (6) A review committee to stem the tide of cheap, ugly housing mushrooms all over town (1) An established community land trust. Goal > 1000 homes Zero homelessness. City has low-barrier shelter w/capacity for all amenities. 8. Jobs - 7 votes / 7 ideas Economic Opportunities for all Chattanoogans (3) Infrastructure to support single mothers (1) Narrowed the wealth gap - good jobs for all, higher minimum wage (1) Businesses recruited that care about people, planet, home. Benefit corporations, certified B Corps (1) Competitive salaries / higher minimum wage (1) Small Scale Loans Re-use Innovation Center: reclaimed materials 9. Health - 7 votes / 2 ideas Access to healthcare (4) Chattanooga as a National Center of Excellence in Healthcare (3) 10. Community Life / Neighborhoods - 5 votes / 5 ideas Increased usage of public spaces (1) More opportunities for creating & collaborating across cultures (through work, school, arts-events, neighborhood events, civic engagement, etc.) (1) Rossville Blvd Revitalized: grocery stores, ice cream, apartments (2) Local: neighborhood economic development An endowment for community projects (1) 11. Food - 4 votes / 2 ideas No food deserts: strengthened food/ag systems. Farm to Nooga. (2) Strong local food networks (2) 12. Citizen Involvement - 2 votes / 3 ideas Support and/or streamlined access/inclusion programs for New Chattanoogans (1) Younger citizens engaged & sharing their ideas. (1) High school and college students involved in venturing 13. Means/How we do it… - 1 vote / 2 ideas Kindness (1) Consolidated Efforts (consortium grants?) to address the problem of too many orgs going it alone 15. Tech & Community Engagement - 2 votes / 2 ideas Community Platform for citizen voice (2) One cohesive clearinghouse for plans & visioning. Community-wide plans tied together 16. Attractions - 2 votes / 2 ideas Convention/Destination Center (2) New public attractions Community Assets Development Resource Center Rails 2 Trails City/County council/commission meetings Form-based code committee Time Free Press Chattanooga Area Food Bank National Park City CARTA CNE Trust for Public Lands TDOT Uber/Lyft/Waymo Railroads Aldi Waterways (City of Chatt Program) Lookout Mountain Conservancy Glass Street Businesses: local laundries, music shop, alterations, daycares, repair shops, shoe repair Ag-Businesses: local food, fresh markets, hemp, etc McNabb Center Tech Goes Home Government at all levels Neighborhoods Chamber of Commerce Small business incubator (needs investment) CALEB Kiindhearts A Step Ahead Life Spring Chattanooga 2.0 Better Education Facilities Siskin Children’s Institute Level 1 Trauma Center at Erlanger ArtsBuild City office of Arts and Culture Crabtree Farms YMCA - mobile market Heart Institute ClearStory Arts CEMPA community care Chattanooga Free Store Chattanooga Area Food Bank The kindness of people in Chattanooga

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Results of February 3 CVSG regular meeting
by Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Feb. 3, 2026

Feb. 3, 2026

We had a very good discussion about the kickoff event during the CVSG regular meeting today. My takeaway is that we all feel really good about the event itself and the method/process but feel it needs to be more inclusive. Lisa, could you please share the text you received from one of the facilitators? I think it expressed this very well. Kate will share notes from the regular meeting and outputs of the kickoff meeting in the near future. In the meantime, key items from the regular meeting are: The first dialogue on Monday, February 23, at 5:30 PM (doors open at 5:00), featuring former mayor Ron Littlefield, will focus on citizen/community engagement. Please help promote this! I’ll send an email about it in the next week when we have participants nailed down. Registration is live at https://luma.com/cz0hwuhv. Attendees have the option of a free ticket, a “pay what you want” ticket with $10 suggested, and a $20 “benefactor ticket. Mayor Kelly is not available so we are looking for others to participate in the dialogue. Kevin Roig a senior member of his team or RPA leader who was involved with OneChattanooga plan to participate. Two other two dialogues are in the works: Conservation, Moccasin Bend Task Force, and, the river will be our topic on March 23rd, with Sally Robinson. I’m reaching out to Tricia King Mims with National Park Partners and Tennessee Aquarium staff to dialogue with her. Housing affordability and quality, co-produced by CNE, will be our topic for April 27. We need to identify individual(s) from Venture to anchor the dialogue. I plan to as Bob Corker for his recommendation. We now have two committees: Event planning, chaired by Pat Smith and supported by Kate Rudder, will take the lead on planning the dialogue series. Kate, Pat, I’ll assist with that but hope to hand that off to you after the first dialogue. My general guidance is that we should (a) address issues that we on Venture’s agenda, (b) feature Venture legacy organizations, and (c) focus on what to do now for the future. Goals and objectives, chaired by Steve O’Neil, supported by me. I believe Anca is also willing to help with this. My general thought is that we should focus on outreach, participation, and support objectives. Possibly our biggest issue is getting financial support for the program. I’ve been covering costs out of my pocket, which I frankly can’t afford to do. Kate and Philip have been doing serious work pro bono. We really need resources for outreach to diversify and expand participation. Kate and I will be engaging the foundations and developing a sponsorship program. I sincerely believe we have a strong value proposition and a sustainable business model. Please let me know of any resources or suggestions for how we might generate support. Thanks for your interest and involvement. More soon! — Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Executive Officer and Principal Eduity, LLC www.eduity.net greg(a)eduity.net 706-271-5521

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Covering costs
by Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Feb. 3, 2026

Feb. 3, 2026

Great event last night! What an amazing kickoff! Not to jump right into financial issues, but I covered the $375 service fee (which is very reasonable but still…) for the facility. Unfortunately, I cannot do this in the future. Frankly, I need to be making money, not spending it. I’ve added two paid tickets to the first dialogue. One is “pay what you want,” with a $10 suggested contribution for “Supporter". The other, “Benefactor” ticket is for $20. We will see how this goes. Let’s keep planning in earnest but, if we cannot fully cover the cost for the first dialogue plus some, we will need to radically changing plans for the dialogues. We will discuss today but just wanted to be clear and frank about the situation and need to find financial support for Study Group activities. — Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Executive Officer and Principal Eduity, LLC www.eduity.net greg(a)eduity.net 706-271-5521

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OK, I lied...
by Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Feb. 3, 2026

Feb. 3, 2026

… one last email bcc’ing everyone who has expressed interest in participating on the Chattanooga Venturing Study Group to remind you that: All internal CVSG email communications going forward will be via cvsg(a)list.chattanooga.digital. Please add it to your contacts and/or safe senders list. You should have an invitation to join in your inbox or junk/spam folder. If you do not, you can subscribe at https://list.chattanooga.digital/mailman3/lists/cvsg.list.chattanooga.digit…. You can also create an account with that service to access archives, etc. IF YOU ARE NOT SUBSCRIBED TO THIS LIST YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE GROUP EMAILS IN THE FUTURE. The CVSG regular meeting for February is today. Our agenda is to: Review CVSG goals from last month's meeting Better understand “the Chattanooga Way,” what Venture did and how it did it by reviewing how it addressed issues in its “commitment portfolio” and how those emerged from its “challenge agenda” and how that agenda was set. Identify questions people have about Venture. Gather input about what people want and value in our community as we do. Connect and engage people representative of our community, particularly those who can engage and speak for various parts of the community, to learn with us. Establish infrastructure to achieve these goals: for capturing historical information about Venture and related initiatives, connecting people to learn, identifying and sharing critical factors for community venturing, maintaining a network of learners. Educate people about Venture and community venturing, raise awareness of the study group, and seek support for our program. Discuss the 2026 program Initiatiate a task force to assist with the 2026 program and determine what’s next for the Study Group beyond our 2026 program Establish organizational and personal learning objectives How do you plan to use knowledge from Venture, what do you plan to do with it? For your convenience a calendar file for our regular meetings is attached. You can find additional information about the CVSG online at https://chattanooga.digital/chattanooga-venturing and register for events, including dialogue sessions and regular meetings, at https://luma.com/ChattanoogaVenturing. Feel free to email me directly with any questions or suggestions. Please forward this email to others who might be interested and encourage them to complete the interest form by clicking here <https://cloud.eduity.net/apps/forms/s/KbHkwnS9TtBcBb5fSNFoKmA8>. 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 Study Group communications and regular meeting 2/3/26
by Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Jan. 29, 2026

Jan. 29, 2026

All internal CVSG email communications going forward will be via cvsg(a)list.chattanooga.digital. Please add it to your contacts and/or safe senders list. You should have an invitation to join in your inbox or junk/spam folder. If you do not, you can subscribe at https://list.chattanooga.digital/mailman3/lists/cvsg.list.chattanooga.digit…. You can also create an account with that service to access archives, etc. IF YOU ARE NOT SUBSCRIBED TO THIS LIST YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE GROUP EMAILS IN THE FUTURE. If you are subscribed you will be able to communicate to all group members simply by emailing the list address, cvsg(a)list.chattanooga.digital. Please be cognizant of this and respectful of others on the list by not emailing off-topic or spurious information. Anyone who does so will be banned from the list. The agenda for our next meeting is: CVSG goals from January 6th meeting: Better understand “the Chattanooga Way,” what Venture did and how it did it by reviewing how it addressed issues in its “commitment portfolio” and how those emerged from its “challenge agenda” and how that agenda was set. Identify questions people have about Venture. Gather input about what people want and value in our community as we do. Connect and engage people representative of our community, particularly those who can engage and speak for various parts of the community, to learn with us. Establish infrastructure to achieve these goals: for capturing historical information about Venture and related initiatives, connecting people to learn, identifying and sharing critical factors for community venturing, maintaining a network of learners. Educate people about Venture and community venturing, raise awareness of the study group, and seek support for our program. Organizational and personal learning objectives How do you plan to use knowledge from Venture, what do you plan to do with it? Task force to assist with the 2026 program and determine what’s next for the Study Group beyond our 2026 program For your convenience a calendar file for our regular meetings is attached. You can find additional information about the CVSG online at https://chattanooga.digital/chattanooga-venturing and register for events, including dialogue sessions and regular meetings, at https://luma.com/ChattanoogaVenturing. Feel free to email me directly with any questions or suggestions. Please forward this email to others who might be interested and encourage them to complete the interest form by clicking here <https://cloud.eduity.net/apps/forms/s/KbHkwnS9TtBcBb5fSNFoKmA8>. 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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Testing again
by Greg Laudeman Jan. 23, 2026

Jan. 23, 2026

This is a test -- GL

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Another test
by Greg Laudeman Jan. 23, 2026

Jan. 23, 2026

Testing again. — Greg Laudeman glaudeman(a)gmail.com 706-271-5521

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(no subject)
by Kate Rudder Jan. 23, 2026

Jan. 23, 2026

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