Last night's Chattanooga Venturing Dialogue... and next week's regular meeting
Thanks to Chris Thompson and the CNE team for the program last night! It was very informative. I thought the learning games were especially interesting as an engagement practice. They definitely helped folks — some of whom had deep experience with the topic — understand the issues. With a bit of tweaking, learning exercises like that could become powerful catalysts for collaborative action. They are a bit labor-intensive but that issue could be addressed by creating generic versions or templates for facilitators to use without any/much pre-work. Unfortunately, it was not as well attended as past sessions. Does anyone have any thoughts about why? Was it lack of a Venture-era “celebrity” to anchor the discussion and/or singular focus on CNE? Is the topic just not that important or interesting? Surely not! Did we just not reach the right audience? My goal is for the dialogues to be interesting and useful to activists and change-makers, especially as we consider changing format. Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Our next regular meeting, next Tuesday, May 5, at noon, will focus on means to address our new focus and goal. Based on your input the Study Group’s goals are to build community infrastructure for engaging people and to connect causes, initiatives, and organizations in the community. Rather than telling people what’s happing, our goal is to hear about and share others’ goals, issues, needs, opportunities, and resources. Basically, we’re applying lessons learned from Venture and similar initiatives to learn-by-doing about community venturing, we’re facilitating community problem-solving rather than just providing solutions. The proposed focus is how to increase incomes and prosperity in our community, guided by the question, “how might we do better and make more?” — Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Executive Officer and Principal Eduity, LLC www.eduity.net greg@eduity.net 706-271-5521
Hi Greg, Sorry Ihad to leave a bit early. Chris did a great presentation and I would love to see his organization work in North Georgia, too, and we talked a bit on the way out. My overvalued 2 cents is that Ventures at this point is made up of non-profits and community groups and individuals with great ideas and valid concerns, but 1) an "action plan" or similar framework of translating concerns into actions hasn't come together and 2) there doesn't seem to be a lot of buy-in from the political community, River City Co., the chamber of commerce or other folks whose support would be necessary to put concerns into action. So, yes, the optics of having a "celebrity" of some sort would make folks feel more empowered. And the topic is an important one, and the exercises illustrated the obstacles, and Chris has a great organization. But who's listening? It's the same non-profits and community groups. If we had someone from the city council or the mayor's office attending, I think folks would be more confident their concerns would be heard. Jack On Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 10:37 AM Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. <greg@eduity.net> wrote:
Thanks to Chris Thompson and the CNE team for the program last night! It was very informative.
I thought the learning games were especially interesting as an engagement practice. They definitely helped folks — some of whom had deep experience with the topic — understand the issues. With a bit of tweaking, learning exercises like that could become powerful catalysts for collaborative action. They are a bit labor-intensive but that issue could be addressed by creating generic versions or templates for facilitators to use without any/much pre-work.
Unfortunately, it was not as well attended as past sessions. Does anyone have any thoughts about why? Was it lack of a Venture-era “celebrity” to anchor the discussion and/or singular focus on CNE? Is the topic just not that important or interesting? Surely not! Did we just not reach the right audience?
My goal is for the dialogues to be interesting and useful to activists and change-makers, especially as we consider changing format. Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Our next regular meeting, next Tuesday, May 5, at noon, will focus on means to address our new focus and goal.
Based on your input the Study Group’s goals are to build community infrastructure for engaging people and to connect causes, initiatives, and organizations in the community. Rather than telling people what’s happing, our goal is to hear about and share others’ goals, issues, needs, opportunities, and resources. Basically, we’re applying lessons learned from Venture and similar initiatives to learn-by-doing about community venturing, we’re facilitating community problem-solving rather than just providing solutions.
The proposed focus is how to increase incomes and prosperity in our community, guided by the question, “how might we do better and make more?”
— Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Executive Officer and Principal Eduity, LLC www.eduity.net greg@eduity.net 706-271-5521
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I thought it was a great session and clearly highlighted a Chattanooga success story (CNE) and its ability to shine. I’m a contractor and building “affordable” housing is about as easy as getting my hair to be brown again (almost impossible) but CNE has done more than almost anyone to help with that aspect. I also really appreciated the exercise they did. I also really enjoyed the speakers and how well they fielded questions. With that said…as to why weren’t more people there these are my guesses: · The “new” wore off? · People view housing as someone else’s problem? · Maybe some people didn’t think a meeting about housing would be interesting? · I just walked around my office and asked random people what CNE is or what they do. One person got it right. All that is to say that I wouldn’t take last night as a trend… I think y’all need to keep pushing the concept of “The next version of Chattanooga will be crafted by you!”. Just my two cents! Arch Arch C. Willingham IV President T.U. Parks Construction 1207 East 23rd Street<x-apple-data-detectors://1/1> Chattanooga, TN 37408-2304<x-apple-data-detectors://1/1> Direct dial: 423-648-3813<tel:423-648-3813> (use my cell if you have it….I’m never at this number) Mobile: 423-667-0291 <tel:423-648-3813> From: Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. <greg@eduity.net> Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 10:37 AM To: CVSG Study Group discussion <cvsg@list.chattanooga.digital> Subject: [Cvsg] Last night's Chattanooga Venturing Dialogue... and next week's regular meeting Thanks to Chris Thompson and the CNE team for the program last night! It was very informative. I thought the learning games were especially interesting as an engagement practice. They definitely helped folks — some of whom had deep experience with the topic — understand the issues. With a bit of tweaking, learning exercises like that could become powerful catalysts for collaborative action. They are a bit labor-intensive but that issue could be addressed by creating generic versions or templates for facilitators to use without any/much pre-work. Unfortunately, it was not as well attended as past sessions. Does anyone have any thoughts about why? Was it lack of a Venture-era “celebrity” to anchor the discussion and/or singular focus on CNE? Is the topic just not that important or interesting? Surely not! Did we just not reach the right audience? My goal is for the dialogues to be interesting and useful to activists and change-makers, especially as we consider changing format. Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Our next regular meeting, next Tuesday, May 5, at noon, will focus on means to address our new focus and goal. Based on your input the Study Group’s goals are to build community infrastructure for engaging people and to connect causes, initiatives, and organizations in the community. Rather than telling people what’s happing, our goal is to hear about and share others’ goals, issues, needs, opportunities, and resources. Basically, we’re applying lessons learned from Venture and similar initiatives to learn-by-doing about community venturing, we’re facilitating community problem-solving rather than just providing solutions. The proposed focus is how to increase incomes and prosperity in our community, guided by the question, “how might we do better and make more?” — Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Executive Officer and Principal Eduity, LLC www.eduity.net<http://www.eduity.net> greg@eduity.net<mailto:greg@eduity.net> 706-271-5521 ________________________________ This email was scanned by Bitdefender
I had the same thought about the lack of attendance. We are in the middle of an election cycle and there are lots of get out the vote (GOTV) activities going on throughout Hamilton County. This might explain it. I found last night's CNE very informative and a very timely subject with subject matter experts facilitating the workshops. Honestly, until last night I did not know or was completely aware of the mission of CNE. Perhaps this may explain why fewer people showed up. Compared to the packed house on previous meetings I think CNE is a well kept secret. More PR is needed for CNE especially during these tough economic times and the housing crisis we face today. Any political groups, candidates and incumbents should recognize the solutions CNE is bringing to the table and get behind the public policy writing that brings solutions to the housing and homelessness crisis. Where is the media? Audrey Ramsey, Tennessee Evironmental Council, TEC aramsey3@gmail.com 615-415-8845 "The strength of a community, as opposed to a collection of individuals, lies in the concerted efforts of its individual members to work together to enrich the lives of all". - Dr. John Chaffee, Ph.D. *The Thinker's Way* On Tue, Apr 28, 2026, 10:37 AM Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. <greg@eduity.net> wrote:
Thanks to Chris Thompson and the CNE team for the program last night! It was very informative.
I thought the learning games were especially interesting as an engagement practice. They definitely helped folks — some of whom had deep experience with the topic — understand the issues. With a bit of tweaking, learning exercises like that could become powerful catalysts for collaborative action. They are a bit labor-intensive but that issue could be addressed by creating generic versions or templates for facilitators to use without any/much pre-work.
Unfortunately, it was not as well attended as past sessions. Does anyone have any thoughts about why? Was it lack of a Venture-era “celebrity” to anchor the discussion and/or singular focus on CNE? Is the topic just not that important or interesting? Surely not! Did we just not reach the right audience?
My goal is for the dialogues to be interesting and useful to activists and change-makers, especially as we consider changing format. Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Our next regular meeting, next Tuesday, May 5, at noon, will focus on means to address our new focus and goal.
Based on your input the Study Group’s goals are to build community infrastructure for engaging people and to connect causes, initiatives, and organizations in the community. Rather than telling people what’s happing, our goal is to hear about and share others’ goals, issues, needs, opportunities, and resources. Basically, we’re applying lessons learned from Venture and similar initiatives to learn-by-doing about community venturing, we’re facilitating community problem-solving rather than just providing solutions.
The proposed focus is how to increase incomes and prosperity in our community, guided by the question, “how might we do better and make more?”
— Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. Executive Officer and Principal Eduity, LLC www.eduity.net greg@eduity.net 706-271-5521
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participants (4)
-
Arch Willingham -
Audrey Ramsey -
Greg Laudeman, Ed.D. -
Jack Zibluk