The Camp House

TechTown is a new non-profit technology center located right here in Chattanooga. Cordell Carter is the CEO & Executive Director of TechTown. In this episode Cordell shares the vision behind this new organization to be a place that equips and inspires the youth of our city to be the next generation innovators and entrepreneurs that will carry our city forward into the future. One of the biggest gaps in our technology infrastructure is the need for a talent pipeline. TechTown not only wants to solve that problem by providing qualified professionals but to do so by empowering the children and youth from the communities within our city that would not normally have such opportunity. This episode is not just about vision, it is also a testimony to the ways in which we can bridge the gap between the economic opportunities in our city and those who need those opportunities the most.

Referenced in this episode:

This is the second half of our conversation about the future of Miller Park, Miller Plaza, & Patten Parkway. In our first episode we talked about the vision for these downtown spaces and the process that went into the new design. In today's episode landscape architect Wes Michaels details the design elements in each space and gives us an audio tour of our future urban core. So open the Miller Park website below to see the designs for yourself and follow along for this journey through the new Miller Park District!

Referenced in this episode:

The future of Chattanooga's city center will look very different. By 2018 the number of people residing in our downtown will have doubled and the public spaces that we take for granted will be completely transformed. In today's episode we sit down with Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke, Landscape Architect Wes Michaels, & City of Chattanooga's Jenny Park to discuss the vision for the future of our downtown and the redesign of Miller Park, Miller Plaza, & Patten Parkway. Our second episode on Thursday will feature Wes giving us an audio tour of the new designs, an exciting mixture of passive and active spaces that will be a new landmark for our city for generations to come.

Referenced in this episode:

Teacherpreneur is a program to empower teachers to solve the biggest challenges they face in their classrooms and schools. Modeled after Co.Lab's 48 Hour Launch event, Teacherpreneur helps teachers take a big idea and mold it into a basic model that they can then "pitch" to the community. Oh, and its all within 48 hours...

In today's podcast we learn more about the program from Public Education Foundation's Geoff Millener & this year's Teacherpreneur pitch night winner, Kelsey Huynh from East Side Elementary.

Referenced in the podcast and updated resources:

How do we bring life back into the forgotten spaces of our urban landscape?

Party In The Passageways will be the unveiling event for the design competition taking place on Wednesday, August 24th from 5:30-8:30pm at Miller Plaza. Please join us for an evening of exploration, design, music, and more. Plus you will have the chance to meet the architects and designers from around the country and the world who created these beautiful spaces for our community to enjoy!

Referenced in this episode:

In this episode Joda and I dive into the heart of their policy recommendations for education finance in Hamilton County. The conversation primarily revolves around Student-Based Budgeting, an approach to education finance that shifts the focus away from programs and onto students. We also explore the need to empower principals and the importance of communication in building trust between institutions and the people they serve.

References in the Podcast:

Metro Ideas Project is a new public policy think tank focused on mid-sized cities created here in Chattanooga. In this episode we talk about the new think tank and the vision to explore the contextual challenges faced by growing urban areas as well as open the discussion on their first project, education finance in Hamilton County. Understandably, our education budget is complex but it is also the largest publicly funded budget in our county. The exciting thing is how interesting and palatable the team at Metro Ideas have made that information. Please check out their interactive website to see what I mean and learn more about the funding for each one of our schools:

Ask Christian Rushing how he is doing and I can promise you he will say "Living the dream!".

Seventeen months ago Christian was given a diagnosis of terminal cancer. Despite that, Christian is one of the most radiant people you will ever have the pleasure to meet. And so far Christian has defied the odds. The doctors gave him a year to live and up to this point Christian has pushed the limits and is a statistical outlier.

This conversation gets deeply personal. It is a conversation about life, death, prayer, and family.

Thank you again to Christian for sitting down for this conversation, it is one that I will be forever grateful for and will always remember.

Learn more about Christian's story and follow his journey on his blog: http://christianrushing.blogspot.com/

What do our public spaces say about us? How does the design of the places we inhabit shape our imaginations and lived experiences?

Christian Rushing has a background in architecture but ultimately fell in love with urban planning, the process of designing cities and public spaces for the common good. At one time Christian was part of the Downtown Planning & Design Studio and is now the Executive Director of the Chattanooga Design Studio.

Referenced in the podcast:

Jared Bigham is the coordinator of Chattanooga 2.0, a new county wide effort to examine our education and career readiness pipeline. As Jared describes, Chattanooga 2.0 is a cradle-to-career initiative. This is the second part of our interview with Jared Bigham.

Resources and organizations referenced in the interview:

In addition to the above, we specifically reference this particular podcast from This American Life:

Part 1 - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with

Part 2 - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/563/the-problem-we-all-live-with-part-two