On April 24th-26th, I had the privilege of joining my fellow colleagues who were also selected as one of “40 Urban Leaders Under 40” for the 2014 Next City Vanguard class. The gathering was rich with knowledge sharing where we were able to immerse ourselves in topics such as stabilizing distressed communities, technological innovations in cities, and the evolution of public/private partnerships (among others) – with a key emphasis on gleaning important insights we could take back to our respective communities.
For the first time ever, the conference also hosted an ideas competition dubbed, “The Chattanooga Challenge,” where we were divided into four groups to tour a struggling part of the city. We were then charged with devising solutions to better connect these communities with the overall growth that Chattanooga is experiencing. The winning team was awarded $10,000 towards the implementation of their solution.
I was not a member of the winning team though I certainly enjoyed working with my group to explore a mixture of people-based and place-based solutions that would enable the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to better support the once-thriving historically African-American community that borders it on one side and the rapidly growing Latino population in Highland Park on the other.
Members of the Vanguard 2014 East Team
As usual, I did not do a great job of taking personal pictures at the conference and of course of all the professional shots taken, it would be the one of me stuffing my face that made the final cut!
Overall, I am thrilled to now belong to this amazing network of Vanguards and to continue learning from (and possibly collaborating on) all the great work we are engaged in around the country and around the world.
For more information about Next City, please visit www.nextcity.org.
About The Author: Vanessa L.
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