September 16, 2022 (Chattanooga, TN) — Tennessee Promise opened the door for thousands of high school seniors to attend community college since its inception in the fall of 2015 by providing a last-dollar scholarship to cover tuition and fees not covered by the Pell Grant, HOPE scholarship, or TSAA funds. The Promise, administered by tnAchieves, recently developed COMPLETE grants of up to $1,000 that are available to Tennessee Promise students helping to ensure that unexpected financial burdens are not barriers on their path to college graduation.
The COMPLETE grant serves as additional funding that can cover costs outside of tuition and mandatory fees such as transportation to school, grocery gift card, computer/technology, supplies/tools, rent/utilities, textbooks, or class fees.
To determine eligibility, students must be eligible for a federal Pell grant and TN promise, be enrolled full-time, complete the COMPLETE grant form in its entirety, including any necessary documentation, and connect with your tnAchieves COMPLETE coach.
Qualifying students can be awarded up to $1,000 per academic period (periods reset August 1, December 1, and May 1), and COMPLETE grants are distributed on a first come, first served basis, as funding is limited.
According to Reed Allison, director of Financial Aid at Chattanooga State Community College, students registered for the fall 2022 term that began August 15, were requesting concrete dollar amounts for specific textbooks/supplies.
ChattState’s second 7-week term begins October 10. Students who have not applied for a COMPLETE grant may still be able to receive funds for use until the December 1 reset period. For more information about COMPLETE, call the Financial Aid Office at (423) 697-4402 or visit the tnAchieves COMPLETE page at https://bit.ly/3xrkLv5.
Fort Oglethorpe, GA: Point Park, atop Lookout Mountain, part of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, is waiving the entrance fee on Saturday, September 24, 2022, to celebrate National Public Lands Day.
National Public Lands Day, organized by the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF), celebrates the connection between people and green space in their community, inspires environmental stewardship, and encourages use of open space for education, recreation, and health benefits.
Celebrate with us by visiting Point Park on this fee free day to indulge in the views and scenery of the Chattanooga Valley from 2,100 feet above, hike the natural and wildlife-abounding Lookout Mountain Battlefield 30-miles of trails, while learning the historical significance of this area during America’s Civil War in what became known as, “The Battle Above the Clouds.” During the day, Park Rangers will provide programs at 11am, 2pm and 4 pm and will also be available at the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center from the hours of 8:30 am to 5:00 pm to answer questions and provide information about the park and the Battles for Chattanooga.
For more information about programs at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, contact the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center at 706-866-9241, the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center at 423-821-7786, or visit the park website at www.nps.gov/chch
“On Tuesday, September 20, 2022, one of our Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Deputies (SRD) assigned to East Ridge High School was called to the school’s gymnasium for the report of a disorder between an 18 year old student, Tauris Sledge, and a member of the school’s staff.
Upon request from school administrators for the student to be removed from the gym and proceed to the office, Sledge refused. The School Resource Deputy then attempted to place the student in custody for disorderly conduct. It was at this point a struggle began between Sledge and the SRD.
A brief cell phone video of the altercation surfaced yesterday on social media that presented only a short portion of the incident without any of the context that led to the event or the events that immediately followed.
As soon as the incident occurred, I was notified and immediately directed a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding this event. This includes a review of all documentation, cell phone and school surveillance video, and the SRD’s body worn camera footage which documents approximately one hour of the event from the initial interaction with the SRD, the incident shown in the social media video, and the events that immediately followed.
I understand this is a sensitive issue to many in our community. Once we ensure we are in compliance with state law and have adequately removed the identity of uninvolved minors, which includes ensuring their faces are not identifiable, I intend to make this body worn camera video available to the public. The contents of the video will show the complete picture of the events that occurred that day surrounding this deputy’s use of force at East Ridge High School.”
The Community Culture Index sets out to score Chattanooga based businesses against their commitments to create diverse and inclusive workplaces to set a cultural business benchmark and build a roadmap for the future
CHATTANOOGA, TN – On September 15, 2022, Hinton & Company announced the launch of the Community Culture Index (CCI.) The CCI is the one of the first highly-localized, data-driven assessment tools meant to quantitatively and objectively measure a region’s performance in its inclusive practices and commitments.
Starting in their own backyard, Hinton & Company is launching the CCI in partnership with the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga.
“We’re going to answer the question: “Have organizations in the Chattanooga region made strides the past two years?’,” says Wade Hinton, nationally regarded diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) expert and founder of Hinton & Co. “Companies that invest in creating inclusive and accessible workplaces have a clear competitive advantage. Two years ago, in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder, organizations around the country and throughout our region made significant public commitments to inclusion. Now, we’ll determine if this is still a priority and what our community can do to make sustained progress.”
In August 2021, the Washington Postreported that “America’s 50 biggest public companies and their foundations collectively committed at least $49.5 billion since Floyd’s murder… to addressing racial inequality — an amount that appears unequaled in sheer scale.”
While the results of these initiatives have been mixed, the CCI evaluates progress at the most meaningful level to many citizens and business leaders – what’s happening or not happening in their hometowns. The CCI is the first tool of its kind to measure DEI health at the local level across multiple sectors simultaneously. The CCI will consist of an anonymous short survey format that asks organizations where they are with respect to inclusive practice areas such as recruiting, hiring, and strategy.
Hinton & Company will use aggregate responses to generate a detailed community report showing how various industry sectors and business types rank against one another concerning their DEI health. Survey participants will also have the opportunity to privately discuss their organization’s specific score with Hinton & Company if they wish.
“What we measure, we manage,” says Hinton. “Many employers may see their own DEI efforts as an acceptable status quo, but they may still be unsure to what degree their peers and competitors are doing more. This index will address those questions while orienting our entire business community in a healthier, stronger, more inclusive direction.”
Chattanooga District 8 City Councilwoman-Elect Marvene Noel (center) celebrates with supporters Thursday night at the Big River Grille in downtown Chattanooga.
By Camm Ashford
Marvene Noel won the City Council District 8 runoff election on Thursday over Marie Mott, receiving 55% of the votes and becoming the first woman councilmember elected in this district. She won 400 votes to 330, with 1 write in. There were 8,295 eligible voters.
“As councilwoman-elect for District 8, I am humbled and honored to continue to serve my community,” she said.
Councilwoman Noel said her priority “is to ensure all residents in District 8 have a voice regarding issues impacting this district. Serving as the interim city councilwoman for District 8 and the Neighborhood Association president for Historic Orchard Knob has allowed me to build strong connections with fellow city councilmembers, mayoral staff, other local officials and stakeholders to continue to build a safer, healthier, more accessible and energy efficient community.”
Noel serves as the current chair of the council’s Education and Innovation Committee.
On March 8, Noel was appointed by her eight colleagues on the Chattanooga City Council to serve as an interim until the Aug. 4 general election. District 8 became vacant when Mayor Tim Kelly appointed Anthony Byrd as city court clerk on Feb. 1.
Mott beat Noel in the August general election in a three-person race, but at 46.34%, did not get the required 50 percent-plus-1 votes needed to avoid a runoff. Malarie Marsh, who finished third, endorsed Mott. Mayor Kelly and several of her fellow councilmembers supported Noel.
Mott, an outspoken community activist and leader during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and a frequent speaker at city council meetings, came under fire after two controversial videos surfaced a few days before Thursday night’s election.
One showed comments made by Mott years ago about Jews and slavery. The other, a video released by the Chattanooga Police Department on Wednesday, showed Mott during a late night traffic stop last Sunday.
“Now is the time to work collaboratively toward long term solutions for chronic problems that plague our communities, such as crime, housing, and disinvestment,” Councilwoman-Elect Noel said. “It’s past time for District 8 to reclaim its rich heritage of culture, excellence, and community. It’s time for us to truly be the ‘Great District 8.’ Thank you, and let’s get to work!”
District 8 stretches from East Chattanooga to South Chattanooga, including the Amnicola, Avondale, Bushtown, Courthouse and Eastside precincts.
On Sunday, September 18,MAPCO, the convenience store chain with 300 stores throughout the Southeastern region of the United States, will give away up to $40 of free gas, of any grade including diesel, to the first 500 vehicles at the company’s recently opened location in Chattanooga, Tenn. at 2282 Encompass Dr. The free gas giveaway will begin at 9 a.m. EDT.
Entrance to the giveaway will be available from Encompass Drive, with the line of cars running from west to east on Shallowford Road. All exiting vehicles will be directed back out to Shallowford Road. MAPCO team members and volunteers from the Boys & Girls Club of Chattanooga will be onsite to direct attendees. Vehicles will not be allowed to line up until strictly after 7 a.m. EDT.
The giveaway and latest store location reflect MAPCO’s vision to deliver Convenience You Can TRUST, creating a place where guests can enjoy a Better Break as they refresh and recharge at their pace with quality products and services at a value relevant to them. All guests are invited to join MAPCO’s MY Reward$ loyalty program for further savings by visiting www.mapcorewards.com.
WHEN:
Sunday, September 18, beginning at 9 a.m. EDT
Vehicles will not be allowed to line up until after 7 a.m. EDT, noexceptions.
WHERE:
MAPCO* – 2282 Encompass Dr.Chattanooga, TN 37421
*Entrance to the giveaway will be available from Encompass Drive, with the line of cars running west to east on Shallowford Road
CHATTANOOGA, TN – Chattanooga natives Jeremy Hogstrom, DO, and Jermaine Hogstrom, DO, are returning to their hometown to join CHI Memorial Internal Medicine Associates – Chattanooga, Hixson Pike. After graduating from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), the Hogstroms received their medical degrees from Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Auburn, AL. They completed residencies in internal medicine at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in East Lansing, where they serve as co-chief residents. They are members of the American College of Physicians.
Drs. Hogstrom joined CHI Memorial as student volunteers while earning their undergraduate degrees at UTC and were later hired as phlebotomists before entering medical school. Known as ‘Twin.Doctors.J’ on TikTok and Instagram, they have more than 3 million followers between the two social channels.
Drs. Jeremy and Jermaine Hogstrom join Derek Crouthers, MD; Mario Mariani, MD; and Jerrold Selzer, MD, at CHI Memorial Internal Medicine Associates – Chattanooga, Hixson Pike. The practice is located at 3739 Hixson Pike, Chattanooga, TN 37415. Clinic hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. To schedule an appointment, call 423.875.0999. Drs. Hogstrom welcome new patients. Same day appointments and video visits are available.
Mayor Tim Kelly last Wednesday welcomed members of the 2022-2003 Chattanooga Youth Council.
“As representatives of our city’s youth, these bright students will spend the school year working alongside my team toward our shared vision of One Chattanooga,” Mayor Kelly said.
2022-2003 Chattanooga Youth Council members.
The 2022-2023 Mayor’s Youth Council is composed of 25 students, from 16 different schools, both public and private. All members are either juniors or seniors in high school and were selected following a competitive application process.
The 16 schools represented this year include: Baylor School, Boyd Buchanan School, Brainerd High, Central High, Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy, Chattanooga High Center for Creative Arts, Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences, East Hamilton High, Girls Preparatory School, Hixson High, Lookout Valley Middle/High, McCallie School, Notre Dame High School, STEM School Chattanooga, The Howard School and Tyner Academy.
Chloie-Brooklyn, a senior at STEM School Chattanooga, joined the Mayor’s Youth Council “because I wanted to make a positive change in my community. I also wanted to show the youth that their voices matter and they have the opportunity to make change.”
Members of the 2022-2003 Chattanooga Youth Council.
The Mayor’s Youth Council was created in 2015, as a pathway for high school students in the Chattanooga area to get involved in local government. Through the council, area high school students share their ideas and their concerns about issues young people face today. From advising the mayor on key priorities to acting as a liaison between the school hall and City Hall, the Mayor’s Youth Council works together to give a voice to young people across our community.
Vickie, a senior at the Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences, chose to join the council for a second year because, “Being part of a council that promotes the voices of youth is extremely important to me. I want to speak my voice and advocate for what I care about.”
A decision this month (September 2022) by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, one of the major daily papers in the South, to end its daily distribution of the award-winning print newspaper, struck a stunning blow to the ability of the region’s voiceless to make themselves heard, say news media and communications people on the front lines of spreading the word.
“It’s a terrible decision,” said Paul Delaney, a veteran reporter who got his start at the Atlanta Daily World then moved up in the ranks of Cox Newspapers and on to being a top editor in New York for The New York Times. “The paper set the standard in the region for newspapers across the South for covering the Civil Rights Movement,” said Delaney, noting most of the region, with some major exceptions, rejected racial desegregation and integration.
The Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution, historically separate papers, both turned the political and social corner and supported political and economic leaders who supported an end to government-endorsed racial segregation in the mid-1900’s and promoted integration as a civil process for society at large.
Even today, with a daily circulation of more than half a million copies a day, the paper is cited as a source thinking, of good, reliable news and a great training ground for aspiring reporters. The circulation of the award winning newspaper has declined a bit in recent years and competing venues of information cause it to drain revenue and followers. Still, the newspaper remains highly profitable and financially strong.
“The Journal and Constitution were key in helping society change for the better,” Delaney said, noting the papers fairly covered civil rights leaders and their activities through much of the last century. “They set the standard for covering the movement.”
The shut-down of the daily papers will end the century old practice of widespread distribution of diverse political, social, economic and commercial news to thousands of people daily, the end of young people’s first jobs delivering newspapers and connecting neighborhoods by print.
Giving the voiceless a voice at the public discussion table may be dramatically muted, say observers, citing the shutdown of the Nashville Banner in the 1980’s, followed by the quick downsizing of The Tennessean and other papers in Knoxville and Memphis.
“The shame is for that consumer who is not connected or does not have access to computer technology and will soon be unable to access the AJC’s news product,” said Memphis-born veteran reporter Walter Middlebrook, a former newspaper editor in Detroit and New York, now journalism professor at Penn State University.
“I can’t believe that the residents of Atlanta and all of Georgia, for that matter, are fully connected and will have access to the internet.
“Until that time when the internet is recognized as a utility — available to all — a major media outlet like the AJC should be striving to make its products available to all in as many formats and forms possible,” said Midddlebrook..
Until that time when the internet is recognized as a utility — available to all — a major media outlet like the AJC should be striving to make its products available to all in as many formats and forms as possible. said Middlebrook.
Gerald Jordan, a journalism professor at the University of Arkansas and former reporter for the Kansas City Star and the Philadelphia Inquirer, says many people are condemning the daily paper shutdown as they reflect upon the “heydays” of newspaper journalism, the days that prompted the general public to condemn and the government to disown legalized racial segregation in employment, housing, education and health.
“A societal cost for sure,” said Jordan, of reports of the Journal-Constitution cutback. “However, you’re living in the heyday of great newspapers” he said. “My profound regret is that the crazies – the yahoos whose single-spaced letters to the newsroom – now hold sway in the wretched internet disinformation and misinformation that has buried truth and given rise to a sneering audience so easily led by the former president,” said Jordan, echoing colleagues. (TN TRIBUNE)
In the spring of 1953, women from across the United States traveled to Britain – for many, it was their first time abroad.
The impetus for the trip was Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, held in Westminster Abbey on a rainy June 2 of that year. Among those making the journey were Peggy Webber, who traveled all the way from Iowa, and Geneva Valentine from Washington, D.C. For both women, whom I learned of while researching the monarchy and gender, the coronation provided an unprecedented opportunity to be part of a momentous occasion in which a woman was at the center of the story.
For almost 70 years, there has been a long-standing affection for Elizabeth from across the Atlantic, especially among women. It may be of a less showy variety than the attention lavished on other, potentially more glamorous female members of the royal family, such as Princess Diana or the Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex. But it endured. A Febuary 2022 poll found that more than 60% of American women held a favorable opinion of Elizabeth. The survey found her to be the most popular of all living royals, with women generally holding the royals in greater esteem than men do.
In her own way, the queen quietly captured the imaginations of American women from the very beginning of her reign. As a historian of the British monarchy, I know part of the interest stemmed from Americans’ abiding affection for the royal family – something that transcended Elizabeth’s reign.
But for many American women, Elizabeth also represented something else. At a time when women were, in many cases, expected to conform to traditional roles of a housewife and homemaker, Elizabeth was ascending the throne of a powerful country. In the words of one psychologist interviewed for a 1953 Los Angeles Times article, for the first time “the women of America have found a heroine who makes them feel superior to men.”
Long-standing affection
Just as American women in the 20th century followed Elizabeth’s evolution, from dutiful daughter to young bride and mother to conscientious sovereign, so did earlier generations take interest in Queen Victoria’s coronation, marriage, and jubilee celebrations in the 19th century.
For even though Americans chose a different path with independence in 1776, the British royal family has always exerted a strong pull on the American psyche. In fact, that pull is perhaps even greater because it is uncomplicated by politics. It is not U.S. tax dollars at work, so Americans can take pleasure in the ceremonial and the romantic without being burdened by questions of what it costs and means to have a monarchy.
There is a specifically gendered aspect to America’s love affair with the royals, too. When women traveled to London in 1953 – or, as second best, turned on their newly purchased television sets to tune into the coronation coverage – they were not just interested in what the queen was wearing or the dashing figure cut by Prince Philip.
They were also fixated on the fact that so much fuss was being made over a woman at all, and a powerful one at that. As U.S. ambassador to Italy Clare Boothe Luce explained at the time, this was “an assignment made to order for a woman.” Luce used this logic to convince President Dwight Eisenhower to send the journalist Fleur Cowles to the coronation as one of his official representatives.
Indeed, as Luce alluded to, there was something deliciously disruptive about Elizabeth’s reign. Against a postwar backdrop, when many American women were being urged to return to the home and take pride in the efficiency of their kitchens, here was a 25-year-old princess being elevated to a position of head of state, her every step reported and discussed. This was anomalous, and in ways that seemed to augur well for others of her sex.
Reporter John Kord Lagemann, writing in the Los Angeles Times in 1953, captured this sentiment in a piece on “America’s Queen-Crazy Women.” Elizabeth, Lagemann noted, posed a challenge to patriarchy. Case in point was her marriage. Here, he wrote, the “situation is reversed” and the woman “commands.”
Elizabeth did not need to “play according to a man’s rules by acting demure and helpless.” Rather, she could “be as imperious as she pleases.”
Lagemann’s observations provide some clues to Elizabeth’s hold on American women. Even as the women’s liberation movement helped shift certain conversations, the queen continued to model an alternative path forward – one in which women could travel without their children, demonstrate their command of policy, be at the center of the photograph, take responsibility and even grow old in the public eye.
Elizabeth II will be mourned by many around the world, including the daughters and granddaughters of those “Queen-Crazy” Americans who traveled to London in 1953 for her coronation but have yet to see a female head of state installed in their own country.
