Communications Assistant Luke Anderson recently met with two of our partners to talk about their experience working with Thrive. Here’s what they had to say.

Jacob Bearden - Coordinator for Greater Dalton MPO

Jacob I started in my role in 2014, and at the time, Ty Ross, he was the city of Dalton administrator, and he invited me to my first Thrive meeting at the time I think it was Thrive 2055 kind of that initial start-up initiative that Bridgett had. And I had just started in the transportation planning world, and Ty kind of told me a little bit about it and how Thrive was trying to do planning not just for transportation, but on a larger scale for the entire region, including Greater Chattanooga, in the 16 counties that eventually became the planning area. And yeah, it was funny because in thinking about that, it was kind of hard to grasp just because I knew the challenges that we were facing for two counties, let alone the entire region. And of course, we're still recovering from the recession at the time. And so that also was a factor. But when I got to the meeting and I want to say it was at the Covenant headquarters up here in Chattanooga, I heard Bridgett speak. I heard Deborah Stone speak. I heard several people who were part of the board and part of Thrive at the time just begin speaking about not only their ideas, but how they hope to achieve those ideas. And it was in that moment, from not necessarily a professional standpoint, but from a personal standpoint, that it became clear that while the path may not be clearly laid out, the task X, Y or Z are going to be checked off. These individuals had come together to form this body that where there was a will there was a way. And so when I left there, the thought of this regional planning. Still, it was difficult to wrap my head around, but you left feeling a certainty that this was going to happen and that good things were going to come of this just because you had people who were willing to, in a word, roll up their sleeves and get to work and do the work of two or three people, if that's what it took. And they're willing to push forward. And so that was kind of when I was introduced to Thrive. And it's been a journey ever since.

Luke Yeah, you mentioned challenges in terms of first just planning things out, coming out with a strategy to deal with, you know, trends and problems that are going on, on top of, you know, challenges and just logistics and work out what it's going to take to get stuff done, I guess. What do you feel like or what challenges from back then are still, you know, are still there now or still trying to work through and what things have changed in what ways do your challenges look different or the same now?

Jacob Yeah that's a great question. Our area I would argue that it was hit probably the hardest anywhere from the recession, and the 07-08 crash. A lot of flooring obviously in the area as well as other types of manufacturing was greatly impacted. And I know for a while we were kind of the highest unemployment rate per capita in our region. And so when you talk about planning and you talk about five, ten year all the way to 25 year forecast and people want to see things happen now. They want to see things happen in the present. And your planning is really more focused on operations. And it's tough because that's…if you want your federal assistance, if you want your state assistance, you've got to have a plan in place. And when you talk about transportation planning or logistics or planning in general, people don't want to be excited about that or can't get involved or can't be engaged with it, seemingly, because, again, you're not talking about something we're going to see in a few months or even a year from now. These are things that we're saying, okay, this solution is going to be transgenerational. We want something that's going to take care of the people coming behind us so that they don't have to worry about what's happening in the present. They can focus on continuing the future growth. And so, I think to me that was the greatest challenge of the time in that bringing people in and engaging them on this thought of we would love to have money to do things now. We would love to go out there and get to work on these things and have the funding to do that. But it's just not the case. And we need to plan for the future so we can begin to budget for these things and put them into an overall plan where if we need to budget for years to come, that we can do that and transitioning into the present. The more we've talked about it, the more we've been involved with community partners like Thrive and everyone's kind of rallied around this idea, and it's not 100%, of course, but there's just been kind of, a revelation to the thought of planning that okay. We see that it is important we see that it doesn't matter if we want to do things now or not. That's not how the world works and we have to have planning and so let's invest in this and get started. And so we've been able to overcome that to a certain degree. But again, it's still hard to do and not necessarily from the local policymakers anymore. They're on board now, but from a public engagement stage, it's hard because when people have a problem, they want it solved in the now and as much as we would love to do that, unfortunately, problems don't always have one solution. To this day we still hear complaints about the 24-75 split. And while that project still has multiple phases to come, there had to be one thing done to solve an immediate problem and it didn't take care of all the issues, but safety was an issue. So we had to address that in the now. But there's still more to come in the future. It's the same all across our region. And so our next goal is to try to figure out how we can meet with our community, the public as a whole and really get them on board with the whole idea of starting planning for multiple generations to come.

Luke What does that look like as a community member? To be a part of something like that?

Jacob That's a great question. And what that boils down to is that we have our transportation meetings and our MPO meetings, same thing as the freight coalition meetings and all and all these other things where community partners, whether it be their organizations or local government, come together and talk about these things. And to be a community member who wants to be engaged is to show up. These public meetings, whether that be my transportation meetings, whether it be council meetings, commissioner meetings, or whatever the case may be, those are the best opportunities for your voice to be heard. And one of the obstacles is that people don't always like coming to our government facilities in that setting, because understandably, it can be intimidating to stand at a podium in front of our policymakers and talk or something of that nature. And so we're trying to find ways to meet at community centers. We're trying to find ways to partner with other organizations that are already in the community that people enjoy engaging with and just trying to be part of something and just not necessarily having an agenda, but just showing up and making ourselves available with no agenda at all. And that's helped a lot. And again, that's where Thrive has been so good for me because transportation planning is one of those things that no one wants to talk about. But Thrive has connected me with other organizations, and whether it be intentionally or unintentionally, we've been able to come together and I was able to meet with it's a group called Collaborative and it's a meeting of the school system, local social workers, community organizations that are there to benefit the community as a whole, whether the major financial assistance or whatever the case may be, they're there to benefit our community. And Shannon Millsaps and I were able to meet with these people and talk to them a little bit about the American Connectivity Program and how you can receive a discount on broadband. And again, that wasn't my meeting, that wasn't my agenda. But just partnering with Thrive on these things has connected us to other people who do have a voice in the community and who can spread the word a little bit better. And so that's something we're seeing is truly beneficial, is to not necessarily come with our own agenda, but meeting with these anchor organizations in the community and letting them speak our word for us. Yeah.

Luke Have there been certain plans or like networking that you've been able to do, that you've been able to like bring back to Dalton and Whitfield county that is kind of like a specific example or like specific plan or person that you've been able to take back from this greater regional thing and brought it back to like where your community is?

Jacob Yeah. So as a couple of weeks ago I was at the event for RePower and I had a great conversation with John Bilderback. Just a wealth of knowledge when it comes to grant funds and community engagement. And he mentioned this idea of a photo voice type thing where essentially people can take pictures and it's geo-located and put a little caption for the picture of what an issue is that they have. And we've recently started thinking how we can incorporate that into our public engagement because it solves the issue of getting people out at a certain time and date to our public meetings. It solves the issue of the intimidation factor from a government facility, or if you have an issue with public speaking, it takes care of all of that and you're able to do it from the comfort of your own location and put it in your words. And I was able to present some information about one of our local parks that we're going to be moving forward with. And that was one of the things just after my conversation with him, it was just like, this is the impact in this community that it has made. And I was just like, yeah, it's a great idea. And these are things that you don't think of until you're able to get outside of your boundaries, your jurisdiction and boundaries, and see what everyone else is doing, because we're all parts of a greater whole. And so it's going to take everyone's short success stories to put together the larger book that tells something about our region.

Luke In terms of challenges or things where you feel like this is something that I want Dalton and Whitfield county to tackle in the future, what kind of specific challenges do you feel like you're hearing from your community members and how do you feel like organizations like Thrive or our affiliates and our contacts might be able to help in you in finding solutions to those challenges?

Jacob Yes. So right now we have kind of a unique I won't say it's unique, but for us, it is a situation where, again, Dalton, being our urban center, is growing and you're seeing a lot of industrial growth, manufacturing as well as housing growth in our area, which is all incredible. And we love to see it because it's truly what builds a community up. But at the same time, we also have a lot of natural resources and historical areas that we want to preserve. We want to have that for future generations to enjoy as well. And so we have this incredible urban center that's just doing incredible things. And then we have our more rural areas who are incredible in their own sense from, again, the natural resources, the historical value of the land and the story that they have to tell from that side. And so working with Thrive, of course, we've been able to see what other urbanized areas are doing for their plans and doing, not just encouraging growth and the continued economic development and the betterment of the community as well, but what they're doing to kind of emphasize that in the this is what our area is doing and proud of that and this is our legacy that we're going to lead. But then I know, again, Thrive, one organization where you have that side of it, but you have another aspect that they also work extremely hard to protect those natural resources, to get the grants, to get the documentation, to solidify these areas as historical and they're there to be preserved. And so this is something that we're kind of looking at, again, as a whole and what it is that we can do to satisfy both worlds and make it to where we are a community that’s up and coming that we're doing good things and we want to draw people here. But at the same time, like, yeah, we have a history and legacy here that we also want to protect and preserve because that is part of us. This is our roots, this is where we all came from. And so, again, an organization like Thrive and all the affiliates that come with that is something that I see as a tremendous resource. Just because you have people with knowledge from both areas that can come together and make something, that's one and communicating with one another.

Luke If you could describe it in a word. What would you say is Thrive’s greatest strength in your experience, and what do you feel like is still a weakness? Or what obstacles are present that still need to be attacked?

Jacob So in a word, connectivity. Thrive is an incredible resource not only from a knowledge base or resource base, but Rob Bradham, one of the emeritus trustees of Thrive and I were talking recently about how our region in general, while it is wonderful on its own and it's full of people who again are willing to roll up their sleeves and do work and things are hard, we've always struggled with communication across the region. And what Thrive has done is, I guess thinking in terms of an analogy, I think back to the old operators on the switchboard connecting people. That's essentially, and not to take away from any of the individual accomplishments of Thrive, but that's essentially something that I see is a great strength in that if I don't know who to talk to or if I don't know who to communicate with, it's ultimately limiting my ability to truly plan for my community. Because if I don't know what's going on in the neighboring community or in the adjacent area, I've already lost the battle of future plans because that transition should be seamless. That transition, even if we're completely distinct areas with completely different, growth factors or populations, you still should be able to transition between the two seamlessly. And so Chattanooga, Cleveland when Thrive brings all of us together in one room and then across three different states with our state planning partners also, you get that communication. You're just like, what's going on over here that's going to bring stuff into my area and what do I need to be planning for that you're saying is coming our way and vice versa? We can offer that same information, so that connectivity is to me one of the greatest strengths, just being the liaison, being that person that we can call that will connect us. And even if we don't know who we need to talk to, Thrive knows and is in contact with this person. As far as weakness, I mean, I wouldn't even say it was a weakness. It's really something that is I guess nothing that Thrive can control on its own, but being more involved with local policymakers, letting them know that this is what we do, this is how we were available to you and this is what we can provide, making that abundantly clear that this is the resource that we are is something that I think could go a long way, because ultimately these are the people who have been put in charge to make the best decisions for our community and in the best interests of our community. And so if you have a resource like Thrive that operates over 16 counties, and if we're being realistic more than that, I don't envision a world where that's not a beneficial resource to be able to know what's happening across that broad of an area. So just seeking out opportunities to be more involved within the local communities, just to know that you're out there, that you're available. And that’s how it happened for us, right? Shannon started showing up to MPO meetings, She started being involved. She started helping with grant opportunities with us, like being that resource to us. And then it's just kind of grown into where, you know, you’re of my favorite partnerships now and that it's just because the connectivity and the communication and then the overall work ethic is contagious. From top down. It's contagious, in that, you know, we'll find a way. We'll get it done. We're going to do it. That's what I would say for that.

Luke If you came across someone who just heard about Thrive or on the fence about what we we’re doing or our goals, how would you describe it to them? What would you say to them?.

Jacob So Thrive is something that…So when I think of leadership, one of my favorite authors, John Maxwell, says leadership is defined not by our individual trophies or individual achievements but the legacy we leave behind. The legacy that comes after us. So Thrive, just speaking in general, if you're unsure about what it is they can do for your community and I'll speak strictly for mine, and I know there's many more examples, but Burr Park in Dalton, Georgia, has become the hub of downtown revitalization. And again, we had a long way to go to climb out of that recession. But if you look at Burr Park and what it's meant for our area from our downtown concert series to just creating a sense of camaraderie and community enjoyment. It has done wonders. Thrive was an essential part of facilitating that. So in just my community alone from that aspect, it's, again, that they were an essential member to facilitate the creation of Burr park. From my professional personal experience, the Greater Chattanooga Freight Hub that was just launched, the data that is on that has always been available. But the problem in that is it was available in a series of Excel spreadsheets and just seemingly endless amounts of numbers that you would have to sift through and go about it yourself. So a lot of people would hire consultants, and consultants cost a lot of money, to go through and sort to this data just for your political boundary or your urban boundary. And so Thrive has taken that data and not only made it available to planners like myself, but they've made this data available to business owners, school systems, so on and so forth to where even if you're not in the field, you can still go on there and look at the website, look at the tool. And you can see firsthand how it benefits you from multiple different aspects. And I've heard those stories to where it's just like, yeah, this is unique to see that this is the corridor where we're seeing a lot of truck traffic or this is the corridor that maybe I want to start sending my truck traffic around because it sees a lot of heavy commuter traffic congestion. And so just those two examples have been game changers in my community along with different aspects. And I don't want to take away from what anyone else did that were part of those two things. But again, Thrive was an integral part of that. And so again, if you want to see what Thrive is all about, go to where they’ve been, the fact that when they've entered into a community, it's better than what it was before they got there. And that's what being a leading organization is all about in my mind is that, again, from an individual trophy standpoint, those are two great accomplishments, but what have those two accomplishments fostered outside of themselves? And so again, we have downtown revitalization. We have all these people coming out of the woodworks to present their talents at our local events there. And so, if you want to know what Thrive is all about, that's what they can do for your community. And I would encourage you to partner with them just for the simple fact that, while we all have our unique circumstances and our unique things about our own individual communities, there are things that in general improve an area. And if you're unsure of what those things might look like, sit down and have a conversation with Bridgett. Sit down and have a conversation with Shannon. Have a conversation with any of Thrive’s staff and you can see what it is that they're doing, and it is multifaceted, and they can help you find a way to get to where you're going. And again, it may not even be something that they do on their staff, but they can connect you with the right people. So that would be my pitch about Thrive and what it is that they do. Just have a look at their legacy and the ripple effect of what they've done.

Tara Kirby - Parental and Community Engagement Specialist for DeKalb (AL) County schools

Tara I was introduced to Thrive from the Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce director Jennifer McCurdy and I completed a training with Shannon, I guess it was in July, and that's when I was first introduced.

Luke And you've done, you've done stuff with ACP and things like that with Shannon.

Tara Yes.

Luke Can you talk about that a little bit?

Tara So my work has been completely with ACP, so so for in our district, I think I mentioned around 350 families that we have signed up. The process has been pretty smooth. There's some paperwork and a few hoops you have to jump through. That part's been a little bit of a headache at times, but other than that it's been great. Everyone's excited about it and it's mainly just making parents aware or families aware, you know, educating them that this is even available because so many do not know.

Luke Right. Can you like go into kind of what this program does for like for those families?

Tara Oh, my goodness. We are a very low-income enrolled school district. So a lot of our families, if they have access to Internet, which some of them do not, and if they do have access they can't afford it. So it's great, even the ones that already do, to be able to get that $30 off and then the ones that can't afford a device, that's been also a great avenue for them to take as well. And especially, you know, in today's world of online learning and, you know, there's lots of days where you just have virtual days now since COVID, those are being established more throughout the year than they you know, they weren't in the past at all. So having a device and Internet accessibility is very important to your child's academic success.

Luke Right. How is that kind of in my school systems or like with families and stuff, how how do you feel like you've seen things change post-COVID compared to how you know things with families were before?

Tara Well I think COVID, on a technology stance, has made us very aware of how far behind a lot of our families are. You just assume everyone has a phone in their hand, everyone has access to Internet when that is not true, especially in a rural area.

Luke Right. Can you describe a little bit about the training sessions and what was going on in those meetings?

Tara Okay. So the meeting with Shannon, there were several representatives from our county in that meeting. I represented one of the school districts, of course, and she just took us through, you know, what Thrive was about, what their goal was, how they could help the citizens of our county, and then basically this is what you can do to make a difference in your community. And we just took it and ran with it and it's been very successful. We're hoping, the goal by Christmas, honestly, is to have 6000 families. That's the goal. And it's very attainable. I think it will happen.

Luke That's awesome. Yeah. You mentioned how certain things like paperwork and things like that can be really painstaking. Are there other challenges that you've kind of come across that you've been able to overcome or things that are still there?

Tara Yes. One of the challenges that has presented itself is we have a lot of Spanish say, Spanish speaking, but we have a lot of ELL students. So their parents may not have a Social Security, or a form of ID, and that's been a bit of a challenge. Most do. Having to make copies of things like passports. That's where the time comes in. And when we set out to sign people up, I always have to have several hands on deck, you know, somebody making copies and organizing everything so that, you know. A lot of parents could do it themselves, but when you have to upload documentation, if they don't have the Internet, they're not going to be able to do that.

Luke Yeah. From kind of a larger scale standpoint, what vision do you have for those programs in the future? Are there ways you feel like you see expansion or is it just kind of getting everyone on the train?

Tara Right. I will tell you one thing that has been positive is one of our schools, probably the most rural school, and of course, those parents do not have great Internet access at all. So that has made them very proactive in contacting their local service providers and making sure that their area, you know, is provided for and is served. So that's something that's really starting to happen, and they're already putting in fiber and they started two weeks ago. I mean, because they've received multiple phone calls, and now that they can afford it, they want it.

Luke Where do you feel like broadband is in the schools themselves? Because I know, like certain schools are like in places where I grew up, there were, you know, there was Internet and you could offer students computers and Internet access. Was that scenario like where you are?

Tara Okay. I'm actually my husband here with me is a principal at one of our local schools. So where would you say the broadband is now versus maybe five years ago?

Heath You mean, during the school day or outside of school?

Luke Yeah, both works.

Heath COVID kind of kind of changed the public access for our area, very rural, which our main Internet provider mirrors themselves after EPB in Chattanooga a little bit. So our connectivity in the schools is state of the art. And that has changed in the last five years. In a good way.

Heath Fiber came in and the cooperative there, which is the Internet providers, was a rural telephone cooperative that totally rebranded themselves into a, you know, totally fiber optic, their imprint is totally fiber optic, which has changed for the schools except for the school we're talking about, which was out of their imprint. So that our provider has started putting public access in areas for COVID purposes--municipalities, parks, public libraries--where they didn't have to get out a car. So that's changed a lot. So I mean, it's been a total rebranding in the last five years.

Luke So it seems like a lot of the challenge is not public access, but getting Internet for families or allowing the individual families to find things that are affordable.

Tara Yeah. It's not a lack of stuff, except in that one area. It's the affordability of it, you know? Yes. We were talking about our Internet bill at home and how much it is for us. And we talk about how can other people, you know, who do not have full-time jobs or somebody's out because they're on disability. How do they afford it with everything else? You know, I can see where it would be a struggle.

Luke Gosh. Yeah, that makes more sense. Can you describe a little more your experience with Thrive as a whole, whether it be, you know, through your work in schools and with families or just the organization in general?

Tara Well, Thrive, of course, I was just introduced, I guess, three months ago to the company or the organization. And any question I have had has been immediately answered. You know, usually with a pick-up the first time I call them. If not, they respond within 30 minutes with a text message or an e-mail but that is a good thing. Email, you know, sometimes takes a while. But I have always been able to call Shannon and her pick up the phone or say, hey, let me call you right back. And she has always been accessible and that's made my job easier because when I have had those hiccups of this form is not being accepted or what do you think is happening here? She figures out an answer for me. So it's been great.

Luke That's awesome. And do you have plans or desires for working with Thrive in the future? Or are there certain things you would want to have us involved in or be involved in yourself? Are there certain things that you can think of in that capacity?

Tara Well, just in my role, you know, families and community involvement. I am always looking to partner with anyone that can help serve our area, that can be beneficial to our families and our community. And Thrive has done that. It's almost one of those things you think that's too good to be true. And so that has been so positive. Anything that they ever approached me with, I know that I would be on board with, because this has been such a smooth process from the beginning.