The One Chattanooga plan

On Thursday, Mayor Tim Kelly and his staff unveiled a comprehensive plan in hopes of transforming and improving the Scenic City.

Dubbed “One Chattanooga,” Mayor Kelly says this is the guiding framework for the city’s vision over the next three years.

What this plan is

• A broad vision informed by community input + designed to provoke action and dialogue about our shared future.
• A guide to point Chattanooga towards ambitious goals + objectives.
• Focused on changing systems that perpetuate inequalities.
• Built on the basic services local government provides.

Issues to address

Mayor Kelly and his staff cited national research while developing this plan, including:

• One in four children are living + growing up in poverty in Chattanooga (~8,797 children).
• $13,000 difference in later-life annual income between white + Black children who grow up in low-income households in Chattanooga.
• 39.5% of local renters are housing-burdening — meaning 35%+ of their household income goes towards rent.
• Black residents are four times more likely to die from hypertension + hypertensive renal disease than white residents in Hamilton County.
• Chattanooga is ranked in the bottom 9% of worst places in America when it comes to helping poor children up the income ladder.

The plan

The One Chattanooga plan is composed of seven main goals with 40 key priorities:

• Build a universal path to early learning — expanding access to early learning programs for all families.
• Catalyze economic vitality in the Black community — increasing pathways to entrepreneurship + access to all.
• Ensure affordable housing choices for all Chattanoogans — including the expansion of supportive housing resources available to end chronic homelessness.
• Improve local infrastructure + public transit — composing long-term maintenance plans and investing in sustainable and resilient infrastructure.
• Build a competitive regional economy — growing household incomes for all Chattanoogans.
• Close the gaps in public health — addressing racial + economic disparities in public health outcomes.
• Provide responsive and effective local government — increasing opportunities for residents to engage with local government.

Mayor Kelly stressed One Chattanooga is an ongoing and evolving plan that will be regularly updated. The current One Chattanooga plan can be found here with an in-depth analysis, as well as details on how the progress of these goals will be tracked.