Camp Wakawalu | Downside Up

Congratulations to the now 2X UNF grant winner, Downside Up!

Downside Up is a nonprofit that envisions a world where all people with special needs and their loved ones have access to the environments and experiences they need to grow and thrive. They provide creative activities, fun and educational events, and family experiences for all ages and all abilities.

Our $3,000 will go to support families who have children with disabilities to experience an overnight weekend camp. But not just any camp.

Camp Wakawalu isn’t another conference or retreat. There are no sessions, no seminars, no keynote speakers. Camp Wakawalu is simply a camp, with a single purpose: to bring together children who have disabilities, and their families, for a weekend of away-ness.

Do you want to help, too? Donate, volunteer, or buy them something on their Amazon Wish List on their website. You can read about the grant they won for the 2018 Camp Wakawalu here.

Baby Care Closet | Office of Early Learning

The City of Chattanooga’s Office of Early Learning (OEL) exists to assist families, children, and childcare providers with resources to push students closer to the start line. Think about entering kindergarten prepared in the realm of language and cognition ability. OEL also provides parents with the appropriate education and experiences for families with young children that they may not have access to otherwise.

OEL firmly believes that you can not support the child without supporting the entire family. We feel ya, OEL.

With over 32% of our region's children living in poverty, its hard to ignore that our neighbors are living without basic necessities.

Our $3,000 will allow the OEL, a division under Chattanooga Department of Early Learning, to create a young children's care closet that will support families of small children. By providing items such as diapers, wipes, clothing, personal hygiene, formula, laundry detergent, and other expensive, yet mandatory items to families in need, we can alleviate some economic barriers that may allow families to engage in other brain-building experiences.

Boyd's Community Support | Loftis Middle School

Meet Emetria Boyd, School Social Worker for Loftis Middle School. She supports families by thinking outside the box, meeting them where they are, and taking action. We fueled her action to the tune of $3,000.

How? As a school social worker, she meets with Loftis Middle School students and sometimes hears they have no water or lights at home. Enter our grant funds. Emetria is on the front line and can usually get these utilities back on the same day. She also ensures the family signs up for additional services for continued support. She even sometimes guides family members to find jobs, keeps a food pantry, and also has food gift cards handy. You get the idea.

Our $3,000 went to purchase food gift cards, clothing, gas cards, and financial hardship support that may affect a child’s ability to concentrate and learn. Families benefit immediately. They have been affected by so much including Covid, the loss of jobs, the rising cost of goods, family deaths, grandparents raising grandchildren on a fixed income, and many other situations that require barriers to be removed for students to focus and learn at school.

Equity in Action Symposium | HCDE Office of Equity

Did you know Hamilton County Schools (HCS) has an Office of Equity & Advocacy? Yeah, they do. And they’re doing cool stuff. Before we get into the specifics, let’s get on the same page about what educational equity is.

Educational equity means every student receives what they need to help them reach their full potential regardless of race, language, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, physical ability, or any other characteristic of their identity. 

As part of their 3-year Educational Equity Plan (EEP), the Equity in Action Symposium was created to better equip educators to be grassroots change-makers for addressing inequities throughout the district. The Equity in Action Symposium is a day of professional development for educators to better understand educational equity, how they can incorporate it in their spaces, and who they can turn to in partnership to make a difference for their schools and students. This year, sessions ranged from restorative practices to cultural competency, social-emotional and academic development, building belonging, nonviolent approaches to communication, student success strategies, facilitating courageous conversations, and drivers for economic inequality. 

We didn’t fund the entire symposium. We’re not that boss. But we did play an important role. Our $3,000 went to fund 30+ substitute teachers so that permanent teachers could attend the symposium. Budgeted for only school administrators and leadership, our funding allowed those in the classroom to attend.

Side note: we couldn’t be more proud to be featured as a sponsor on the below recap.

Scribble Animation | Matt Nassar

Meet Matt Nassar, a Chattanoogan, an accomplished brand designer, and 3D animator who has worked with startups and Fortune 100 brands. From Nike to Snickers, Matt has led the art direction and animation for various campaigns amongst much more.

Scribble Animation is his community project. In partnership with CCA, Dynamo Studios, Tech Goes Home, and the city's Youth & Family Development centers, he will target high school students at Howard and CCA as well as low-income and historically marginalized learners of all ages.

With what? A creative, forward-looking curriculum and project-based learning coursework to teach them 3D animation skills. Our grant will be used for two main things: $2,395 will pay for a 6-month subscription to Disco, an online learning platform. Disco will allow Matt to create interactive course materials with online lessons, quizzes, multimedia, learning assessments, and track student progress and engagement.

The other part of the grant will be $450 to pay for a 2-month subscription to Maya, a professional 3D animation tool. The course itself will make use of Spline and Blender, both free and widely accessible 3D animation tools. This approach ensures the course remains free to all learners in Chattanooga who have access to a computer and an internet connection.

Bring on the tech!

Back to Work | Re-Wake

With nearly one in three adults in the United States having some sort of criminal conviction, odds are you know somebody who has been convicted of a crime or suffered as a result of someone else's offense.

Re-wake is a non-profit organization that assists families that are justice-involved. What is justice-involved? The term "justice-involved" is used to describe people who have had contact with the criminal justice system, either as a victim, offender, or both. This can include people who have been arrested, charged with a crime, convicted of a crime, incarcerated, or on probation or parole. The term "justice-involved" is often used in place of terms like "criminal" or "felon" because it is seen as more respectful and less stigmatizing. It also recognizes that people who have been involved in the criminal justice system are still human beings who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

So how do they assist these families? With mentoring, counseling, coaching, and wellness. Those who complete the program and become employed will receive a pair of work boots. With our $3,000 grant, they will be able to provide 60 pairs of steel-toe boots to those who are justice-involved entering the workforce.

ICYMI: The founder of Re-Wake is City Council Member Demetrus Coonrod. In 2008, she was a scared returning citizen.  There were no resources available to assist with re-entry into society after she left prison. She found herself alone.  Re-wake was born from her lived experience.  The organization focuses on the whole family to break mental incarceration.

Showers of Love | Fabrice Medastin

It’s a first, we’ve funded a project where the entire budget is insurance. All $3,000.

In October of last year, homeless outreach nurse, Fabrice Medastin, lost his job due to a lack of funding. That didn’t stop him from his calling. In partnership with the City of Chattanooga Outreach Team, The Regional Outreach Cooperative, and the Community Kitchen, he plans to continue serving as a volunteer nurse to meet basic first aid and hygienic needs to promote health. How? With a shower bus to provide hot showers, haircuts, grooming, and laundering services for his friends in the Chattanooga area.

Fabrice already owns the bus and will operate it himself, but needs commercial insurance to get it up and running. Our $3,000 will cover one year of it.

Testing Drinking Water for Lead | UTC Master of Public Health Program

Lead in drinking water is bad. It can cause childhood lead poisoning which results in developmental delays, especially in children under the age of six. Lead in drinking water has been found in several schools in Hamilton County and has been addressed through remediation (water source taken out of service until fixed). Lead testing in schools is required by the state. However, lead testing is not required in childcare centers, where the most vulnerable children spend their time. The EPA funded the state of Tennessee five years ago to offer free lead testing of drinking water to licensed childcare centers. Unfortunately, very few centers have done the testing; only 3 in Hamilton County over a 5-year period of time through August 2022.

Enter UTC students. UTC has an agreement with TDEC and a small amount of funding of $12,750 to reach out to childcare centers about the free testing available. The funding pays students to work on the project ($15/hour). Since August 1st, they have been reaching out to centers in Hamilton County about the lead testing. Less than 20 centers agreed to test (of nearly 200), and only 9 actually sent water samples to the state lab. Students can collect the water samples and mail them to the lab, or Center staff can do it themselves. They have tried getting the word out through media outlets, including a front-page story in the Times Free Press.

Why aren’t centers agreeing to the free testing? Center directors are busy, it is not required, and it takes some work on their end. Also, if a center has elevated lead, they will be required to take the water source out of service until it is fixed – so there is a lot on the line for something that is not required.

Enter us. $1,500 went to buy $50 gift cards to incentivize the childcare center directors to participation in the program. With the gift cards, the focus will be on low-income areas first (South Chattanooga, East Lake, etc), where children are most at risk.