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Community Reimagined

Community Reimagined

By United Way of Greater Chattanooga

At United Way of Greater Chattanooga, we believe everyone in our community deserves an equal opportunity to succeed. But not everyone in our community has access to the things they need to succeed, especially when it comes to education, health and stability. That’s why we created a podcast to unite people with resources to help build a stronger, healthier community! Each month, we’ll explore some of the biggest issues facing our community, connect with leaders who are working to address them and invite you to engage with your community as a change-maker.
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Community Reimagined, Episode 11

Community ReimaginedFeb 24, 2022

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Community Reimagined Episode 14

Community Reimagined Episode 14

On this episode of Community Reimagined, we have an awesome conversation with our keynote speaker for the Celebrate Awards, Beth Kanter, Abby Garrison and Connor Tarter. 

With the Celebrate Awards being just a few weeks away, we wanted to highlight the importance celebration and you don't want to miss it. 

Thank you to our episode's sponsor, Shaw Industries. Learn more about Shaw’s commitment to the community, here: https://shawinc.com


May 05, 202219:02
Community Reimagined, Episode 13

Community Reimagined, Episode 13

On this episode of Community Reimagined, we are celebrating Volunteer Appreciation Month by diving into an awesome conversation around our new Community Investments process with Dr. Edna Varner, Brian Beaulieu, Terrance Brown and our host, Connor Tarter.

In this episode, we wanted to highlight, celebrate, and transparently share the changes in our Community Investments process, total requests from applicants, and our thorough, volunteer dependent and led review process.

Beginning in 2017, our historical allocations process underwent an innovative process to move from transactional to transformational impact and investments. Working alongside our historically funded partners and community advocates, we embarked on a design journey to reimagine mutual power-sharing and accountability through resource investment. Our Community Investments team worked closely with historically funded partners to ensure a step-down process to maintain the trust we all worked to build throughout the years while also preparing to build new bridges of trust with new partnering organizations!

Apr 20, 202222:52
Community Reimagined, Episode 12
Mar 24, 202225:18
Community Reimagined, Episode 11

Community Reimagined, Episode 11

On our season two kickoff of Community Reimagined, our very own, Connor Tarter and Terrance Brown, sit down to have a meaningful conversation with their guest, Lakweshia Ewing, in celebration of Black History Month. Lakweshia is the CEO of Unlearn Everything and Live. To learn more about her organization, check out her website at www.unlearneverythingandlive.com


To learn more about the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga, start here: www.ulchatt.net.


We want to give a shout out to this episode's sponsor, 211. A free and confidential service used by thousands of people across the Tennessee Valley to find the local resources they need, when they need them. To get help, start by calling 2-1-1.

Feb 24, 202224:23
Community Reimagined Episode 10

Community Reimagined Episode 10

Generosity has the power to change everything. In our season finale, Connor Tarter and Jessica Bastianelli chat about our iGAVE model. This generosity model is founded on impact for our community. 

To learn more about our 2020 - 2021 Impact Report, start here: https://unitedwaycha.org/impactreport/ 


Oct 04, 202116:14
Let's Come Together and Champion Our Community - CRI Episode 9

Let's Come Together and Champion Our Community - CRI Episode 9

In this month's episode, our 2021-2022 Workplace Campaign Chair, Dr. Elaine Swafford, hosts a roundtable conversation with two of our community champions, Betsy Kammerdiener from CHI Memorial and Stacey Keating from CBL Properties. 

At the core of what we do at United Way, we envision a community where all people achieve their full human potential through education, stability, and health & well-being. That’s why we believe it is so important to create space for conversation around our community champions as we enter into our workplace campaign season.

Workplace campaigns represent collective action in giving, volunteering and advocacy. By joining the current movement of 400+ corporate and entity partners in our community as a community champion, you are joining a group of workplace leaders committed to making Greater Chattanooga a better place for everyone to live, work and play through creating opportunity for all.

From fundraising ideas to employee communication and everything in between, our online campaign toolkit has the resources you need to make your workplace campaign a success. To learn more, start here: https://unitedwaycha.org/get-involved/workplace-giving/ 

Aug 26, 202118:01
Community Reimagined Episode Eight

Community Reimagined Episode Eight

On this episode of Community Reimagined, our very own Jamaine Akins and Carl Rohsenberger dive into a round table conversation with Senior Director of Public Relations & Corporate Communications at CBL Properties, Stacey Keating. The purpose of this show is to talk about what is happening in our community, look at the problems that we are seeing and to create a space to highlight the change-makers who are making a difference in the Greater Chattanooga area and on this episode we dive into campaign and how that impacts the community.

At the core of what we do at United Way, we envision a community where all people achieve their full human potential through education, stability, and health & well-being. That’s why we believe it is so important to create space for moments of collaboration with one another as a community.

To learn more about how you can get a workplace campaign started, you can start here: https://unitedwaycha.org/get-involved/workplace-giving/.

Jul 29, 202124:21
Community Reimagined Episode Seven
Jun 10, 202119:21
Community Reimagined Episode Six

Community Reimagined Episode Six

What our community has done in the past year has been nothing short of amazing, and we felt was well-deserving of a celebration. This past Tuesday, we partnered together with Venture Forward and hosted the first of many, Celebrate Awards! This event was dedicated to showcasing and celebrating the impactful work nonprofit organizations and corporations in our community did to lift us up in the midst of COVID, Easter Tornados and racial injustice.

As a way of thanking these organizations, we presented three awards — the Innovation in Action Award, the Volunteer of the Year Award, and the Nonprofit of the Year Award — dedicated to those who rose up in the midst of unforeseen and unimaginable moments of crisis in service to our neighbors this past year. 

You can watch the full award ceremony on Youtube! Go to the link in the show notes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NId75xTAfg&mc_cid=05240c47a1&mc_eid=12b66be1df

May 20, 202134:02
Community Reimagined Episode 5

Community Reimagined Episode 5

In this episode, United Way of Greater Chattanooga President and CEO Lesley Scearce sits down with Rachel DeVore, Director of Education at the Bethlehem Center. Rachel shares her expertise in the area of Youth Success in the Greater Chattanooga community, as well as discusses the important work the Bethlehem Center does in out-of-school time programming.

Please note that this podcast was designed to be a community resource. The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by guests on the show do not always reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the United Way of Greater Chattanooga.

Apr 23, 202127:59
Community Reimagined Episode 4

Community Reimagined Episode 4

It’s no secret that the education system was hit hard, impacting the lives of our students, teachers and faculty in our community. In our fourth episode of Community Reimagined, we sit down with Hamilton County's Superintendent, Dr. Bryan Johnson to reflect on this past year and how the pandemic has impacted the lives of the students in Hamilton County. 

Please note that this podcast was designed to be a community resource. The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by guests on the show do not always reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the United Way of Greater Chattanooga.

Mar 26, 202124:58
Community Reimagined Episode 3

Community Reimagined Episode 3

In our third episode of Community Reimagined, we discuss United Way's stability-related work, including our 211 resource referral phone line and the Neediest Cases Fund, with Carmen Hutson. Carmen is on the United Way of Greater Chattanooga's Impact team as the Director of Stability and Community Programming.

To learn more about 211, follow the link here --> https://unitedwaycha.org/our-work/211-assistance/

Please note that this podcast was designed to be a community resource. The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by guests on the show do not always reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the United Way of Greater Chattanooga.

Feb 11, 202142:29
Community Reimagined Episode 2

Community Reimagined Episode 2

In our second episode of Community Reimagined our President and CEO, Lesley Scearce sat down with the Market President of BancorpSouth, Sam Jones, to discuss the unique challenges that come with financial illiteracy. 

Please note that this podcast was designed to be a community resource. The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by guests on the show do not always reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the United Way of Greater Chattanooga.

Jan 21, 202146:44
Community Reimagined Episode 1

Community Reimagined Episode 1

At United Way of Greater Chattanooga, we believe everyone in our community deserves an equal opportunity to succeed. But not everyone in our community has access to the things they need to succeed, especially when it comes to education, health and stability. That’s why we created a podcast to unite people with resources to help build a stronger, healthier community! Each month, we’ll explore some of the biggest issues facing our community, connect with leaders who are working to address them and invite you to engage with your community as a change-maker.   

In our first episode of Community Reimagined our Vice President of Communications, Stephen Van Gorp, sat down with our President and CEO, Lesley Scearce, to discuss the unique challenges 2020 has presented for our community. In this episode, Stephen and Lesley reflect on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the April tornados and discuss how some of our very own Chattanooga change-makers stepped up to serve the community in the midst of a year like no other.

Please note that this podcast was designed to be a community resource. The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by guests on the show do not always reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the United Way of Greater Chattanooga.

Jan 15, 202148:35