How can we empower youth in Chattanooga to create safer communities? Through the Causeway Challenge, we will award up to $3,000 and 4 months of mentorship to 10 individuals who have new ideas to address this issue.
The Causeway Challenge is all about empowering individuals to solve problems in their own communities. Since 2014, we have awarded $145,000 to grassroots leaders who have made Chattanooga more connected, pushed us to be a more inclusive city, shown us the power of play, and inspired more parents to get involved in their children’s education. As we prepared to launch our fifth Causeway Challenge, we asked you what the next question should be. The response was overwhelming; so many of you want an opportunity to do something about the violence affecting youth in your communities.
Causeway’s mission is to inspire and equip Chattanoogans to develop smarter solutions to our city’s toughest challenges, and this is certainly a tough challenge. From January to August of this year, there were 23 homicides and 86 shootings in Chattanooga, with many of them involving people under the age of 25 as both the victims and the aggressors. We know that this is a deeply systemic issue with strong roots in poverty, education, and access to opportunities.
We also know that any solution to youth violence has to be consistent and long term, or it’s not a solution at all. With that in mind, we’ve taken some time to stretch the boundaries of our usual challenge structure. We still plan to give out up to $3,000 each to 10 projects, but at every stage of the process we are going to be working closely with the local organizations that serve youth in our city every single day. We understand that no single organization, individual, or idea has the ability to completely solve this problem, so we are bringing many familiar faces, and some new ones to the table to focus on this important work together. We are thrilled to be partnering with the YMCA, The Bethlehem Center, Girl Scouts, The City’s Youth and Family Development Department, On Point, Hope for the Inner City, Partnership, Boys to Men, Operation Get Active, Splash, Northside Neighborhood House and the Chattanooga Police Department. These organizations will help identify gaps in services, opportunities for innovation, and a chance for the ideas that really work to keep growing after the Challenge process is over.
How will it work?
September 29th, Kickoff Event: Reverse Pitch!
We are kicking off the application period with a Reverse Pitch at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center on Thursday, September 29th at 5:30 pm. At this event, each of our partner organizations will “pitch” the biggest problem that they run into in their work with youth, and invite individuals to apply to the Causeway Challenge with their solutions to those problems. (Pitches will be recorded, but come on, wouldn’t you rather see it in person? RSVP here.)
September 29th — October 29th, Applications are open
Individual community members will listen to the problems presented by our partner organizations at the Reverse Pitch, and apply to the Causeway Challenge with their fresh ideas for solutions. For example, one organization might say that their biggest obstacle is getting mentors to stick around for more than one year, so you rally a small team, and apply to the Causeway Challenge with your idea for a new, creative mentor incentive program.
November 10th, Winning Projects Announced
Our judging panel will be made up of the same community partners that shared a problem at the Reverse Pitch. They will narrow the applicants to 10 projects who have the best solutions to those problems.
November 2016 — March 2017, Pilot projects are implemented
Winning projects will receive $3,000 and 4 months of coaching from Causeway. In addition, they will be paired with a mentor from one of the partner organizations who will work with them throughout the process. The Causeway Challenge is meant to support projects in the testing phase. If all goes well, the partner organization can choose to “adopt” the project and offer continued support after the Causeway Challenge is over, providing an opportunity for sustainability and continued growth.
