Visioning: Back to the Future

By Tom Edd Wilson

Chamber President and CEO

In May, volunteers from a number of organizations, including the Chamber, launched a public visioning process called Chattanooga STAND.

STAND is designed to build on the legacy of public visioning that launched and sustained Chattanooga’s efforts to transform itself into one of the best cities in the country.

As one of our community’s business leaders, I encourage you to complete the STAND survey at www.ChattanoogaSTAND.com and also distribute it to your employees and other contacts. In doing so, you will be offering your ideas about the future of the community and helping to perpetuate the culture of cooperation that has been the linchpin of Chattanooga’s success over the last three decades.

While working for the Chamber, I’ve had the privilege of experiencing our community spirit first-hand on efforts ranging from workforce development to the recruitment of major companies – initiatives that have succeeded with help from thousands of people representing dozens of private organizations, not to mention multiple government entities.

STAND is an opportunity to boost that culture of cooperation to the next level. We have done extraordinary things together by engaging elected officials, business leaders and non-profits. What would happen if we could more fully engage thousands of other citizens?

Broader-based cooperation would have a transformative impact on issues like motivating our young people to make the most of learning opportunities or keeping our community clean.

The key is to engage as many people as possible in expressing their vision for our community and then helping them come together in supporting those shared aspirations through volunteer activities or other opportunities.

Despite the economic downturn, Chattanooga has tremendous momentum. As the national economy improves, we are poised to grow at a much faster rate than ever before.

STAND offers a way to help us get as many people as possible pulling in the same direction, so we can make the most of our economic opportunities while maintaining the quality of life that makes Chattanooga so special.

I invite you to join me in completing the survey at www.ChattanoogaStand.com. You can also call STAND headquarters, 423.648.6499, for more information about how to promote the survey among your employees and other contacts.

Tom Edd Wilson is president and CEO of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce.

For more information, please contact him at 423.756.2121 or tewilson@chattanoogachamber.com.