Chattanooga Stand Survey Finds Education, Crime, & Jobs Among Top Issues

The world's largest visioning effort offers some insight into the issues on the front burner of Chattanooga.

Over 26,000 residents filled out the "Chattanooga Stand" survey last summer.  Respondents keyed in on three challenges in need of attention, namely education, jobs, and crime.  Josh McManus, Co-founder of Create Here, the group overseeing Stand, says "with over 3,000 responses actually had the word gang in them so there's a perceptual issue. And think back, that was data collected in the fall of last year before everything that's happened over the last couple of weeks. So that tells us something about the peoples perception."

A similar visioning process in the 1980's found places, instead of people among the top concerns.  McManus says the Aquarium and 21st Century Waterfront grew out of that effort.

Data from "Stand" will be shared with various community groups, and three summits will be held to move the conversation forward on crime, education, and environment.

You can search the data for yourself at Chattanooga Stand.