Keep An Eye On the Tri-State

One of the best spots for birding in the Chattanooga region is Jackson County, Alabama’s Stevenson City Park. About 45 miles southwest of downtown Chattanooga, the park is located on a peninsula in Crow Creek, and is part of the 3,346-acre Crow Creek Refuge. Stevenson City Park is a stop on the North Alabama Birding Trail and largely consists of a mixture of trees and grassy areas, along with easily accessible shoreline.

By using geodesign to support green infrastructure planning, Thrive and its partners have committed to collaborative planning approaches to sustain the natural assets of the greater Chattanooga region for generations to come.

Initiated in 2017, Thrive's Transportation Collaborative was designed to generate solutions for the future of transportation infrastructure in the tri-state region, specifically as related to freight, workforce transit, and data connectivity.

The Thriving Communities program invests in leadership development in local, rural communities, and sparked a creative placemaking movement across a southeastern tri-state region.

Freight Alley is an area that roughly defines freight traffic moving throughout the southeastern US, particularly in Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. For years, the region has been a manufacturing powerhouse and in no-small coincidence a major distribution and logistics region. We have named this region Freight Alley because of the importance logistics and transportation plays in the region and how important the region is to the North American logistics map.

Four cities have completed the Thriving Communities program and are now eligible to apply for a $20,000 seed grant to kickstart their strategies for local, asset-based community vibrancy and growth.

Rural places are the proving ground for our democracy. Though rural folks walk a hard line between disparity and abundance, proximity to one’s neighbors and institutions is a matter of course. It is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to building a lasting and distinctive quality of life.