The nonprofit organization that has helped revitalize several Chattanooga neighborhoods, at least doubling property values in some, will spend the next year researching how it should move forward.

We have a year to focus on where do we go from here," said BettyeLynn Smith, executive director of Community Impact. "Do we need to say job well done and go home? This is something we don't know until we've done all the research." + More

Community Impact's funding ended at the end of 2010 after it spent millions to improve seven inner-city neighborhoods.

A graduation ceremony for Churchville, Glenwood and Orchard Knob, the latest neighborhoods that Community Impact assisted, is scheduled for Feb. 10.

The board and staff are raising funds for the transition year, she said. The group will meet with other neighborhood improvement organizations in April to determine how Community Impact should continue.

"Because of Community Impact's intervention, nearly a dozen apartments that attracted negative people and activity to our neighborhood were torn down," said Tara Hewlett, president of the Churchville Neighborhood Association. "Community Impact helped the neighborhood association to be more cohesive and active."

Areas once known for blight and crime are now showcased as models on how residents can work together to renew their communities, Hewlett said.

Community Impact started about 1999, when community leaders and elected officials began discussing how downtown revitalization could spread into other neighborhoods, said Sally Robinson, who was a City Council member at the time.

Most neighborhood programs were focused on eliminating crime, protecting property values or eliminating blight. Community Impact was meant to transform neighborhoods by doing all three and more.

The initial staff worked for the Lyndhurst Foundation, Smith recalled.

Southside Historic District, Highland Park, Bushtown and M.L. King were the first neighborhoods targeted by Community Impact.

Westside was also named, but dropped out because local leaders said they had their own plan for revitalization, Smith said.

Property values in many neighborhoods helped by Community Impact have risen significantly.

Some properties in the M.L. King Neighborhood sold for less than $20,000 in the 1980s, said Moses Freeman, former M.L. King Neighborhood Association president. But in 2010 some new houses sold for between $125,000 and $300,000, he said.

Property values in Bushtown increased from an average of $50,000 in 2000 to about $80,300 in 2010, according to according to Community Impact, while values in Highland Park increased from about $36,550 in 2000 to as much as $200,000 in 2010.

"I think we've done some good work," Smith said.

Community Impact is taking this year to reflect on its work over the past 11 years and to partner with the city of Chattanooga to determine the future direction for neighborhood revitalization in the city, Smith said.

"We're taking a year off from direct interventions in the neighborhood," Smith said. "We will continue to work finding ways to positively transform our neighborhoods."

If you go

* What: Community Impact graduation for Churchville, Glenwood and Orchard Knob

* When: 5 p.m. Feb. 10

* Where: The Chattanoogan

* There is no admission but those who wish to attend are asked to RSVP by calling 756-0763 ext. 25 by Feb. 3. - Less

For the first time in more than 20 years, private developers are partners in building a dozen new homes in the Bushtown neighborhood.

The only concentrated development efforts in recent years have been by nonprofit organizations, according to officials with Community Impact of Chattanooga, an organization devoted to improving neighborhoods. + More

Private developers working in a community means that community can compete for new homes and more investment, said BettyeLynn Smith, Community Impact's executive director. For more information click here.

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News Coverage from Chattanoogan.com

Officials and representatives in Chattanooga inaugurated the city's first Bloom Box, a 100kW energy server poised to become an alternative energy source for the nation's power grid.

The energy server uses solid oxide fuel cell technology developed by California's Bloom Energy. Researchers from UTC's SimCenter: National Center for Computational Engineering evaluated the cell's efficiency and will continue to monitor the new installation. + More

The project is the continuation of a long-standing partnership between the UTC SimCenter, EPB, TVA, and Bloom Energy that began with Bloom's first field trial of its technology in 2006. That successful field trial was a key milestone on Bloom's path to commercialization. Read the entire article here. - Less

Key Blighted Blocks Transformed

Churchville residents continue to celebrate Community Impact's acquisition and demolition of six duplexes on two of Churchville's most significantly blighted blocks. + More

One local police officer commented: "These six duplexes .. allowed the protection of drug sales, trafficking of stolen goods, and blight; I cannot tell you the hours we have spent in that one block in my last 2-3 years here in East Chattanooga. They haven't just closed on eight properties, they have freed up the police resources to work elsewhere with 14 fewer targets once the grass seed and hay are spread over the freshly razed locations."

Churchville residents are now planning neighborhood activities on the site to increase community awareness of the neighborhood's ongoing revitalization.

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