Current ALRC Demonstration Projects

Current Projects | Healthy Coastal Connections | Emerging Leaders

Emerging Leaders Internship Program: Tennessee

The Chattanooga Emerging Leaders Team: Outdoor Chattanooga, YMCA, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, Step ONE/Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department, and NCBW.

The Active Living Resource Center is developing an Emerging Leaders college internship program with a network of partners across the state of Tennessee.  At the state level we are working to get recognition for this program in the governor’s office, state DOT and state health department. At the regional and local level we are working closely with the cities of Chattanooga and Nashville to develop small walking and bicycling related projects that will be supported by undergraduates and graduate students from local colleges and universities. We hope to give students in the fields of Public Administration, Planning, Engineering, Public Health, as well as in non-traditional fields, the opportunity to experience how better and more bicycling and walking can transform individuals, neighborhoods, and whole communities.  We further hope they will take these lessons with them as they enter the professional workforce and become involved in civic life.

Projects might include: developing a local bike share program, becoming ambassadors for a bicycle education program for middle school students, establishing a walking school bus program, creating a sustainable transportation plan for a college campus, working with youth to conduct neighborhood walking audits, or conducting a health impact assessment on a proposed transportation project.

Our plan is to (ultimately) expand to other cities across Tennessee with the goal of creating a statewide network of interns that can support each other. Could other states be far behind? Keep checking back to watch this project progress.

Project contact: Mark Plotz | mark@bikewalk.org