Chattanooga 2.0 has announced Thriving Adolescence, its newest Big Bet and a long-term community commitment to creating the conditions young people need to develop, explore their interests, build strong relationships, and pursue their futures.
The Big Bet was introduced during the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Adolescent Development Learning Series, a two-day gathering hosted Aug. 26-27 by Chattanooga 2.0 in partnership with the Benwood Foundation, City of East Ridge, and UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent.
Thriving Adolescence focuses community attention on a pivotal stage of development that shapes later education, career, and life outcomes. During adolescence, young people are developing their identities, building skills and relationships, exploring interests, and beginning to make decisions that can shape their futures.
“Adolescence is a time of tremendous growth, discovery, and possibility, and what surrounds young people, ages 10-24, during these years matters,” said Dr. Jasmine Fernández, Director of Adolescent Strategy & Collective Impact at Chattanooga 2.0. “Our Thriving Adolescence big bet encourages all of us to think differently about what it will take for our whole community to create the relationships, experiences, and environments young people need, not only to prepare for what comes next, but to feel supported, connected, and heard right now.”
From Understanding Adolescence to Changing How We Work
Thriving Adolescence is not a new youth program. It is a community-wide strategy for improving the broader ecosystem surrounding adolescents.
That means ensuring young people have safe and welcoming places to spend time and meaningful relationships with adults and peers. It also means providing experiences that reflect their interests, opportunities to exercise agency and leadership, and pathways to explore what comes next.
Community conversations informing the strategy have reinforced that the challenges are different across Chattanooga-Hamilton County. In some places, strong programs exist but can be difficult for young people and families to find or navigate. In others, there are gaps in the availability of relevant, accessible and high-quality experiences.
Young people serving on Chattanooga 2.0's Youth Advisory Council described both the importance of relationships and the barriers they face when exploring their interests.
"It can be really hard to not have someone who is encouraging you and mentoring you," said a member of Chattanooga 2.0's Youth Advisory Council.
"I used to do Taekwondo, but there wasn't a facility nearby," said another Youth Advisory Council member. "Because of scheduling and transportation challenges, I had to stop participating."
Thriving Adolescence will focus on:
- Expanding and improving out-of-school experiences for adolescents.
- Building supportive relationships and helping young people navigate options.
- Connecting experiences to education, career, and future pathways.
- Using shared data to understand participation, identify gaps, and improve over time.
- Aligning cross-sector entities and community partners around shared priorities and outcomes.
- Elevating young people as partners in shaping the experiences and systems intended to support them.
A Shared Investment in Chattanooga-Hamilton County’s Future
Thriving Adolescence builds on Chattanooga 2.0’s cross-sector approach to community change. Schools, youth-serving organizations, employers, healthcare providers, local government, philanthropy, families, and young people all play a role in shaping the environments adolescents experience.
"Thriving Adolescence gives our community the opportunity to come together around the goal of giving young people what they need to succeed because no single organization can create those conditions on its own," said Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly. "When schools, families, employers, nonprofits, and local government align around that goal, young people get the support they need to explore their interests and build strong connections. Ultimately through this initiative, we want them to see a future for themselves here.”
The strategy also connects adolescent development to Chattanooga 2.0’s broader cradle-to-career vision. Meaningful experiences during the middle and high school years can help young people develop durable skills, build relationships, explore education and career options, and make more informed choices about their futures, creating stronger pathways toward postsecondary success, economic independence, and long-term community prosperity.
Chattanooga-Hamilton County Joins National Learning Initiative
Thriving Adolescence is supported in part through Chattanooga 2.0’s participation in the Advancing Opportunities for Adolescents (AOA) initiative, funded by The Wallace Foundation, which brings together seven cross-sector community partnerships from across the country.
Through AOA, communities are exploring how stronger youth development systems can connect adolescents with high-quality experiences, supportive relationships, and future pathways while building the community infrastructure needed to sustain that support over time.
For Chattanooga-Hamilton County, the initiative provides an opportunity to accelerate the Thriving Adolescence work locally, learn alongside other communities, and contribute insights that can inform the broader youth development field.
The August 26-27 Adolescent Development Learning Series represents an early step in that work by building a shared foundation of knowledge that leaders across sectors can use to improve practice, inform decisions, and shape what comes next.
What Comes Next
Following the learning series, Chattanooga 2.0 and its partners will continue shaping the strategy alongside young people and community stakeholders, with early work focused in East Ridge and Orchard Knob.
The long-term aim is to build a community where more adolescents can find meaningful experiences, develop strong relationships, feel safe and connected, explore their interests, and see clear pathways toward their futures.