City Council Meeting – February 17, 2026: Presentations from United Way and La Paz
City Council Meeting – February 17, 2026
The Chattanooga City Council met on February 17, 2026, at 7:00 PM. The meeting included approval of the previous minutes, presentations from two community partners (United Way of Greater Chattanooga and La Paz Chattanooga), and discussion of upcoming calendar and board appointments. No public comments were taken.
Consent Calendar
- The minutes from the previous meeting were approved without objection following a motion and second.
Discussion Items
- United Way of Greater Chattanooga (Abby Garrison): Garrison provided a mid-year update on 211 services and the stormwater fee assistance program. Key points:
- United Way’s 211 call center responded to over 57,000 calls in the past year across a 15-county footprint, with the majority from Hamilton County/Chattanooga.
- Through privately funded emergency assistance, over $800,000 in direct aid was distributed to individuals for rent, utilities, etc. (with a lifetime cap of $3,000 per person and a $1,200 annual cap for rent).
- The city provides $168,000 annually for 211 operations (salaries, software), not for direct assistance. The county provided $100,000 in the most recent year (previously $170,000; goal to return to $170,000 match).
- During the federal SNAP benefits crisis, 211 saw a 50% increase in calls. United Way deployed $150,000 to food pantries.
- Stormwater fee assistance program served over 2,100 households last year using city funds administered by United Way.
- Questions from council addressed: data on repeat callers, connection to job training, the distinction between operational vs. direct assistance funding, and the role of United Way as a last-resort funder.
- La Paz Chattanooga (Stacey Johnson): Johnson reported on services for the Latino community, funded by the city over the past 3.5 years. Key points:
- Served over 7,000 residents through bilingual case management; received 150+ hotline calls/walk-ins; eliminated over $1 million in medical debt; provided 4,000+ meals; conducted 100+ outreach events.
- Latino students now make up 21.7% of Hamilton County Schools; concentrated at Eastside Elementary, Clifton Hills, East Lake, and expanding.
- Workforce programming: 4,000 hours of English classes, 130 participants in digital literacy, 30 first-generation college students in leadership program, 3 business cohorts graduated, 70+ small businesses assisted through business navigation.
- Due to national rhetoric, La Paz has seen increased fear and requests for emergency planning (power of attorney, passport clinics, know-your-rights sessions). About 25 families locally affected by detainment/deportation, plus over 20 families identified by school social workers.
- La Paz seeks continued city partnership to sustain stabilization services and expand workforce pathways. Emphasized need for language access in city infrastructure and inclusion in strategic planning (One Chattanooga plan).
- Other Discussion: Council discussed calendar items including: moving the April 14 meeting date for the Lookouts stadium opening day (April 14, 2026); a lunch and learn private tour of the stadium on February 24, 2026 at 11:30 AM; a presentation from the Family Justice Center at the March 3 strategic planning session; and a vacancy on the Animal Control Board (districts 4, 5, and 7) – board not currently meeting.
- Councilman Burns requested a procedure for sign-in with topic for speakers; that will be discussed at the strategic planning session on February 17.
Key Outcomes
- No votes were taken beyond approval of minutes.
- The council acknowledged the reports from United Way and La Paz without formal action.
- The meeting date of April 14, 2026 (Tuesday) may be rescheduled to allow attendance at the Lookouts stadium opening day; further discussion deferred.
- Future agenda items: Family Justice Center strategic planning presentation (March 3), council policy procession discussion (March 3), and council strategic planning session (February 17).
Meeting Transcript
2026. Or we get too far. Can I get a motion on the minutes? Don't move. Second. Alright, we have a motion and a proper second. The minutes will stand without objection. All right. We have two of our community partners here in the room with us today, council, both that have important updates for us. The first is United Way, and the second will be from La Paz. So Abby Garrison is here to fill us in on the status, I believe, of 211. And Abby, take it away. Awesome. Well, thank you. Appreciate y'all inviting us in today. Really just kind of have been been trying to get in here for a while just to kind of give y'all a mid-year update. There are a couple different things we wanted to kind of run through. Always want to just refresh everybody of what you know, like all the various things that United Way does while I have you. And then really get into the 211 and stormwater fee program that we run on y'all's behalf. And then wanted to give y'all just an update on what we saw through the SNAP benefits crisis component. It was a wild month or so at 211, as you can imagine. And so really just wanted to update y'all on that. And then just make sure that y'all understand what we do and what we what we need from the city to keep doing what we do. So sound good? Yes. Okay. So overall, I'm not gonna read this to you, but you guys know United Way of Greater Chad Nigga. We've been around for over a hundred years doing all sorts of things. 211 and the emergency assistance funds that we put out through 211 is a huge component of our work. But also keep in mind that we do our community investment process, the fundraising that we do through corporate partners, we help support the nonprofit ecosystem at large, you know, whether we fund them or not, just nonprofit support. We run our region's volunteer center. So anytime there's a big volunteer mobilization that needs to be coordinated, that's the volunteer center at United Way. We also have an initiative that I think many of y'all have joined us in, which is the United for Working Families Summit, and all of the partnerships that have grown from that with our business community. So really helping working to help our companies support working families as well. And then lastly, increasingly we are doing some public policy work kind of coordinated through our network around supporting Alice households and working families at the state and federal level. So that's United Way as a whole. I wanna I want to just reiterate to y'all that 211 in many ways, we do not think of this. Yes, we're a nonprofit, but we do not think of our work at 211 as your traditional kind of cherry work, right? We think of this as civic infrastructure. So everyone's familiar with 911. Y'all are familiar with 311, I know that. Um increasingly 988. I'm sure y'all have heard of all of these three-digit codes. Um, you know, if you really want to know what 211 does, it's it's sure it's up there on the screen. But think of it as all of the things other than life-threatening emergencies. So 911 is car wrecks and medical emergencies. 988 is a mental health crises. 211 is all of the other needs and calls that people have around social services and helping, you know, it's certainly oftentimes in a crisis, but not like a life-threatening crisis, if that makes sense to y'all. So, you know, last year, just through the Chattanooga Call Center, we uh responded to over 57,000 calls coming in to 211. And we do have a 15 county footprint, but the bulk of our calls come from Hamilton County and City of Chattanooga.
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