The Activate Chattanooga partnership, formed in late 2002, promotes community interest in the concepts of Active Living. Coordinated, community wide Active Living efforts can encourage residents to choose healthy lifestyle practices.  Government policies and priorities can help make it more easy and practical for the public to be physically active as a part of daily routines. 

If Chattanoogans were more physically active throughout the day and week, the rates of obesity, heart disease, and stroke would decline, dramatically improving the health of our community. Activate Chattanooga seeks to:

• Educate citizens about the benefits of regular exercise;
• Advocate for policy and design guidelines which promote active living;
• Provide program support to encourage reluctant individuals and people with disabilities to get out and be active;
• Promote safe walking/biking/skating as alternative transportation;
• Provide information about the walking/biking/paddling trails in order to provide the public with details about access points, parking, length, difficulty, or accessibility for those using wheelchairs or pushing strollers;
• Leverage community skills and assets to overcome barriers to active living.

Current partners of the Activate Chattanooga members are:

• Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department
• Chattanooga Bicycle Coordinator
• City of Chattanooga Department of Parks, Recreation, Arts & Culture
• Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency (RPA)      
• Regional Health Council
• UTC Departments of Exercise Science, Health & Leisure Studies & Civil Engineering
• National Park Service:  Rivers, Trails & Conservation Assistance Program
• BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Community Trust
• Southeast Tennessee Regional Development District
• City of Chattanooga Traffic Engineering
• Hamilton County Engineering
• Hamilton County Step One Initiative
• Community Volunteers

If your organization would like to join this coalition or you would like more information such as meeting times and location, contact Melissa Taylor at the Regional Planning Agency at 423 757-0077 or taylor_melissa@mail.chattanooga.gov .