The City of Tullahoma, Tullahoma City Schools and Motlow Trained recently participated in TVA’s Community Innovation Academy and Pitch Event. Developed by TVA Economic Development and Guillermo Mazier, Founder of Collective Intelligence and Vice President of Global Innovation at Conway, this program is designed to assist Valley communities in solving complex community problems by activating innovation elements critical to building more resilient and sustainable communities.
Over the course of ten months, nine participating communities completed ecosystem maps, performed community innovation capacity assessments, engaged in hours of collaboration concept sessions which led to identifying a critical community problem and incubating a solution that would solve it and in turn positively change their local economies.
Each community presented its top ideas and solutions aimed at solving the community problem during the Leveraging Brilliant Ideas + Collaboration to Change Communities Virtual Pitch Event on October 22nd. Community teams sought resources (i.e. feedback, introductions, connections, program funding) from the pitch event judges and audience members to strengthen their solution pathway.
Tullahoma pitched the idea of teaching coding from 3rd through 12th grades in a collaborative curriculum aligned with state and industry standards. The Mission of Tullahoma’s Advanced Coding Education (ACE Academy) is to Grow our Own Local Talent Pipeline with Advanced High-Tech Skills Building Upon our Engineering, Research, and Testing Excellence in Aerospace and Aviation. By engaging youth early in their education, we can inspire students to stay in Tullahoma and have a rewarding career.
“In this ever-changing world, a community’s ability to innovatively and collaboratively address community challenges is crucial. TVA Economic Development is pleased to assist Valley communities in further exploring their challenges and recognizing innovative solutions to create, grow and support community competitiveness for job creation and economic growth,” said TVA Senior Vice President of Economic Development John Bradley.
“The accelerating rate of global change and unpredictable business environments present a profound challenge to our ability to plan, manage and grow our communities these days. Companies and talent alike are increasingly looking to locate or grow in communities that welcome change, embrace creativity and build innovative environments. I’m proud to work with TVA’s Community Innovation Academy because through this initiative we can help those participating explore creative collaborations and solutions to make their community more resilient, competitive and future ready,” said Guillermo Mazier, Founder Collective Intelligence and VP Global Innovation at Conway, Inc.
“For too long, Tullahoma has lacked a coordinated initiative to excite and engage our youth in the high value jobs in our community so that tomorrow’s tech giants can ‘bloom where they are planted,” said City Administrator, Jennifer Moody.
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power companies serving 10 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation. More information is available at TVA.com.
