Hamilton Herald Masthead

Editorial


Front Page - Friday, April 14, 2023

Briefs: Cempa to open clinic at MetMin




Cempa Community Care and Metropolitan Ministries are partnering to open a walk-in clinic at MetMin’s Impact Hub (4001 Rossville Boulevard) May 2.

Through the partnership, clients will have access to health care services in a neighborhood location.

“Location is often one of the greatest barriers to quality health care,” says Cempa CEO Shannon Stephenson. “We’re knocking down that barrier for many in our community by bringing primary care services to the Impact Hub. We’ll be able to provide the same level of care for clients in the Rossville Boulevard area that we offer at our main location on 3rd Street.”

Services will include primary medical care, women’s health, laboratory services, preventive care and integrated health screenings – including mental health and syndemic comorbidities such as HIV.

UTC, CO.LAB partner in mobility research

The promise of real-world research that helps to expand sustainable transportation is at the heart of a new partnership between the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the city’s CO.LAB startup accelerator.

Established by a memorandum of understanding between UTC and CO.LAB, the partnership provides students and scientists with the university’s Center for Urban Informatics and Progress (CUIP) with opportunities to apply their knowledge to finding solutions to society-scale challenges.

CO.LAB is a nonprofit that accelerates early-stage startups in the greater Chattanooga region.

CUIP founding director Dr. Mina Sartipi says the partnership will secure Chattanooga’s place as a hub for mobility electrifications, connectivity and automation.

“Under the memorandum of understanding, CUIP will provide access to data that will allow startups, faculty and students to test and pilot advancing technologies. CO.LAB will also recruit startups that can collaborate with CUIP to address the challenges of mobility.”

Selected businesses will work with the experts behind the local test bed for connecting to customized charging opportunities while considering traffic conditions and electric grid status.

Announced in August 2022, the test bed is located within a 10-square-mile area of downtown Chattanooga.

City to spend $1 million on developing website

The city of Chattanooga is embarking on a yearlong effort to overhaul its decade-old website.

User data shows residents who visit the existing site often leave without finding the information they need. Content is organized by departments rather than services or resources and the site is not accessible to mobile users, residents with certain disabilities, or those who aren’t fluent in English.

Resident input will inform the new site during each stage of its development – from information architecture design to prototype and beta testing – to ensure Chattanooga.gov becomes an essential digital resource and information hub accessible to everyone.

The city selected globally-renowned information technology and software development company CI&T to lead the overhaul, which was fully budgeted as part of the current fiscal year.

City Council approved the request-for-proposals (RFP) for the project in June 2022 and approved the final purchase request for the contract, which totals nearly $1 million, this month. CI&T was one of six companies that responded to the RFP.

The existing Chattanooga.gov website is organized according to the structure of city departments, which is not user-friendly. Additionally, the outdated web content management system is not responsive to mobile devices, making it difficult for residents to access the site from their phones.

The new website will be built in a mobile-first, responsive design organized clearly and consistently according to user input, accessible according to the latest standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design and translated into Spanish.

User-friendly features will include: a citywide calendar with options to sort by neighborhood, submit community-led events, or add an event to a personal calendar; an opt-in alert system to ensure residents stay informed of updates on road closures and garbage collection schedule changes; easier digital payment options for city bills and parking tickets; regular news feeds and livestreams from city events; and a new engagement platform for residents to provide feedback on new or ongoing proposals and projects.

Register for updates at cha.city/webredesign.