A New Mission

The Community Research Council conducts independent data analysis and policy research to improve the quality of life in the Chattanooga region.

CRC will focus its analytic and research efforts in five key areas of public policy:

• Economic and Community Development (including asset development, transportation, housing, community demographic changes and jobs)
• Youth and Education (including schools, child care, after school programs and child welfare)
• Health (including access to health care, substance abuse and tobacco control)
• Crime and Public Safety (including policing, corrections and reentry)
• Urban governance (including government performance and structure)

CRC will provide foundations, non-profit agencies and government with the ability to act on data and research, not just intuition.

CRC’s work in Chattanooga will have an impact locally, but ramifications nationally. Most Americans who live in cities live in cities like Chattanooga. Yet, midsize cities are frequently left out of discussions of metropolitan or urban policy. In looking at issues in the Chattanooga region, CRC will tell a story that is relevant to midsize cities and regions across the country.

Based on a History of Community Involvement

The Community Research Council began serving the Chattanooga community as the Metropolitan Council for Community Services in 1962. The Metropolitan Council was the community’s first non-governmental health and human services planning agency. Acting as the planning arm for the local United Way, the Metropolitan Council was instrumental in the development of numerous community based efforts to provide services to children and the poor. In 2000, the Metropolitan Council became the Community Research Council. CRC provided data collection and analysis services to non-profit organizations and local government. In addition, CRC housed the Southeast Tennessee Neighborhood Information Service which, in 2004, produced a major study on literacy in Hamilton County.