Driving Our Economy Forward: Regions Foundation
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — The Regions Foundation is a group working with Project Inspire to recruit teachers. This helps educators make a difference in classrooms across the Tennessee Valley.
We learn more about their collaboration and how they are driving our economy forward.
“I’m here on behalf of the Regions Foundation, which is a nonprofit initiative that is funded primarily by Regions Bank. And it has three main priorities, which is financial, wellness, community and economic development, and education and workforce readiness. By investing in those three priorities, it really generates a lot of opportunity for prosperity by all and can really lift up our communities,” said Jason Allen, Marketing Executive for the Regions Bank in Chattanooga.
Collaborators were celebrating teachers, who work daily to change lives.
“The Public Education Foundation and their Project Inspire group does just that and really makes a tremendous impact on our most vulnerable schools in our community to help create generational change,” Allen continued.
“We’re really excited tonight that Region’s Foundation made a significant investment in Project Inspire. I think Region’s Foundation really gets it that the important driver of our economy is our workforce. I mean, it’s kind of obvious in some ways, but teachers are the driver to the quality of our workforce, and what they’ve done, they’ve invested, made a significant contribution to project inspire. We’re bringing teachers from all over the country who are going to be outstanding teachers in our high-needs schools,” said Dan Challener, president of the Public Education Foundation.
“I have the honor of being a teacher. Not only do I get to implement the highest level of instructional strategies and rigorous content, I am also a therapist and a coach and a parent, a friend, a confidant, a cheerleader, a safe space and a nurse and a pencil sharpener. And the list goes on and on and on,” said Chandler Davenport, teacher at the Howard School.
“When you pursue education, you do it because we have a drive to make our world a better place. We do it because we see the future of our world each and every day. We do it because maybe school wasn’t a positive experience for us, and we don’t want another child to feel that way,” Catherine Casselman, Eastside Elementary School teacher said.
“Really grateful to Regions Foundation. They’ve connected the dots between great teachers and a great workforce and then a great economy in our community,” Challener added.
“If there’s economic growth, I mean, it benefits everybody, including the banking segment, everybody can benefit. And I think that’s what this is about. And it just creates economic growth and economic engine. And as a banker, social, we want to be a part of that, and we want to help it from the ground up,” Allen said.
