{"id":59341,"date":"2024-05-20T08:16:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T12:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=59341"},"modified":"2024-10-25T19:15:24","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T23:15:24","slug":"grand-challenges-filling-the-gaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/grand-challenges-filling-the-gaps\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand challenges: UTC alum working to keep ‘the monsters’ in check"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story originally appeared in the spring 2024 issue of Our Tennessee, a systemwide magazine for alumni of all University of Tennessee campuses and institutes.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Dylan

Dylan Rivera is director of policy planning and implementation for the city of Chattanooga (photo by Angela Foster).<\/p><\/div>\n

For many children, the monsters under their beds are real, and Dylan Rivera, a 2020 graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, is working to help keep those monsters in check.<\/p>\n

As director of policy planning and implementation for the city of Chattanooga, his work directly influences Chattanooga\u2019s minority neighborhoods by helping people \u201cmove up from where they are in their socioeconomic status\u201d and making impactful changes for their families.<\/p>\n

Many of his efforts have focused on removing K-12 education challenges for students in Chattanooga\u2019s most disadvantaged communities, where outside-the-classroom situations\u2014such as food insecurity, unsuitable clothing and untenable home life\u2014directly impact classroom learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the many things I\u2019ve gotten to do is address education gaps plaguing student success. It\u2019s become a real passion of mine,\u201d says Rivera, a first-generation college graduate who majored in political science with an emphasis in public policy and minored in criminal justice. \u201cThese are kids living in circumstances and situations that are least ideal by everyone\u2019s standards. Their home life is work for them. It doesn\u2019t allow them to relax, connect with family and reset before the next school day; it further puts them into survival mode because their basic needs aren\u2019t being met there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivera said people need to recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma and how it impacts children\u2019s decision-making and classroom behaviors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t expect these kids to pay attention in math and science classes if they can\u2019t sleep at night because they\u2019ve got someone coming in and out of the house every five minutes at all hours of the night\u2014or live in a neighborhood where they don\u2019t feel safe sleeping. The monsters under their beds are real,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

During Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly\u2019s first year in office, he and senior leaders participated in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative\u2014a program for new mayors\u2014and Kelly tasked Rivera with the rather ambitious goal of finding innovative solutions for youth gun violence.<\/p>\n

Given the responsibility, Rivera assembled a team of more than a dozen Chattanooga professionals from various disciplines. The group went out into the community and spoke to hundreds of students, organizations, teachers, guidance counselors, principals and \u201canyone who has a direct impact with students who live in our most disinvested parts of the community to understand what their needs are,\u201d Rivera recalls.<\/p>\n

The problem, he says, is more extensive than one issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took everything that we gathered and created an entire portfolio of initiatives,\u201d Rivera says of the Every Child Initiative, which lays out a series of programs addressing some of the highest needs of K-12 students living in Chattanooga.<\/p>\n

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The Every Child Initiative portfolio includes:<\/h3>\n