Positioned at the forefront of civic innovation, Mayor Kelly is leading the use of AI to enable new forms of public input in Chattanooga
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (July 22, 2026) – In partnership with Jigsaw, a tech incubator within Google, and Change.org, the world’s leading platform for social change, the City of Chattanooga is piloting a new initiative called Civic Dialogue through which creative, community-driven solutions to local challenges will be identified.
From now until mid-August, all residents of Chattanooga will have the opportunity to share their ideas about parks and public transportation in the city at cha.city/civic-dialogue. Once the survey closes, Change.org and Jigsaw's Sensemaking AI will analyze the results to identify the ideas that resonate most across all participants. A group of residents will then be invited to a live virtual dialogue, where they'll develop those ideas into policy proposals.
This project further builds on Mayor Kelly's innovative use of Google AI products to increase productivity, provide better answers faster, and ultimately help restore faith in city government. The mayor has committed to reviewing the proposals and identifying points of consensus that emerge from this process to see how the city might support them.
“I’m looking for community feedback to maximize resources and services for Chattanoogans as part of the One Chattanooga goal of providing efficient and effective government,” said Mayor Tim Kelly. “I believe using this technology can help the City of Chattanooga identify priorities that are most important to all Chattanoogans, particularly around modernizing our transportation systems and improving our parks and greenways.”
Change.org has run similar initiatives in Albuquerque, NM; Kansas City, MO; Memphis, TN; Hartford, CT; Bozeman, MT; Columbia, SC; Dearborn, MI; Columbia, MO; Tulsa, OK; Erie, PA; Carmel, IN; and Schenectady, NY.
Jigsaw, which has led civic engagement projects at the county, state, and national levels across the United States, will support the Civic Dialogue in Chattanooga by helping synthesize insights from the discussion, enrich the final analysis, and build a new data-driven playbook for municipal action.