More than 50 people marched down McCallie Avenue to Miller Park on Friday and then peacefully walked to the steps of City Hall to post a manifesto calling on economic rights for poor people.

The Poor People’s March was the first of its kind in Chattanooga as organizers tried to bring attention to homelessness and poverty in the city.

“The ultimate goal is to end poverty,” said Mary Bricker-Jenkins, a Chattanooga resident and member of the Chattanooga and North Georgia Economic Human Rights Campaign. The group organized the march across downtown Chattanooga.

The group, which started just a few months ago at the Community Kitchen, is affiliated with the national Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, Ms. Bricker-Jenkins said.

Homeless people, volunteers, teenagers and a small group of Gregorian friars walked along McCallie Avenue at 5 p.m. led by a bagpipe player in a Scottish kilt. The group of marchers held signs, some saying “Homelessness is not a crime” or “We’re all homeless.”

Ali Rudolph, 24, moved here in August with her husband from Oregon, she said. Both are homeless, but he was gone Friday to the Military Entrance Processing Station in Knoxville to join the Tennessee Army National Guard, Mrs. Rudolph said.

She marched in solidarity with others like her, she said.

“It is for a good cause,” Mrs. Rudolph said. “A lot of us out here don’t get treated the way we should.”

The group ate dinner at Miller Park and then proceeded to City Hall, where they taped a copy of the “Poor People’s Manifesto” on the door. Brother Ron Fender, a local Gregorian friar, told marchers he asked City Council members Tuesday to come on the march.

None showed, he said.

“We want them to have a reminder we were here,” he said.

Several marchers shared different reasons for marching. Amanda Wheelock, a 16-year-old Ringgold, Ga., girl, said just a few days ago she met a homeless man on Walnut Street Bridge who used to be a doctor. She said a few minutes later, while he was eating a sandwich, the police shooed him away.

“That’s why I’m here,” she said. “I can’t see why he can’t sit there and eat his sandwich.”

Elizabeth Wray, an 18-year-old Chattanooga resident and member of the human rights group, said her brother died two years ago homeless. Marching for her is “personal, not political,” she said.

She said sometimes people in Chattanooga take for granted what they have. The reward Friday night was everyone blending together, she said.

“It’s really a beautiful thing to see people merge,” Ms. Wray said.

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