Patsy Owens bought her home in Orchard Knob a decade ago, but she said she couldn’t afford to repair the aging roof on her Ivy Street house.
When the retired homeowner heard about the program in Orchard Knob to help upgrade the energy efficiency of houses in the area, she applied and was soon approved for a new roof for her 73-year-old home, which was completed last year.
“The house had not had a new roof in a long time, and I couldn’t have afforded to get the roof I got last year without this program,” Owens said in a telephone interview last week. “It definitely made my house better and helped me a lot.”
Owens is among dozens of area residents who have benefited by the Orchard Knob Connected Communities Program over the past couple of years by getting everything from home energy upgrades to laptop computers and internet access for telehealth and other online connections. The neighborhood initiative, which was supported by the Tennessee Valley Authority, Parkridge Hospital and an array of nonprofit groups working in the historic neighborhood, will soon expand across Chattanooga with the aid of a three-year, $786,000 federal grant.