Part 2 with Ronni Chandler of Project GRAD Knoxville

**Ronni Chandler** (0:08)
I have loved my life, and I think who I am is because of the path that I've taken. So I think if I were to undo a part of it, it might not lead to the same end.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:25)
From the IT Company, it's Made Right Here. The stories of East Tennessee founders, creators, and builders. From the idea behind it, to the impact it had on the community, their employees, and their personal lives, we're taking you behind the scenes of the movements they built.
Hey, welcome back to part two of my chat with my good friend Ronni Chandler, one of the original founding members of Project GRAD here in Knoxville.
Part one, we heard really a lot of just her incredible story of growing up and being a single mom, getting married, just kind of all the cool stuff and really some of the tough stuff in her life. And in part two, we get to hear of the transition into her professional career, but also still the weavings of great just nuggets of truth and inspiration and just the things that she's learned and the way that she has helped build our community. So excited for you to hear this part. And here we go.

**Ronni Chandler** (1:25)
I told you this, Devonna Simon, I know that this is what I'm supposed to do. And so I came to GRAD as the program director. And then when Jerry retired again in 2014, the GRAD board named me as executive director at that time. I've been here from the beginning.
He's part of helping to frame the program that is GRAD.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:50)
I think an important part of the story too, he went to Austin East, grew up in that community. And I want to remind people who don't know this, but Austin East is a gem of a school. And there are young men and women at Austin East and Fulton, specifically, just because I spent a lot of time at both those schools, who are rock stars, who just need the bridges and the connections.
And you're an example, you know, of somebody who has taken advantage of those things, and then it'll leverage connections and relationships and hard work and all that stuff. But I just want to remind people in the community just for a moment that sometimes we forget about those two schools. We may think about them athletically, periodically, but they're just a gem.

**Ronni Chandler** (2:46)
Thank you for saying that, and that is absolutely true. One of the things we continue to emphasize to our young people, greatness does come out of the center city. All of my brothers and sisters and I went to Austinese High School. My father, Dr. Nicole Chandler, is a graduate of Austinese High School. And so Austinese and Fulton, there are amazing kids that are brilliant. They're navigating a lot of things that are not of their making. But absolutely, if they just need the opportunity to shine, it will rise to the occasion. That really makes me think about one of the hardest parts of running GRAD is to help the team stay hopeful and encouraged when they're frustrated. Because when we provide opportunities for young people and they don't take advantage of it, we can't make them because we can't want it more for them than they want it for themselves. And so it's hard to see sometimes when they don't take advantage of opportunities that are there. But then we try to get underneath, well, why is that? Why are they not taking advantage of that? And there's always a why underneath. We have to dig down a little deeper. But as you mentioned, these are young people with tremendous potential, but a lot of them are navigating concentrated community challenges that are outside of their control. And so it's kind of hard to move through that, but it's possible.
Securing a sustainable funding base and partnerships for continuing to provide opportunities and support for a population of students with tremendous potential, but they're navigating a lot of stuff. And donor fatigue is very real.
And we serve zip codes with deep challenges that we can't make it better at home. And so bringing donors and funders and partners along that journey and maintaining that over time, it's not an easy thing. But remembering the why and always holding that up. And for us, it's kids. It's what about the children? That's the plumb line that guides what we do. And to help people who have opportunities see that the opportunities that they have, they can provide to young people and benefit both.
And so it's helping to make those connections and help people see the connection. GRAD has a business case. And the business case for GRAD is that the diverse workforce that we say we want in the region, business is going to have to help develop and create that workforce. And those kids are in my schools. And the leaders, I say this all the time, the leaders we need tomorrow are in our public schools today. And so we're going to have to provide the support for that. But it's not easy. In 2018, when the renewal of the GRAD contract came up, we were on a 12-year contract, then it went into a five-year extension. And then in 2018, it was time to enter a new contract. And that came at a time of a very difficult and contentious budget year. And for the most part, it was good people having to make tough decisions. And it was proposed that GRAD be eliminated as a budget savings. And so people from across the community pushed back, and they took a stand for kids. More than 1,000 people rolled and called and stood up and showed up and spoke up at a school board meeting that lasted until almost 1 o'clock in the morning.