Initiatives
Alongside the ongoing work of member service, recruitment, tourism, and advocacy, the Chamber leads a set of defined projects aimed at specific problems in this county. Some are years long. Some depend on funding or approvals we do not control. All of them are efforts to change something structural rather than to manage around it.
This page is where we report on that work honestly, including the parts that are not finished.
Bright Futures Initiative
Focus: Childcare capacity as workforce infrastructure.
Overton County, like most rural counties in Tennessee, does not have enough licensed childcare capacity to support the workforce its employers need. The result is a group of people who want to work and cannot, and a group of employers who cannot fill positions that are open right now.
The Bright Futures Initiative is the Chamber's proposal to address that gap by developing a childcare and workforce facility in Overton County. The Chamber has pursued funding through the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development and has brought the proposal before county leadership for consideration.
This item is pending a county commission decision.
Downtown Revitalization
Focus: The historic commercial core of Livingston.
Downtown revitalization in Livingston is led by Main Street Livingston, an independent 501(c)(3) organization housed with the Chamber and operating under the nationally recognized Main Street Approach. Recent and ongoing work includes historic preservation and facade improvement, streetscape and public space investment, downtown business recruitment, and heritage interpretation.
Livingston is one of only six Tennessee municipalities receiving an allocation under the Courthouse Square Revitalization Pilot Project, a program extended through 2038, which represents a generational commitment of state resources to this square.
Visit mainstreetlivingston.org for the full downtown program.
Tourism Development
Focus: Growing the visitor economy countywide.
Overton County's tourism program operates under a multi-party tourism development agreement that brought the county's primary tourism stakeholders into formal partnership for the first time, with a dedicated development fund, the county's first Tourism Advisory Board, and a new countywide visitor brand. Current work includes wayfinding signage installation across the county, destination development around Dale Hollow Lake and Standing Stone State Park, heritage tourism interpretation, and event programming including the Live in Livingston concert series.
VisitLivingstonTN.org for visitor information and the full tourism program.
Retail Recruitment and Site Development
Focus: Recapturing retail sales that currently leave the county.
Every dollar an Overton County household spends in Cookeville, Crossville, or another city takes local sales tax revenue and local employment with it. Closing that gap requires actively pitching this market to retailers, restaurants, and service providers who have not yet evaluated it, and it requires having sites ready when they look.
The Chamber represents the county at retail recruitment conferences, maintains current market and traffic data, works with landowners along the Livingston bypass and in the county's outlying communities to identify developable sites, and pursues the financing tools that make rural retail development work.
Opportunity Zone Designation
Focus: Preserving and expanding federal tax incentives for private investment in Overton County.
The federal Opportunity Zone program was made permanent in 2025, with an entirely new round of census tract designations taking effect January 1, 2027 under tightened eligibility rules and substantially enhanced benefits for rural areas. The Chamber prepared and submitted Overton County's designation request to the State of Tennessee.
Historic District and Preservation Framework
Focus: Positioning downtown property owners for preservation grants and incentives.
Livingston's H-1 Historic District has been part of the city's zoning framework since the 1980s, and the Chamber has supported the City in formally adopting the district map and reactivating the Historic Zoning Commission. The purpose is not new restriction on property owners. Existing properties are grandfathered, and review applies principally to exterior alterations of older commercial structures against established preservation standards rather than personal preference.
The purpose is access. A community with an adopted historic district and a functioning commission is eligible for federal and state preservation funding for facades, roofing, masonry, storefronts, fire suppression, and accessibility that is simply unavailable otherwise.
This item is pending before the Livingston Board of Aldermen.
Livingston Wellness Loop
Focus: Connecting residents to the places they need to reach.
The Chamber is a partner in a consortium application for the Livingston Wellness Loop, a project designed to connect residents to healthcare, services, the senior center, the public library, technical education, and the downtown square. The Chamber's interest is straightforward. Transportation access is a workforce issue, a small business issue, and a quality of life issue at the same time.
Leadership Overton
Focus: The next generation of community leadership.
Every rural county faces the same underlying question, which is whether there will be enough capable and willing people to run its institutions a generation from now. Leadership Overton is the Chamber's most direct answer.
Get Involved
Most of the work on this page moves faster with more people behind it. If one of these initiatives matters to your business or your family, call the Chamber at (931) 823-6421 or email admin@overtonco.com.