Atlanta, Georgia – Atlanta is putting $250,000 behind an idea that starts small but could have a lasting impact: give West Hollowell neighborhoods more power to shape what happens around them.
The Atlanta City Council approved the funding for the West Hollowell Foundation, a neighborhood organization being developed to serve Brookwood Hills, formerly Bowen Homes, Almond Park and Carey Park. Rather than focusing only on physical development, the investment is intended to strengthen the local organization connecting residents with opportunities, programs and resources.
The West Hollowell Foundation is being built as a community partner for people living in the area. Its work will bring residents together with public agencies, nonprofit organizations and private partners around several issues that directly affect neighborhood life, including housing, education, health and wellness, and economic opportunity.
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The $250,000 allocation will help the foundation expand its ability to do that work. Funding will support staffing, day-to-day operations and programming as the organization develops its role across the four communities.
The Grove Park Foundation will serve as fiscal agent while the West Hollowell Foundation continues building its organizational capacity. That arrangement gives the newer organization support as it establishes the structure needed to work with residents and coordinate resources.
The investment is also part of a much broader effort underway in Atlanta.
West Hollowell is included in the city’s Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative, or NRI, which directs resources toward communities that have experienced years of underinvestment. The initiative is designed to address neighborhood needs while creating stronger connections between residents and the investments taking place around them.
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For West Hollowell, the city’s approach is not limited to bringing new projects into the area. A major part of the effort is making sure existing residents can participate in and benefit from the opportunities that come as their neighborhoods continue to grow and change.
That is where the West Hollowell Foundation is expected to play an important role. By listening to residents, developing partnerships and coordinating programs around local priorities, the organization can serve as a bridge between the community and the institutions investing in its future.
The council’s $250,000 approval does not represent a single construction project or one-time neighborhood program. Instead, it provides the organizational support needed for local work to take shape from within, through people already connected to Brookwood Hills, formerly Bowen Homes, Almond Park and Carey Park.
As new investment reaches West Hollowell, the foundation’s task will be to help ensure community growth also translates into opportunities for the people who already call these neighborhoods home.
More information about Atlanta’s Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative and projects underway across the city is available at ATLNeighborhoods.org.
