Westside Communities Alliance

A partnership between Atlanta's westside communities and institutions of higher education.

Archives for July 2013

WCA is starting a Westside Archive

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Call for Submissions

Have you been involved in any initiative, course, project, research, mentoring, or other type of service that focuses on neighborhoods on the westside of Atlanta or issues that plague the westside? The WCA wants to hear from you. In the past semester alone, GT has had projects across the institution that concentrated their efforts in the Westside on topics such as brownfield revitalization, community mapping, designing and planning a multimodal transit boulevard, development of tools to track urban farm productivity, engaging high school students in bioengineering research, and several ongoing mentoring and tutoring programs. We request materials from any and all relevant GT projects whether faculty- or student-led, current or within the last two decades, in either digital or physical format. This includes reports, maps, posters, presentations, links to maintained websites, physical models of buildings and neighborhoods, photographs of community events, and much more.

 

Purpose of the Archive

The archive will act as a central repository for any and all GT work on the westside and will be available for community members, current faculty and students, and other higher-educational institutions to research and review. An archive has the capacity to serve multiple functions, it can:

  • Become a portfolio of successful projects and an example of “best practices” of community engagement when conducting research in neighborhoods such as those found on the westside.
  • Prevent duplicated research efforts
  • Prevent overburdening any one community as a research subject.
  • Point to neighborhoods that are either oversaturated or lacking in institutional assistance or attention.
  • Aid in the visioning process of future project development.

Community members and leaders, government officials, local businesses, non-profit organizations, funders, and churches are examples of groups interested in the work that goes on within GT, especially when it involves or could potentially impact their neighborhood. Access to these projects fosters the ability to collaborate with students and faculty to implement, enhance, or continue the planning work, or connect them with additional resources or interested third parties.

What is the Westside Communities Alliance?

The Westside Communities Alliance is a communications network developed in 2011 by Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of the Liberal Arts, the College of Architecture, and the Office of Government and Community Relations with community partners.  Over the past two years there has been a steady increase of on-campus interest to work with Westside communities and schools as well as community interest in partnering with Georgia Tech.  The Ivan Allen College of the Liberal Arts and the College of Architecture currently facilitate quarterly meetings, a listserv, and a Westside Communities Alliance website as the basis for this ongoing communications network with Westside neighbors and partner organizations. The Alliance aims to create cross-community connections among GT, other universities, neighborhood associations, businesses, City of Atlanta, Atlanta Fire Rescue, Atlanta Public Schools, direct service organizations, non-profits, and others.

 

Feel free to view and distribute the WCA Archive Press Release.

WCA Staff Attends Westside TAD Meetings

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The third and final Westside TAD Neighborhood Implementation Plan took place on  Thursday evening, June 27th, 2013 at the Higher Ground Empowerment Center.

WestsideTAD

All meetings, facilitated by PEQ and presented by APD Solutions, were well-attended with redents being very vocal about their questions and concerns. Notable development representatives include Kimley-Horne, Cooper Carry, and Invest Atlanta. Elected officials present indluded: Byron Amos, Vice Chair for Atlanta Board of Education; “Able” Mable Thomas, State Representative; and Michael Julian Bond and Ivory Young, District 3 Councilmembers for Atlanta City Council.

The final meeting reviewed suggestions that APD Solutions has made over the course of their Neighborhood Implementation Planning process.

Some identified development themes included:

  • Neighborhood Amenities
  • Sustainability
  • Heritage Tourism
  • Entertainment
  • Connections

The key project areas are:

  1. James P. Brawley Corridor
  2. Joseph E. Boone Corridor
  3. Northside Corridor (mixed-use)
  4. Northside Corridor (entertainment)
  5. Martin Luther King Jr. Corridor

Recommendations for quick implementations:

  • Streetscaping
  • Traffic controls
  • Land banking
  • Urban Agriculture
  • Tax Relief for seniors

View the Westside TAD Aggregate Map.

WCA Staff at Georgia STAND-UP Listening Sessions

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In May and June, WCA Staff attended two Georgia STAND-UP Alliance Meetings and listening sessions held to prepare the upcoming Community Issues Platform for the Mayoral and City Council Elections.

The sessions consisted of rotating groups broken out into issue areas such as Education, Transit, and Jobs in May and Mayoral, Council, and Executive Committee in June. Facilitators at each station would stimulated conversation about the topic and wrote down what issues concerns that attendees raised. These issues were then prioritized by those present.

The platform will be compiled and published into a report ready for the next Georgia STAND-UP meeting in August.

The October meeting will host candidates for the November elections.

STAND-UP Platform Process 2009

StandUp

Atlanta’s NPR station now following Project ENGAGE

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Jim Burress, from WABE.org and 90.1 FM, is following the story of 12 Westside high school students as they progress through Project ENGAGE, which stands for Engaging New Generations at Georgia Tech through Engineering.

NPR Stories:

A Year of Opportunity

Tech Grad Students to Help Teens Interested in STEM Field

Read about the Project ENGAGE Mentor Match Luncheon here.

30 students from the single gender high schools B.E.S.T. Academy and Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy applied and 12 were selected to participate. Professor Emeritus Robert Nerem, working with the program, says that they admitted 12 instead of the planned 10 as a result of the high-quality pool of applicants.

In addition to conducting paid laboratory research in the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, the program is proving to be a great model for interdisciplinary interaction within Georgia Tech. The mentors had a training session with Taneisha Lee, Program Director of  the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). Lee Baker, president-elect of Georgia Tech Black Alumni Association came and spoke to the scholars about the concept of “belonging”.

The program began with a four week cell biology boot camp led by Dr. Manu Platt. Professional development activities learned through the program include: written and oral communication; data analysis; time management; and accessing online databases. In the coming month, scholars will participate in Responsible Conduct in Research training from Senior Academic Professional Jason Bornstein in Ivan Allen College of the Liberal Arts and industry visits to a cell therapy company and a medical company.

Nerem says that Project ENGAGE is meant to inspire the scholars to aspire to a life of possibilities.

On July 26th, the scholars will be giving short oral presentations about their research thusfar followed by a poster exhibition and luncheon. For more information about Project ENGAGE, please contact Robert Nerem at 404-894-2768.