Westside Communities Alliance

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

NCA Homelessness in Atlanta

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On Wednesday, March 18th, the Northwest Community Alliance (NCA) presented their first panel on the issue of Homelessness in Atlanta. NCA Chair Mike Koblentz wrote in the event invitation that “One can not talk about smart growth or all the great strides that are now happening in this city-from the Beltline, to increased job growth, to impending infrastructure improvements, to streetcars, active and involved neighborhoods, a corporate culture that is civic minded, and a civil and human rights legacy and way of life, without dealing with people who struggle daily without the most basic of needs.”

The panel consisted of 5 speakers listed below and in the attachment you can find out more about them and their organizations:

  1. Vince Smith – Executive Director – Gateway Center
  2. Jack Hardin – Chairman – United Way Regional Commission on Homelessness
  3. Bill McGahan – Founder and Chairman – Georgia Works!
  4. Ed Powers – Executive Director – Hope Atlanta: Programs of Travelers Aid
  5. Stacy Horn Koch – Interim Executive Director, Atlanta Homeless Continuum of Care

Two main topics emerged throughout the conversation: an increased supply of affordable housing in the city as a tool to end homelessness and an over-arching disagreement on the disjointed approach to homelessness in Atlanta (i.e. the current situation at Peachtree and Pine).

WCA Graduate Assistant, Jeshua Pringle, was left pondering a few questions:

  • Can tax breaks on property taxes to offset the cost of affordable housing be provided at a local level? Can the City of Atlanta mandate affordable housing on the front end and give development incentives with lower property taxes over time?
  • Can the City of Atlanta create an ordinance requiring developers to have a unit or two dedicated to homelessness? Alignment with a program like Georgia Works could be a requirement for housing.
  • How can Georgia Works or other training programs be paired with the new bond referendum? Could this be an opportunity to decrease Atlanta’s homeless population while funding low skill jobs?
  • What are the joint metrics of these programs? How many people do they serve and how do they impact the number of homeless persons in Atlanta. How do the numbers mentioned compare to the whole? Evaluating the total impact would be helpful to understanding the role these organizations play.

 NCA Panelist Profile

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Friendship Baptist Church Demolition Hearing

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On April 2nd, 2014, the Georgia World Congress Center published a notice of a public hearing in the Daily Report in accordance with OCGA 12-16-5. The public had previously been told to look at the GWCC website for any updates on important meetings. On Friday, May 1st at 2 pm, the GWCC website was updated with a notice of the public hearing regarding the demolition of Friendship Baptist Church for the New Stadium Project. WCA Staff attended the meeting. As of 6:30 pm on Monday May 5th (the day and start time of the public hearing), all doors to Building C were locked, until GWCC security was called to open the doors. The meeting was not video-taped and the only way people will hear about the comments made are via Kevin Duvall and Frank Smith of the Georgia World Congress Center Authority and State Properties Commission respectively. Below, find the Environmental Effects Report produced for the site, the notice of the hearing, the construction/demolition schedule, and the public comments as recorded by WCA Staff.

Public Hearing Notification

Environmental Effects Report

Demolition/Construction Schedule

FriendshipDemo_PublicComment

Quilting Workshop – April 27th

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The NAMES Project Foundation, the international caretaker of The AIDS Memorial Quilt, invites the public to gather to create new Quilt panels for members of the community lost to HIV/AIDS.  This is a free, panel making workshop titled “Call My Name” and will be hosted by AIDS Memorial Quilt Curator Jada Harris and Julie Rhoads, President & CEO of The NAMES Project Foundation.

The “Call My Name” workshop will be presented on Sunday April 27th 2014, at the Lindsey Street Baptist Church (550 Lindsey St NW, Atlanta GA 30314) from 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm.  No sewing experience is necessary and materials will be provided. Williams explains, “We have all been touched by HIV/AIDS and by creating a panel for The Quilt, we, as a community, are honoring those we have lost and we are transforming that loss into something that offers hope and can keep others safe from this horrible disease.”

QuiltingWorkshopFlyer

The AIDS Memorial Quilt was created one 3 x 6 foot panel at a time by more than 100,000 individuals from across the country and around the world. With everything from teddy bears to wedding rings, B

oy Scout badges to love letters, the more than 48,000 handmade panels that comprise The Quilt are as varied as the individuals they honor and the people who created them.  Each year, sections of The Quilt are presented in nearly 1,000 displays around the world — in community centers, schools, places of worship, corporations, etc. — in an effort to share the messages of hope, healing and action found on The Quilt.

As HIV/AIDS claims more and more lives in the African American community, the demand for Quilt is growing.  Communities understand the power of The Quilt to open hearts and minds and to save lives, but right now we simply don’t have enough Quilt made by and for the African American community to meet this demand.  Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition (AHRC), a partner on this project, uses the harm reduction model as a key prevention tool to fight the transmission of HIV and other blood borne diseases. Please consider attending and helping us remember, create and strengthen our greatest HIV prevention tool– The AIDS Memorial Quilt.

This program is supported in part by the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, the Westside Communities Alliance, and Africa Atlanta 2014. For more information on the “Call My Name” workshops, please go to aidsquilt.org/callmyname or e-mail sheridf@iac.gatech.edu.

Africa Atlanta 2014 Initiative

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http://www.news.gatech.edu/2014/02/04/tech-launches-africa-atlanta-2014-initiative

Arts and culture, innovation, and entrepreneurship — these aren’t concepts that typically come to mind when Americans think of Africa.

Africa Atlanta

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The full schedule of Africa Atlanta 2014 events is available at www.africaatlanta.org.

But a Georgia Tech-led initiative has ambitious goals to recast narrow and negative perceptions about the continent and highlight Atlanta as a center for action.

The idea for Africa Atlanta 2014 grew out of a conversation over lunch one day when Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts Dean Jacqueline Royster learned that the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium, was closing for renovation and was willing to have pieces from its spectacular collection tour outside of Belgium.

She immediately set about finding partners and funding to bring to Atlanta an exhibition that was being curated for a U.S. tour, KONGO across the WATERS.

“From our start in 2012, we’ve found tremendous enthusiasm for this project,” Royster said. “The arts became our pebble in the pond.”

The ripple spread across universities, visual and performing arts organizations, African Diaspora heritage communities, governmental organizations and agencies (local, state, national, and international), nongovernmental organizations, business, and industry.

Taking a cue from the highly successful model for France-Atlanta, Royster chose a holistic approach and included activities spanning not only arts and culture, but education, business and innovation, and global affairs.

“The idea is to see the arts as a lens for understanding cultures more robustly within a global context,” she said. “We are thrilled to have one of the world’s foremost collections of African art to anchor this initiative. We are also thrilled to add many other amazing artistic and cultural activities.”

Campus sponsors include the Office of the Provost, Office for Institute Diversity, Office of International Education, College of Architecture, Scheller College of Business, Office of International Initiatives, College of Science, Institute of Paper Science and Technology, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, the IAC School of Literature, Media, and Communication, and the IAC School of Modern Languages.

Events across the city are already underway. Upcoming campus events include the
following:

  • Mapping Place: Africa Beyond Paper (Feb. 28-May 17): An exhibition exploring the changing representation and projection of space that has shaped our approach to Africa at the Robert C. Williams Paper Museum. Admission is free.
  • Shuffle, Shake, and Shatter by Sanford Biggers (March 28): A multimedia film suite exploring the formation and dissolution of identity at the Ferst Center for the Arts. Tickets are $15 for the general public.
  • Africa Beyond Africa: The Future of Cultural, Social, and Scientific Research Conference (May 16-17): This event will focus on challenges museums face today including uses of science and technology for presentation and representation. See www.africaatlanta.org for registration fees and details.
  • KONGO across the WATERS (May 17-Sept. 21): Art and artifacts from the Royal Museum for Central Africa explore connections between the art and culture of the Kongo peoples and African-American art in the United States at Jimmy Carter Library and Museum. Tickets are $8.

View the full schedule of events here.

Related Links

Contact Information

Rebecca Keane
Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts