Westside Communities Alliance

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

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.

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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.

Washington Park Community Service with GT OMED Students

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Early on a Saturday morning, 12 bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Georgia Tech students – OMED (Office of Minority Educational Development) Challenge counselors with Andre Dickens, Assistant Director of Outreach Initiatives with OMED – met at Ashby Circle Playlot ready to volunteer with the Washington Park Community Club and Neighborhood Association, led by Christi Jackson. Some volunteers even walked from Tech’s campus to be there.

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The first order of duty was to canvass the Washington Park neighborhood to complete a survey of: vacant properties, senior citizens, pet-owners, home-owners v. renters, and structures with fire damage.

WashingtonParkCanvassing

After canvassing, the students began cleaning up the park. Located near a ravine, the park is plagued with stormwater surges rushing through the area. Many of the tree roots suffer are exposed from soil run-off and the grassy areas are littered with broken glass and debris making it unsafe for actual play. West Atlanta Watershed Alliance arranged mulch to be delivered and students covered the exposed roots to provide more stabilization. Other students worked to pick up trash, broken glass, and some interesting car parts that were found on the playground.

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See the entire photo album on our Facebook page

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WCA Staff at Proctor Creek HIA Workshop

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Source: WAWA

WCA staff members Sheri Davis-Faulkner and Mackenzie Madden attended the Health Impact Assessment Workshop on May 23rd at the U.S. EPA Region 4 Headquarters downtown that focused on green infrastructure in the Proctor Creek communities. An HIA is a tool used to objectively evaluate potential positive and negative health impacts of a policy or project before it is implemented and provide recommendations to minimize adverse health impacts and maximize beneficial impacts. The goal of conducting such an assessment is to ensure that health and equity are considered in the decision-making process and that impacted communities are engaged. Please see the Health Pathways link below for more information.

The workshop was facilitated by representatives from Georgia Health Policy Center, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency. We were joined by community members Yvonne Jones, Tony Torrence, and Shaheed Dubois among others. In addition to learning about the Health Impact Assessment process, we learned about the Boone Boulevard Street Project. This project has been chosen by the City of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management to address some of the community’s flooding concerns and will be implemented in collaboration with planned road diet improvements. The proposal includes a combination of planter boxes, permeable pavements, bioretention areas, and planting strips. Please see the HIA Proctor Creek link below for more information.

The Advisory Committee (37 members) will hold their next meeting will be held on July 23, 2013 from 9:30 am – 12:00 pm. The next Community Engagement meeting will be held at a date TBD.

For more information, please contact Tami Thomas-Burton at (404) 562-8027 or at Thomas-burton.tami@epa.gov.

 

HIA Proctor Creek Health Pathways

HIA Proctor Creek