Westside Communities Alliance

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

Chancellor Award IAC and COA

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PRESS RELEASE: Westside Communities Alliance Receives Chancellor’s Service Excellence Team of the Year Gold Award

Release Date: 10/16/2014
Contact Information: Mackenzie Madden, mmadden@gatech.edu

The Westside Communities Alliance, a signature initiative of Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts Dean Jacqueline Royster, received the USG Chancellor’s Service Excellence Team of the Year Gold Award for 2014.  The awards ceremony was held Friday, October 10th, at Kennesaw State University.

[su_quote cite=”Dean Jacquline Royster”]“We look forward to ever-evolving opportunities for action and success, both on the campus and in the Westside communities,” Royster said.  “This award affirms our commitment and inspires our ongoing pursuit of excellence.”[/su_quote]

The WCA Executive Team led by Dean Royster includes Chris Burke, Georgia Tech Director of Community Relations, Sheri Davis-Faulkner, WCA Director, and Mackenzie Madden, WCA Associate Director.  The Alliance is a collaboration among Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, College of Architecture, and Office of Government and Community Relations and partners in neighboring Westside communities. 

 

As a collaborative network, the WCA functions as a nexus for inter-communication, action and advocacy, by bringing communities, academic institutions, and stakeholders from various arenas together to tackle local challenges and find points of synergy for positive action.  A primary goal for the WCA is to operationalize a dynamic model of multi-institutional civic engagement, research, and action. The WCA provides a platform to spotlight economic and educational anchors, as well as cultural and historic assets, in addition to highlighting the significant investments made by community leaders and residents throughout Atlanta’s Westside. 

 

Ongoing Ivan Allen College faculty and student work with westside community groups include:  Westside Soul, Chris LeDantec; Westside Food Oasis, Carl DiSalvo; Community Think Tank, Micheal Hoffman; and Westside Atlanta Land Trust, Erica Louise Richards. The College of Architecture has been instrumental in supporting the WCA since its inception in 2011, continuously funding graduate research assistants. Ongoing CoA work includes projects from the Social Justice committee and various studios particularly those of Michael Dobbins and Herman Howard. During the WCA’s Spring 2014 Community Studio Professors Michael Dobbins, Herman Howard, Nisha Botchwey, and Daniel Immergluck all volunteered their time to work with community members to facilitate discussion on their particular research interests. Additionally current student Katie O’Connell and alumni Brian Thomas also volunteered their expertise with the Community Studio.

 

In the 2014-2015 school year, the WCA will finish developing a westside data dashboard, provide additional capacity-building for community-based organizations, and coordinate Institute support for four Atlanta public schools within the Booker T. Washington High School cluster.  Visit our website, get on our listserv, take a service-learning course, volunteer to engage with westside communities, and join the Westside GT Taskforce. The WCA depends on the academic expertise and the volunteer spirit of our GT community.  Their motto is “Together, we can do better.” 

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.”

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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.

Hands on Atlanta Day with Ivan Allen College

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Written by Georgia Tech student Danielle Sharpe*.

Last Saturday, a group of Georgia Tech students and I journeyed over to the Bellwood Boys and Girls Club to volunteer at the opening event for Hands On Atlanta Day. Student volunteers were representing the Ivan Allen College, Circle K, the Black Graduate Student Association, and the Westside Communities Alliance (WCA). We all worked hand in hand to give more life to an already vibrant boys and girls club.

WCA Community Liaison, Sheri Davis-Faulkner and IAC volunteers in front of a completed reading loft.

Much of the projects reminded us of our carefree days as elementary students, which was long before we all accepted the challenge to become Georgia Tech students. From painting murals and cornhole platforms to revamping the playground areas and building reading lofts, volunteering at the Bellwood Boys and Girls Club was very much like a morning full of arts and crafts. We even got to decorate birdhouses!

Painting cornhole sets

 

Beyond being able to show our creative prowess, we got a chance to get a deeper understanding of our service. The volunteer event was organized and funded primarily by Ivan Allen IV, grandson of Tech alum and Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. From his mayoral term, Ivan Allen, Jr. left a legacy of social courage for racial progression in a major southern city. Seeing Ivan IV live his grandfather’s visions was very moving, and it was even more special knowing that we were a part of his grandfather’s vision, too.

We are very appreciative of Ivan Allen IV, the Ivan Allen College, WCA, The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Atlanta, and Hands On Atlanta for organizing such an enjoyable, yet insightful event. Personally, I think that it is wonderful and necessary that the Ivan Allen College and WCA are taking the initiative to serve nearby communities because the communities in the Westside are literally our neighbors. This volunteering event allowed my peers and me to see that it is important to give back to our communities, especially those that are historically linked to us. In closing, if you want to walk, live, and breathe the Tech motto of “Progress and Service,” you’re at Georgia Tech. You can do that!

WCA Staff, Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club Staff, and Ivan Allen IV

 

View the entire Facebook album.

*Danielle is a graduating junior, majoring in History, Technology, and Society (HTS) at Georgia Tech. She is also completing a certificate in Land Development because of her personal interest in the design of cities. Danielle is involved with the Student Advisory Board for the Ivan Allen College as the Webmaster and HTS representative. She is also an active volunteer with the Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition, a community-based wellness and prevention organization that serves the English Avenue community in the Westside and one of the WCA’s partners.

 

WCA Receives Award for “Excellence in Leadership”

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The WCA was honored to receive the first annual award of “Excellence in Leadership” from The Conservancy at Historic Washington Park. Other honorees were The Humane Society of the United States Pets for Life Program and Washington Park Resident – Mrs. Patricia Gartrell.

 

From left: Christi Jackson, Makeda Johnson, Sheri Davis-Faulkner, Mackenzie Madden, Qiana Martin, Spelman Student

Excellence in Leadership Award to WCA from The Conservancy at Historic Washington Park

 

 

On Saturday September 14th, The Conservancy at Historic Washington Park, Atlanta City Council Member Ivory Young, and the Department of Parks and Recreation hosted the Jody Brooks Memorial Movie in the Park. The WCA worked with Eat Soccer and international athlete Qiana Martin to plan the first series of Pop Up + Play in the park beforehand. See the full album here.

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The park had music, free snowcones, and popcorn before the 8 pm showing of “42” – the story of Jackie Robinson.