Place-based Work
The connection between the place one grows up and life outcomes – spanning health and wealth – is well documented. Children who grow up in disinvested neighborhoods are less likely to achieve economic mobility and are more likely to develop chronic health conditions. An interconnected set of factors converge to limit opportunity in disinvested neighborhoods.
Place-based strategies tackle the interconnected issues a community faces in tandem, taking advantage of the synergy achieved by addressing multiple issues at once. Place-based strategies involve multiple stakeholders – residents, businesses, non-profits, local government, and others – who are involved in creating lasting change for their neighborhood. The challenges neighborhoods face are often interconnected and require interconnected solutions with stakeholders working across sectors to solve them.
LISC ATL will support long-term, place-based community development work in Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood and in Clayton County. LISC ATL will deploy its wealth building, community health, and ecosystem building strategies to advance each community's community development goals.
Atlanta’s historic Sweet Auburn neighborhood
Home to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic Site and formerly home to the country’s largest concentration of Black-owned businesses, the Sweet Auburn neighborhood holds historic significance. Sweet Auburn has experienced disinvestment for decades. Residents and legacy businesses are at risk of displacement driven by development occurring in neighboring areas.
LISC is deeply invested in strengthening the Sweet Auburn neighborhood, having made investments to in several local partners:
- The Atlanta Center for Self-Sufficiency is a Financial Opportunity Center bringing career and financial coaching to residents.
- Project Community Connection Inc. received a grant to cover the pre-development costs for Thrive Sweet Auburn, a mixed-used affordable housing and commercial development.
- The Guild received a grant to support an accelerator program for small businesses.
- Wheat Street Baptist Church will receive a loan to convert the American Legion and Christian Education Buildings to commercial space.
As mentioned above, place-based work is all about partners working together to solve the interconnected issues facing neighborhoods. To this end, LISC is supporting the Historic District Development Corporation’s (HDDC) landscape analysis, which will develop the framework for the Sweet Auburn Green and Equitable (SAGE) District. The SAGE District will be a membership group comprised of small businesses, non-profits, and community based organizations located in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood. SAGE members will coordinate and guide equitable community development efforts in Sweet Auburn.
Clayton County
Clayton County anchors the Southside. It is the home to one of the world’s busiest airports, Clayton State University, and one of the largest public school systems in Georgia. However, like much of the Southside, Clayton County is often overlooked for investment by community development funders and partners.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated economic inequality, disproportionately affecting communities of color. This trend holds in metro-Atlanta. In Clayton County —a majority Black county —30% of residents lost their jobs, 20% cannot handle a $400 emergency, and almost 40% feel that the pandemic was a threat to their health and finances according to a recent Atlanta Regional Commission survey.[25]
Given the impact of COVID-19 on residents and the historic disinvestment in the county, LISC intends to deploy its wealth building, community health, and ecosystem building strategies in Clayton County, with the guidance of local partners.
To start, LISC will conduct a participatory planning process that engages residents, business owners, and institutional stakeholders in identifying neighborhoods and/or commercial corridors in need for investment and priorities for neighborhood improvement. This planning process will drive LISC’s work in Clayton County
The direct approach: combining people- and place-based strategies to address long-standing inequities
by Amit Khanduri, LISC Atlanta, and Hope Wollensack, Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund
