Check out the news and announcements from our Westside partners and friends.

NEWS: May 15 deadline extension for Anti-Displacement Tax Fund program (Westside Future Fund)

NEWS: Choice Neighborhoods Heritage Owner-Occupied Rehab Program (Westside Future Fund) 

• Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms unveiled a new housing initiative to preserve affordable housing in the City of Atlanta and help current lower-income residents avoid displacement.
• The initiative includes three owner-occupied rehabilitation (OOR) programs, which will provide forgivable loans to residents to make critical health and safety repairs on their homes.

NEWS: Choice Atlanta 2018 Scholarship (Westside Future Fund)

NEWS: Rebuild, redemption: Gospel group, Testimony, embodies change coming to Atlanta’s Westside. (Video) (Atlanta Business Chronicle)

NEWS: Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation starts a program at Hollis Innovation Academy (WestsideRise)

• The program helps families resolve housing issues and improve family stability while creating a system to stabilize schools and help students achieve college and career ready goals.

NEWS: Rebuilding Bankhead: How an effort to revive Grove Park aims to not leave residents behind. (Atlanta Magazine) 

NEWS: Cousins CEO: First ACP meeting with Mayor Bottoms one of ‘best’ ever. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)

NEWS: Alternative Spring Break Students Choose Service Learning Over Downtime. (Georgia State University)

NEWS: April Day of Service – Earth Day Celebration (Westside Future Fund)

NEWS:  A development team is planning two large mixed-use projects that would bookend Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, an area near Georgia Tech that’s struggled with crime and poverty. (Atlanta Business Chronicle)

NEWS: Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination 50th Anniversary (National Civil Rights Museum) 

• Hundreds March Through Atlanta On Anniversary Of Dr. King’s Funeral (WABE)
• Martin Luther King Jr.: 50 Years Later, His Battles Live On (The New York Times)

NEWS: A tuition FREE opportunity for teen girls to  experience a week of Yoga, Literature, and Art at Spelman College (Red Clay Yoga)

NEWS: New Mayor Wants to Preserve Homeownership as Displacement Looms (NextCity)

NEWS:  Jay Bailey’s Vision for the Russell Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship: The “Gateway” for Atlanta’s Black Entrepreneurs (hypepotamus) 

NEWS: Westside Blue, a neighborhood patrol unit made up of 16 off-duty City of Atlanta Police Department officers, have spent nearly 3,000 hours increasing police visibility in English Avenue and Vine City (westsiderise)

EVENT: Center of Civic Innovation host Food Innovation Fellowship Showcase (Civic Innovation Fellows)

NEWS: Westside initiatives take root, ‘but there’s a long way to go’ (Saporta Report) 

NEWS: Trust for Public Land reaches fundraising goal for Westside park (Saporta Report) 

NEWS: Atlanta music program strikes the right chord in changing neighborhood (AJC)

NEWS: A New Atlanta Housing Focuses On Equity (Cision PR Newswire)

NEWS: The Atlanta Beltline and African-American Women’s Health Among Topics Explored During Research Day 2018 (Cision PR Newswire)

NEWS: Spelman student sets sights on raising literacy rates. (Black Enterprise)

NEWS: Beyoncé gives $100,000 to 4 historically black colleges after Coachella performance (NBC News)

NEWS: Clark Atlanta’s president wants university to be economic engine for Westside (Atlanta Business Chronicle)

NEWS: Atlanta business leaders help with rebuilding communities (KPAX)

NEWS: Georgia Supreme Court rules in favor of Clark-Atlanta University in Morris Brown College land sale (Atlanta Business Chronicle)

NEWS: FBI Atlanta Presents 2018 Director’s Community Leadership Award to City of Refuge President, Bruce Deel (FBI)

EVENT: Dinner in the City (cityofrefugeatl)

• When: May 12, 2018 6pm
• Where: City of Refuge, 1300 Joseph E Boone Blvd NW 30314 Atlanta, Georgia
• Details: City of Refuge is offering a challenge to the graduates of the 180˚ Kitchen… the opportunity to compete in a life-changing competition. A chef’s challenge that will test their skills, talents and patience resulting in a very special prize for the winner. Ten former students will make up two teams that will prepare delicious signature dishes as they compete for prizes. City of Refuge Chef Alex Cook will host the evening along with celebrity judges Ryan Pernice and Steve Palmer from Atlanta. They will face a challenge called Dinner in the City – a celebration of the talents and skills of the 180˚ Kitchen Alumni.
• Get tickets!