For Shawn Watwood, the Westside has always been home. He moved to Atlanta in 2017 to take a job with Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre, and from there began to learn about his new community by attending NPU meetings and early Transform the Westside Summit’s hosted by Westside Future Fund (WFF).

Years later, and in his new role as senior manager of corporate partnerships and sales for AMB Sports + Entertainment, Watwood continued living on the Westside and made key connections – like meeting Tameka Askew, WFF’s Home on the Westside Manager.

“I’ve known Tameka, forever, and she kept telling me that I should look into WFF’s affordable housing program Home on the Westside (HOTW),” said Watwood. “I had reservations because like most people I thought homeownership was too expensive and that the process could be overwhelming. It wasn’t until my last apartment complex notified me of a rent increase that I finally thought to myself it might be time to start the process.”

For Watwood, it felt like divine timing. The next summit he attended was focused on the work of Westside Future Fund, and Askew gave a presentation on WFF’s HOTW program. During the presentation, Askew showed a photo of a yellow house and Watwood could suddenly envision himself living there.

“After the summit I talked to the WFF team, and they encouraged me to fill out the paperwork. While going through the process for HOTW, I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it never did. It was always so seamless and easy,” said Watwood. “Working with the team at WFF is literally like having your hand held every step of the way. I closed on my house in less than 30 days.”

Given his live and work connections to the community, which are part of the community retention guidelines for HOTW, Watwood qualified for $40,000 in down payment assistance from WFF and another $10,000 in assistance from Invest Atlanta.

Going through Home on the Westside wasn’t just about settling more permanent roots down on the Westside, it was also about making a home. During the pandemic he met his partner Camille Monae while attending a performance she was starring in at the West End Performing Arts Center. The two bonded over their shared love for performing arts and attending a small university in Texas. When the opportunity to participate in HOTW came up, it was also a chance for Watwood and Monae to create a space together.

“Having this as our place to go home to is new to both of us. Both of us have moved so many times in our lives,” said Monae. “For the longest time my grandmother’s house in San Antonio, TX was home, and now I get to switch that mindset that now this is my home, and we get to create it together.”

The couple has also started to expand their sense of home beyond their four walls, and into the community, by connecting with their neighbors. They are already in a WhatsApp group with their neighborhood where they arrange everything from picking up each other’s packages and sharing herbs to arranging impromptu clean ups at their nearby community park – Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park.

“The Westside is reminiscent of a neighborhood I grew up in during my early childhood,” said Monae. “A place that has progressed over the last decade, but there have been some downsides to that gentrification – my mother and grandmother still live in the neighborhood and my mom’s property taxes have almost tripled. I’ve seen what it’s like when these neighborhood efforts are done wrong and in a harmful way, and it’s nice to see Westside Future Fund’s intentional approach. I wish that was the case everywhere.”

Watwood and Monae officially moved into their home in March of this year. As the couple unpacks boxes, they are also thinking about new paint colors for their wall and making design plans for their backyard – taking the steps to turn their new space into a home.

Westside Future Fund (WFF) recently hosted an information session about our signature program, Home on the Westside (HOTW), on the campus of Spelman College. The event was hosted with support from Dena Terrell, Training and Development Program Manager at Spelman College to educate college faculty on their opportunity to “live and work” on the Westside. Our program aims to advance a compassionate approach to neighborhood revitalization by developing high-quality, permanently affordable multi-family units, new or renovated single-family homes, and provide property tax relief for legacy residents.

Home on the Westside includes community retention guidelines, which prioritize people with “live, work, and learn” connections to the Westside. As faculty members within the Atlanta University Center, one of five neighborhoods in WFF’s footprint, Spelman College faculty are eligible to participate in HOTW.

“When people come to WFF to learn about opportunities to purchase a home, we want them to know that we have a whole team to support them at each stage of the process,” said Tameka Askew, WFF’s Home on the Westside Manager. “From financial planning and counseling to lending and purchasing we meet people where they are.”

WFF works with Operation HOPE to provide financial counseling for people who are interested in the homebuying process, as well as the On the Rise Financial Center, which helps build financial well-being for individuals, families, and small businesses within the Vine City, English Avenue, and Castleberry communities as well as the greater City of Atlanta.

this includes an onsite counselor who is available to meet with individuals at WFF’s HQ located at 970 Jefferson Avenue. Additionally, we work with a realtor and lender to help potential homeowners understand purchasing costs, down payment assistance and learn more about the Westside community. WFF offers “last-dollar” down payment assistance to help families purchase WFF-sponsored homes. WFF down payment assistance can go up to $60,000 and is based on your annual household income.

WFF plans to host additional information sessions about out program throughout the Atlanta University Center. You can learn more about Home on the Westside here.

Community members and business leaders attended the April 21 Transform Westside Summit to learn about the economic opportunities coming to the area by way of a 40-story hotel going up on the Georgia World Congress Center campus. As always, the morning opened with connection and community building, where members of the audience shared resources they have for the group’s collective efforts to improve the Westside. Quasandria “Q” Turner, director of Westside Works, led the devotion.

Frank Poe, executive director of Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC), and Teri Agosta, general manager of the soon-to-open Signia by Hilton Atlanta, gave an overview of the project’s history and their intentionality in highlighting both the Westside and Atlanta as a whole in their concepts. 

Project Highlights

“This new hotel allows us to keep our guests and customers on the campus. If you look at it in a holistic fashion—between the Omni Hotel, State Farm Arena, Insignia by Hilton, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Centennial Yards—what’s occurring is a shift in the movement and the center of downtown more Westward, which we think will expose our guests to opportunities in concert with what’s already occurring across the Westside.” –Frank Poe, executive director of Georgia World Congress Center

• The 976-room hotel is set to open January 2024.
• The GWCC Authority made a commitment to English Avenue and Vine City to structure the hotel’s front-facing window to have a Northside address, enhancing connectivity and offering a bird’s eye view of these historic Westside neighborhoods.
• The revenues associated with the hotel service the debt, so it’s not an obligation of the state of Georgia, but of GWCC.
• The hotel will offer eight food and beverage outlets, including Capolinea, Italian for terminus, which was the original name of Atlanta.
• A 40,000 square-foot ballroom–the largest in the state–with direct access to GWCC.

Career Opportunities 

“We’re going to hire for attitude and train for aptitude. There are a lot of opportunities for people who want to be in front of people. You have to want to serve and you have to want to better people’s lives.” –Teri Agosta, general manager, Signia by Hilton Atlanta

• The hotel will host Career Fairs to educate the community on jobs available. Bellmen, concierge, front desk representatives, servers and housekeepers will be on-site to educate prospective employees on day-to-day duties and wages.
• Career opportunities will be made available through the hotel’s Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin profiles.

Audience Questions

• Will there be any intentional efforts to help elevate legacy businesses? 
  • We are helping individual and small businesses get certified as Equal Business Opportunity through the state. Many of our current vendors are part of the EBO program; we’re very conscious of that and we keep track of it.
• Very little has been done to improve the pedestrian accessibility and connections on Northside Drive. With this massive investment, what plans exist to improve Northside Drive?
  • Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is currently working on plans that would remake and beautify a segment of Northside Drive so it’s more connected. Those plans are under development. We’re scheduled to meet with GDOT in the next couple of months as they refine those plans.  
• What about parking? Vine City residents are working hard and close with the City of Atlanta to stop overflow parking.
  • We built additional structured parking through the Orange Deck that basically connects the hotel to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The hotel itself sits on top of what we formerly called the Gold Deck, so we’ve expanded that parking deck. There’s more than enough parking on campus to satisfy what the hotel guests may require as part of their stay on the campus.

Miss the event? Watch the full Transform Westside Summit on YouTube.

When she first started working with the Westside Future Fund (WFF), Carol Waddy knew the organization was positioned to make a tremendous impact in the underserved, disinvested Westside community – and she was committed to help make it happen.

Waddy, director of Corporate Social Responsibility for Chick-fil-A, Inc., joined Chick-fil-A with the specific intent to help support company Chairman Dan Cathy’s philanthropic efforts on the Westside. With her, she brought years of experience and commitment to supporting underserved communities in Atlanta, including a decade-long tenure with United Way of Greater Atlanta.

Waddy’s relationship with the Westside is personal. From a young age, she’d become engrained on the Westside – from memories of lunches at Paschal’s while on vacation with family to attending graduate school at Clark Atlanta University. Her time in the community exposed her to the extensive needs and gaps in resources for local residents.

“Over the decades, there have been a lot of broken promises and disinvestment for this community. It’s important that we right that. We need to make it possible for people here to stay and thrive, not just survive,” said Waddy. 

In the formative days of WFF, Cathy, Waddy and Chick-fil-A leaders joined forces with WFF leadership with the goal of bringing together civic and corporate leaders as well as local residents in a way that would be engaging and informative about the critical needs of the Westside. From that came the Transform Westside Summit – and as the event grew, it became clear that the organization had an opportunity to further expand community engagement and really make an impact.

 “They started as small Friday morning meetings at City of Refuge, where I was getting up and arriving at City of Refuge at 5:30 in the morning, setting up chairs and helping them figure out the weekly programming,” said Waddy. “As the event grew, we started putting together a plan together through collaboration between Dan, WFF leadership and other stakeholders on how to engage the community more broadly and educate people on the work the organization is doing to draw more people in.”

Waddy then approached John Ahmann, the newly appointed president and CEO of WFF, with an idea.

“I immediately thought that volunteer efforts could be a wonderful and effective way to get corporate partners to come to the table, learn more and engage in a hands-on way,” said Waddy. “The thinking at the time was ‘if they do that, they’ll also want to give.’ Not to say that the needs and the story weren’t enough, but there’s nothing like having your staff come out and say ‘it was amazing, I connected with the Westside.’”

In that moment, the WFF Volunteer Corps was born. At the time, WFF’s team was small and just getting started in their mission. They needed help getting the program off the ground, so Waddy turned to her friends at United Way of Greater Atlanta who agreed to help provide resources for volunteerism. In an effort to bridge costs as WFF built up its team, Chick-fil-A elected to underwrite the costs of kicking up the program, paying United Way costs to partner with WFF.

“We simply helped with the initial efforts to engage corporations, large community groups and other folks who may not necessarily understand or know the impact of WFF,” said Waddy. “From there, once people really got out into the community and understood its needs, the mission of WFF did the rest.”

Waddy, Cathy and Chick-fil-A’s commitment to the Westside didn’t stop there. Over the years, the company has been deeply involved in philanthropic efforts supporting local schools alongside WFF, and extended their support to other local organizations for change in the community.

 “We wanted tocome in and help local organizations small and large in the community and help them succeed. We didn’t want to come in and create anything new or get in anyone’s way, we saw that these organizations were doing great work and wanted to be a resource for their success,” said Waddy. 

As his philanthropic efforts on the Westside continued to expand, Cathy took notice of one issue in particular – food security. His solution: open a Chick-fil-A in the community where restaurants and groceries are largely absent – and do so in a way that it supports the community in more ways than one.

“Dan made the commitment to bring the restaurant to the community. To me, that was the biggest ‘putting your money where your mouth is’ investment that you could make. The goal was not only to bring in a place where people could get quality food, bring in a job center with over 100 jobs, and be a resource for the community. Within that store, is a community resource room dedicated to H. Herman Russell, a hometown and community hero,” said Waddy. “Quincy Springs, the owner operator, was selected from his role as the general manager of the Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd Walmart as someone who was already known, trusted and committed to the Westside.”

The partnership between Chick-fil-A and WFF has been essential to the organization’s success. With their support, WFF has been able to provide key resources to local residents that both protect their ability to remain in their homes without being priced out while simultaneously transforming the neighborhoods into clean, safe and vibrant communities.

“The Westside community is a part of the historic fabric of Atlanta and the Nation. I don’t know if folks really understand that. It can’t be left behind. It’s important for legacy families and residents can remain in the community and thrive in the community,” said Waddy. “The work of the Westside Future Fund is what makes it possible for these legacy residents to stay, to have the resources they need.”

As WFF continues its work to revitalize the five historic Westside neighborhoods – English Avenue, Vine City, Ashview Heights, Atlanta University Center and Just Us – the hard work continues with results that would make Dr. King proud to call the Westside home.

The Atlanta Police Foundation (APF), Atlanta Police Department (APD) and Westside Future Fund (WFF) are celebrating a key milestone in their Westside Blue program partnership – the delivery of a brand-new squad car dedicated to community policing on the Westside.

When the Westside Blue program kicked off nearly two years ago, WFF provided funding for the APF to order a fully-equipped police vehicle. At the time, the on-duty police officer was driving a small, outdated vehicle that lacked the technologies and equipment necessary to police effectively. Supply chain challenges briefly delayed the vehicle’s delivery, but the new squad car is finally hitting the streets and amplifying the effectiveness of this crucial program.

The Westside Blue partnership is a critical resource that has been historically absent in the community. According to Derrick Jordan, real estate consultant for WFF, the increased exposure to police officers intends to deter crime and foster positive relationships between residents and law enforcement. 

“The program is similar to other neighborhood public safety programs, but new to the Westside community. English Avenue and Vine City in particular have never had a neighborhood-focused public safety program of this kind,” said Jordan. “The idea behind the program was largely spurred by a call from local business owners who felt it would be helpful to have more community-based police officers. When I say community-based, I mean they aren’t here to be arresting people, they’re here so the community can establish a relationship with officers.”

In addition to the Westside Blue program, APF has focused on officer housing in the Westside neighborhoods through its Secure Neighborhoods Home Officers program. By housing officers in the neighborhoods in which they work, they garner a greater understanding of the specific needs and nature of their communities and build connections with neighbors and residents.

To encourage the housing program on the Westside, WFF has donated land to APF for future home building projects, but has not directly contributed to construction.

“We want a police presence in the community ahead of the work we are doing in affordable real estate development. We are working hard and quickly to construct affordable housing in these neighborhoods, with new homeowners and residents moving in each month, and as we attract and retain these residents, we need to ensure safety and security,” said Jordan. “We’ve asked our Westside Blue officers to patrol the areas where we are focusing our housing initiatives to get ahead of the development and growth now.”

So far, the program has seen tremendous success, with incidents of crime decreasing and trust in law enforcement increasing. 

“The point of the program isn’t to encourage arrests, it is intended to increase visibility of law enforcement in the community to foster positive relationships and deter crime in a proactive manner rather than retroactively through arrests. From what we’re seeing, we strongly believe that our goals are proving successful. We can feel and see a shift in the overall sentiment toward law enforcement in our community,” said Jordan. “Since the beginning of Westside Blue, we’ve seen a significant decrease in the vandalism and reduced break-ins of our own properties, and our neighbors and other existing residents have felt the same relief.”

In addition to protecting homes, WFF has expanded the range of the Westside Blue program to monitor and protect the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard business district corridor at the direct request of local business owners.

With the new police squad car on the street and a continuously improving relationship between community members and law enforcement, the future is bright for the Westside Blue program and the five historic Westside neighborhoods.

“We’re excited about how well the program is doing, and even more excited to see where else it can go,” said Jordan.

This National Volunteer Month has been jam-packed with opportunities to get involved with Westside Future Fund (WFF) and our mission to revitalize and transform the historic Westside neighborhoods into a community Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be proud to call home. The organization has been honored to receive an outpouring of support from local residents and partner organizations. 

Early in the month, volunteers joined seniors at the New Horizons Senior Center in Vine City for BINGO, helping set up and run the event while getting to know legacy community members.

To kick off Earth Week, volunteers from AT&T’s NETwork Black Integrated Community Professionals gathered at our monthly community clean-up, clearing blighted lots of litter and waste. The Earth Week celebration continued as volunteers from Cognizant got their hands dirty while sprucing up the gardens at Historic Westside Gardens.

Volunteers drive our mission – and we are incredibly grateful and appreciative of their commitment to our Westside community. To celebrate their hard work, all volunteers were invited to a special volunteer happy hour at the Westside Motor Lounge joined by WFF staff members. 

To register and to see future volunteer opportunities, visit our Volunteer page.

Westside Future Fund (WFF) is dedicated to providing essential services to the historic Westside neighborhoods, but like any organization, it faces a unique set of challenges. One of the biggest has been balancing the need for community services with limited organizational staff resources.

Although WFF utilizes Salesforce CRM technology to manage program applicant data and volunteer-staffed events, the database became cluttered due to a small, often over-burdened team. This resulted in an over-reliance on manual processes, including emails and time-consuming reports.

To streamline operations and achieve optimal efficiency, WFF partnered with PwC to overhaul its CRM technology and improve database systems. The transformation was completed in 11 weeks, thanks to a comprehensive realignment of the Salesforce technology that centralized important data around volunteers, program applicants and donors.

The partnership between PwC and WFF went beyond solving technical issues. The organization’s staff also received personalized training, including live sessions, empowering them with critical new database and technical skills to maximize their ability to achieve their growth objectives.

“We developed a more seamless application process with PwC’s help. We now elicit more relevant responses from applicants and have significantly reduced manual touchpoints between applicants and Westside Future Fund staff to obtain the right information,” said John Ahmann, president and CEO of WFF. “Our team now spends more time helping applicants and less time sifting through duplicate data.”

With PwC’s help, WFF is now well-equipped to continue serving the Westside and fulfilling their mission to transform the community into one that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be proud to call home.

Read the full PwC case study on WFF: https://www.pwc.com/us/en/library/case-studies/nonprofit-workforce-cloud-transformation-salesforce.html

Hundreds of community members gathered at Rodney Cook Sr. Peace Park in historic Vine City on April 1 for World Peace Revival’s unveiling of the “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The statue is named in honor of his final speech the night before his assassination. 

The historic moment celebrating the legacy of Dr. King came just days before the 55th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination on April 4, 1968. Attendees included local civic and business leaders as well as residents who joined to honor the life of the legendary civil rights luminary.

Within walking distance from Dr. King’s Sunset Avenue home, Rodney Cook Sr. Peace Park is home to lasting symbols of the Civil Rights Movement. Rodney Cook Jr., who led the initiative to construct the park named in honor of his father, former state legislator Rodney Mims Cook Sr., has raised more than $25 million to place at least 18 bronze statues in honor of civil rights leaders. The statue of Dr. King joins those of Congressman John Lewis and Ambassador Andrew Young.

An exceptional display of craftsmanship, the powerful bronze figure was designed by artist Kathy Fincher and co-sculpted alongside Stan Mullins. Both artists are known for their memorial works throughout metro Atlanta, including the Chief Tomochichi statue in Midtown and the Dream Keepers 9/11 Memorial in Gwinnett.

This statue of Dr. King uniquely captures his life as a preacher and exemplifies his upbringing and commitment to the Church. Draped in a preacher’s robe with a Bible nestled in his arm, his eyes gaze to the heavens. In an interview with Christianity Today, Fincher said she designed it so he would “be on a mountaintop, and he would be talking to God.”

World Peace Revival was launched as a global prayer movement centered around Dr. King’s commitment to peace. The organization looks to foster unity across all religions and borders, spreading the teachings and tenets of Dr. King’s movement for equity, equality and justice.

Learn more about World Peace Revival: https://worldpeacerevival.org/

Revitalizing our community is a team effort, one that relies heavily on the support of our many incredible volunteers. To thank them for their hard work and dedication, we shine a light on people who actively support our mission. 

This month, we’re spotlighting Bianca Eze, a volunteer for WFF Volunteer Corps since nearly the beginning. See what inspires her to give her time as a volunteer for Westside Future Fund.

Q: How did you first hear about the Westside Future Fund? 

A: I first heard about Westside Future Fund as a student at Georgia State University onMLK Day 2017. I don’t know how I initially volunteered, but I think it was with GSU Cares and the Eta Mu chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. At that time, I had never heard of WFF before but I thought it would be a cool way to get involved with the community and inspire others to be involved with the community, too. Since that day, I’ve been more interested in helping with the community in any way. I’ve volunteered with WFF through the community garden, and participated at a festival at M. Agnes Jones Elementary School and done other projects.

Q: What is your favorite part of serving with the WFF Volunteer Corp?

A: I think my favorite part is having the choice to do more than one project every day. For example, during the festival at M. Agnes Jones, I painted butterflies and animals on kids’ faces, helped with the set up and other projects, and many other projects to make the day special. The biggest reward is knowing that I helped make a day special and make the community a better place. Throughout my time at Georgia State, I’ve had many of my friends, classmates and freshman students volunteer with WFF and their numerous projects, and I have yet to hear anyone say they didn’t love the work.

Q: What inspires you about this service opportunity?

A: I always wanted to invest in helping people and be a part of making the community a better place for everyone. However, I didn’t know how to go about it. Since I began volunteering with WFF, I’ve been more invested in volunteering and participating in activities that are beneficial for the people of the community. Also, I’ve been very interested in being a mentor to the kids of today – being a part of WFF and other organizations has given me the chance to be there for children and be a role model for them. I briefly left the U.S. to move to Grenada for my medical school education, and when I came back, I wanted to take any opportunity I could to volunteer

In the coming weeks, Westside Future Fund’s (WFF) Home on the Westside program is set to complete two multi-family development projects in the historic English Avenue neighborhood. Located just a few blocks apart at 356 James P. Brawley Drive and 400 Paines Avenue, the two high-quality, affordable housing developments will provide 14 new residential units to local legacy residents.

The transformation of these two-story complexes from abandoned, blighted buildings to modern, multi-family developments is a testament to the power of community investment and support. The fresh coats of paint and sparkling new windows in place of what were once wooden boards are just the beginning of the upgrades made to these buildings. Inside, the units are equipped with new appliances and clean, sizable living spaces.

Upon completion, WFF will host ribbon cutting ceremonies alongside community members and philanthropic partners to celebrate the completion of these units.

Two additional multi-family developments are in the works with estimated completion dates later this year. They will add 19 more units, bringing the 2023 total to 33 high-quality, affordable multifamily housing units.

Early next month, the program will welcome Colette as its newest homeowner. Colette will be closing on her Westside home at 659 Foundry Street on May 5. The beautiful new home is a short two-block walk to Rodney Cook Sr. Park. 

Learn more about the Home on the Westside program: https://www.westsidefuturefund.org/homeonthewestside/