Wildlife and nature

Animal shelters and rescues

Theater and dance

Rivers, parks and trails

Hunger and food

Schools and learning

Housing and homelessness

Community health

Mental health

Mentoring and foster care

Legal help and rights

Jobs and money help

Atlanta

The Triangle

Everywhere

The Collective Workshop

Royal Animal Refuge

Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta

Georgia Advancing Communities Together

Atlanta Writers Club

Cobb Collaborative

Bosleys Place

Jewish Fertility Foundation

In our first four years, we worked in seven communities, West End, Forest Park, Bankhead, South DeKalb, Lakewood Heights, Norcross, and Tri-Cities. Before that, we piloted the concept in Pittsburgh.
Canopy Atlanta collaborates with residents to tell stories about their communities, neighborhood by neighborhood. We redefine who journalism is by and for.
Our work has been featured in Columbia Journalism Review , Nieman Lab , ProPublica , WABE , Saporta Report , and others.
Genia is an Atlanta native who enjoys reading and spending time with family and friends. She came to Canopy Atlanta as a former Community Editorial Board Member and Fellow from the Bankhead edition. She is presently on the community engagement team. Prior to Canopy Atlanta, Genia worked as an operations manager for an insurance company.
As a senior editor, Heather leads the Cost of Living Project and provides editorial direction for the Atlanta Documenters program and Canopy Atlanta’s continued reporting. She’s been in journalism for more than a decade, most recently as senior editor at Atlanta magazine, where she wrote and edited longform features and special packages. Before that, she was a managing editor for seven years, including at a daily newspaper in Alabama. A first-generation college graduate who grew up housing insecure, Heather is interested in policy, affordability, and cyclical inequality. She lives in southwest Atlanta with her cat, Oswald; her dog, Tater Tot; and her husband, Sahil.

Community Driven Reporting: Trust, Turnout and Elections in the Deep South

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A new life on an East Point farm

In lonely pursuit of the American Dream

Where are Clarkston’s third spaces?

“What will happen to us?”

26 March 2026 🌧️ Where does the water go?

What Cascade-area restaurants need, according to community members

From the roots: a tree’s perspective of equity

Taste makers

Community Notebook: Living on Lyft

The underground economics of Collier Heights

Community Notebook: A room full of green

26 November 2025 Voices: 👋🏾 Five voices, one challenge: Rethinking Atlanta’s stormwater problem

04 November 2025 Voices: 💃🏽 Rain dances and Election Day

01 November 2025 NewsMatch: 🫶🏾 Community Voices = Community Trust

30 October 2025 For the Record: 🌛 The city (council) that doesn’t sleep

28 October 2025 Voices: 💰 Tax Allocation Districts and golden tickets

18 December 2025 For the Record: ❤️‍🩹 “We don’t have to like each other”

17 December 2025 Voices: 🏆 The best stories of 2025

11 December 2025 For the Record: 🕊️ Ain’t no Jesus Christ

09 December 2025 Voices: 🍃 Creeks, Rain, and Racism

04 December 2025 For the Record: ⚠️ “Barbed wire jutting out at your face”

20 November 2025 For the Record: 🐶 “I want a watchdog”

19 November 2025 Voices: 💲 When your paycheck isn’t your passion

14 November 2025 For the Record: 💅🏽 Go get your nails done

11 November 2025 Voices: 🍴“Eating is a basic human right.”

07 November 2025 For the Record: 🪡 “It could change the fabric of the community”

23 October 2025 For the Record: 🚒 A firefight at City Hall

21 October 2025 Voices: 🎨 Who made the decision for that mural to go in our community?

16 October 2025 For the Record: 🚉 Transit, flooding, and food insecurity

09 October 2025 For the Record: 🚧 “Give these men and women their jobs back”

08 October 2025 Voices: 🌊 When the creeks rise

02 October 2025 For the Record: 🫆 “Stupid thefts”

01 October 2025 Voices: 🎨 Fresh paint, old wounds.

On Election Day, as a record-breaking 4.1 million Georgians voted in the midterms, Canopy Atlanta sent five Community Journalists to polling locations in low-turnout precincts across metro Atlanta.⁠ ⁠ What they heard: voters squeezed by the cost of living, frustrated by years of unmet promises, and showing up anyway.⁠ ⁠ Swipe through for some of what they said, and read the full story at the link in bio.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Naya Clark, Nzingha Hall, Nushrat Nur, Pristine Parr, and Dorothy Woods⁠ 📷 Nushrat Nur, Pristine Parr, and Dorothy Woods

The Grove Park Recreation Center has been a community anchor for generations. Now it’s also home to a free preschool learning program every Wednesday morning.⁠ ⁠ United Way of Greater Atlanta’s Learning Spaces program brings music, movement, storytelling, and hands-on activities for young children, alongside support for parents and caregivers to build early literacy skills at home. It’s free, and it’s open to families regardless of their ability to pay.⁠ ⁠ Community Journalist Genia Billingsley grew up in Grove Park and attended the ribbon-cutting. Read her full Community Notebook entry at the link in bio.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Genia Billingsley⁠ 📷 United Way of Greater Atlanta

Riverdale’s Ward 4 Councilmember Kenny Ruffin recently resigned after 23 years, leaving his seat vacant for the next several months.⁠ ⁠ A Canopy Atlanta Documenter was at the town hall where residents learned what this means for their community. Swipe through for what was said.⁠ ⁠ Full meeting notes at the link in bio.

What does it take to cover Atlanta the way residents actually live it?⁠ ⁠ For six years, Canopy Atlanta has listened first, then trained neighbors to report. That’s 48 Community Reporting Fellows and more than 200 Documenters at public meetings across five counties, all paid for their work.⁠ ⁠ This giving season, every dollar you give is matched thanks to NewsMatch and our local partner, the Listening Post Collective. Help us keep Atlanta covered.⁠ ⁠ Give through the link in bio.

A single street separates Collier Heights from Bowen Homes. On one side, children grew up watching Herman J. Russell and Christine King Farris drive through the neighborhood like ordinary neighbors. On the other, a second-grader once asked his teacher for money, not for candy, but to buy noodles for himself and his little sister while his mother had been gone for days.⁠ ⁠ Community Journalist Genia Billingsley traces how two neighborhoods separated by only a few blocks ended up with two very different futures, and why that was never an accident.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Genia Billingsley⁠ 🎨 Khoa Tran⁠ ⁠ Read it at the link in bio.

Since 2024, southwest Atlanta residents have been fighting a proposal to convert a building in West End into a $500 million data center. Atlanta City Council voted unanimously to stop it. The mayor wrote a letter opposing it. The Zoning Review Board denied it. It keeps coming back. West End Fellow Naya Clark has been tracking the proposal and checking in with community members as the civic process dragged on. This is her timeline of how it has moved through the legislative process, and how the community’s response has evolved along the way. ✍️ Naya Clark 🎨 Khoa Tran Read the full timeline at the link in bio.

On September 30, MARTA and the city of Riverdale held a town hall about the Southlake Bus Rapid Transit corridor, which would bring five stations to Riverdale and is expected to launch in 2032.⁠ ⁠ A Canopy Atlanta Documenter was in the room, recording the questions residents asked and the answers project leaders gave.⁠ ⁠ Swipe through for the highlights, and read the full meeting notes at the link in bio.

Lakewood Elementary has been shuttered since 2004. Atlanta Public Schools once planned to demolish it. Residents pushed back.⁠ ⁠ In 2023, Canopy Atlanta asked Lakewood Heights community members what they wanted done with the building instead. They asked for housing, local businesses, and a grocery store.⁠ ⁠ This week, Ali-Graceline Development announced plans to convert the building into over 42,000 square feet of residential space, with commercial use on the ground floor and grocery store as the intended anchor tenant.⁠ ⁠ The community said what it wanted. It’s worth reading what they said.⁠ ⁠ Read the full community listening findings at the link in bio.

Clarkston holds the world in one square mile. Now there’s a map to prove it.⁠ ⁠ Canopy Atlanta Fellow Aaron Lichkay came to this project already doing the work: He founded For-Impact ATL, a media nonprofit that has mapped over 80 community spaces, organizations, and resources in Clarkston. We built on that foundation and asked illustrator Sean Fahie to bring it to life.⁠ ⁠ The result is a working blueprint of one of the Southeast’s most remarkable communities, made by and for the people who live there.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Aaron Lichkay and Ann Hill Bond⁠ 🎨 Sean Fahie⁠ ⁠ See the full map at the link in bio. And for Aaron’s complete 80-asset map, visit for-impactatl.org.

Two of our own are reenvisioning what civic life in Atlanta can look like.⁠ ⁠ The Spark is a free newsletter from the Department of Public Reimagination, a public art project by Hannah Palmer, Mallory Rukhsana Nezam, and Sarah Lawrence. The first issue features essays, poetry, comics, and a crossword from artists and organizers across Atlanta, including Canopy’s Genia Billingsley and Joey Goodall.⁠ ⁠ The first newsstand launched at the Center for Civic Innovation. Four more boxes were delivered last night to CreateATL, Lost in the Letters, EAV Farmers Market, and Larakin in Midtown. ⁠ Get your free copy today—check the link in bio for locations.

Hurricane Isaias is expected to impact the Atlanta area this weekend. The When the Creeks Rise project has put together a resource guide for Atlanta-area residents dealing with flooding: emergency contacts, legal help, flood maps, and ways to report infrastructure problems. Swipe through for the essentials, and find the full list at the link in bio. Stay safe out there.

Hartsfield-Jackson just spilled over 30,000 gallons of sewage into a tributary of the Flint River. Water samples afterward showed E. coli levels too numerous to count, and at least 200 dead fish. Tri-Cities residents are not surprised. They've been fighting this fight for a long time. In 2024, Canopy Atlanta contributor Hannah Palmer reported on what it looks like to live next to “the most important river Atlanta has never heard of,” and what it takes to keep fighting for clean air and water when the systems around you keep failing. "The fact that we are even having this conversation about environmental justice is a reminder for me that we're not free. We still have to fight to breathe clean air." ✍️ Hannah Palmer 📷 Dean Hesse and Hannah Palmer Read it at the link in bio.

The Atlanta Regional Commission just released Housing Forward 2035, a plan to address metro Atlanta's housing crisis. One of its key findings: If current trends hold, most new housing through 2035 will be built far from job centers and transit, in outer counties like Forsyth, Cherokee, and Henry.⁠ ⁠ The alternative: Invest in communities that are already asking for housing. Canopy Atlanta has been listening to those communities for years. Swipe through to see what they've been saying, and read our housing coverage at the link in bio.

Canopy Atlanta was proud to sponsor Refuge Coffee Co.’s Refuge Run on September 19. The event included a 5K, a 1K, and a color run. ☕🏃🏾‍♀️ Refuge Coffee Co. helped lay the groundwork for our Clarkston reporting. Before a single story was published, we spent more than eight weeks listening to residents talk about immigration, community development, and the cost of living. In 2025, Refuge co-hosted our Clarkston Community Social, where we shared what we heard and invited neighbors to help shape the coverage as editorial board members and fellows. Thank you to Refuge Coffee Co. and everyone who came out to run, walk, and cheer. 💛

120 years ago this week, a white mob killed dozens of Black Atlantans in what became known as the Atlanta Race Massacre. Two months before it began, Floyd Carmichael, a 22-year-old who had just moved to Lakewood Heights, was lynched off South Pryor Street. There was no trial. In 2019, Canopy Atlanta Community Journalist and Fulton County Remembrance Coalition community chair Ann Hill Bond returned to that ground to give Floyd Carmichael something he was never granted: a good death. ✍️ Ann Hill Bond 🎨 Ashley Dopson Read it at the link in bio.

"The world is here." That's what Clarkston residents kept telling us. But their families aren't. We heard this over and over during community listening—and it became the foundation for one of our most personal Clarkston stories yet. Clarkston Fellow Meena Khodayar writes about what it costs to build a life here while leaving everyone you love behind. Link in bio. ✍️ Meena Khodayar

Refuge Coffee Co. is where everyone goes. But what about the rest of Clarkston?⁠ ⁠ Residents told us they wanted more spaces where all of the community—Congolese, Haitian, Vietnamese, and beyond—truly felt welcome. Clarkston Fellow Lúcia Stanislas went looking for those spaces. What she found says a lot about the difference between connection and belonging.⁠ ⁠ Link in bio.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Lúcia Stanislas

"Are they gonna come get me?"⁠ ⁠ That's what kids in Clarkston are asking. Before we reported a single story on the community, we listened. Residents told us that fear of deportation was everywhere—and that the mental health toll was going unaddressed.⁠ ⁠ That listening shaped our reporting. Read what Gray Chapman and Clarkston Fellow Nushrat Nur found. Link in bio.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Gray Chapman & Nushrat Nur

Before this reporting began, Clarkston community members applied to help guide it. They shaped the story angles, brought their networks, and made sure this coverage reflects what the community actually needs. Swipe to meet the people behind Canopy's Clarkston reporting. Read the stories so far: link in bio.

Canopy Atlanta has been visiting Riverdale, and Community Journalist Dorothy Woods has been listening.⁠ ⁠ Swipe through to read her Community Notebook entry, and if you live in or have connections in Riverdale, fill out our listening form at the link in bio. Your feedback will shape our Riverdale reporting.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Dorothy Woods

Fulton County is proposing to buy the Atlanta City Detention Center to ease overcrowding at Rice Street. Back in 2022, Canopy Atlanta reported on this same building, and the community groups who had a very different plan for it: a resource center designed to help people avoid incarceration in the first place. That vision didn't go away. The question is whether it still has a chance. ✍️ Emanuella Grinberg and Nile Kendall 📷 Rita Harper Read it at the link in bio.

This Friday, Canopy Atlanta's Genia Billingsley will be on a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention. Genia, our Community Engagement Coordinator, will join URL Media partners to discuss how to cover elections through a cultural lens, center community voices, and report on polarized issues from the ground up. If you're at #NABJ, come find her!

Aaron Lichkay has spent twelve years building systems that connect people to purpose, from refugee resettlement to after-school education and disability advocacy. He's also the founder of For-Impact ATL, a platform that amplifies grassroots social impact work across the city.⁠ ⁠ For the Clarkston issue, he turns that lens on the city’s infrastructure through the eyes of the people living it: the pride, the frustration, and the anxiety that residents carry all at once. Stay tuned!

Six years ago, Patty Lacrete was working in tech, stressed and isolated. Then she planted a seed.⁠ ⁠ Today, Bed Head Plant Nursery and Herb Farm (@bedheadplants) produces over 10,000 plants a year on a quarter acre in East Point. It's one of the only Black woman-owned medicinal herb farms in southwest Atlanta, and it started in her mother's backyard.⁠ ⁠ "It's a group project, keeping the city fed. We do not gatekeep in this community."⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Jack Rose⁠ 📷 Claudia Maturell⁠ ⁠ Read it at the link in bio.

"I carry both grief and gratitude."⁠ ⁠ Meena Khodayar came to America twelve years ago from Afghanistan, in pursuit of education and freedom. What she didn't anticipate was the weight of what she'd leave behind.⁠ ⁠ Her first story for Canopy Atlanta is about what it costs to build a life when the people you love most are still living in a world you couldn't stay in.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Meena Khodayar⁠ 🎨 Gabrie Irving⁠ ⁠ Read it at the link in bio.

If you’ve ever wondered what’s actually in East Point’s waterways, this workshop series was made for you. The East Point Water Warriors Workshop Series kicks off August 1 at the East Point Library. Three sessions cover the history of local streams, hands-on water sampling, and how to turn scientific findings into community advocacy. Lunch is provided, and it’s free to attend. 1️⃣ Part 1: Saturday, August 1, 11AM – 1:30PM 2️⃣ Part 2: Saturday, August 29, 11AM – 1:30PM 3️⃣ Part 3: Saturday, September 26, 11AM – 1:30PM 📍 East Point Library, 2757 Main Street Register at the link in bio.

Lúcia Stanislas has spent over twenty years working at the intersection of business, social impact, and community development. Originally from Angola, she's a social innovation strategist and entrepreneur who founded multiple organizations focused on helping mission-driven communities measure and share their impact. When she turned that lens on Clarkston, she started asking a question the city hasn't fully answered yet: where do people actually go to belong?⁠ ⁠ Read her story, “Where are Clarkston’s third spaces?” at the link in bio.

If Clarkston is the most diverse square mile in the country, why is it so hard to find a space where everyone feels like they belong?⁠ ⁠ Clarkston Fellow Lucia Stanislas went looking for third spaces in her own community. What she found says a lot about the difference between connection and belonging.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Lucia Stanislas⁠ 🎨 Gabrie Irving⁠ ⁠ Read it at the link in bio.

Before we report, we listen. Canopy Atlanta spoke with more than 180 Clarkston community members to understand what issues matter most to the people who live there. Their answers shaped the stories that we'll be publishing in the coming weeks. Swipe through to see what they told us.

Nushrat Nur grew up in Florida in a Bangladeshi family, moved to Atlanta for grad school, and found her way to Clarkston almost immediately. With a background in journalism and public health, she's spent her career focused on the stories of immigrant and refugee communities. Her first story for Canopy Atlanta asked the question Clarkston residents can't stop asking right now.⁠ ⁠ Read "What will happen to us?" at the link in bio.

"What will happen to us?" That's the question Muzhda Oriakhil keeps hearing from the women in her moms circle, from her neighbors, even from people she passes on the sidewalk. Legally resettled refugees, asylum seekers, green card holders—people who did everything right. As ICE activity has escalated nationwide, clinicians and community leaders in Clarkston say that anxiety is surging in a community already carrying the weight of trauma, and on top of that, navigating a mental health system that was never built to hold them. Clarkston Fellow Nushrat Nur and Gray Chapman report on what that looks like on the ground. ✍️ Gray Chapman and Nushrat Nur 📷 Nushrat Nur Read it at the link in bio.

The Clarkston Issue is coming! But first, meet the artist behind the cover. Trudy Tran (@trudytranart) created the cover art for Canopy Atlanta's upcoming Clarkston Issue. In her own words: "This piece was created on a digital tablet and features an Ethiopian lady, an elder Bhutan lady, Latino dancers, a Black Southern family, youth soccer players, and kids playing together from different backgrounds. Food such as Merhaba Shawarma and momos are also highlighted. The railroad track is the foundation of the composition as a Clarkston landmark and a metaphor for transporting people away from home, and now runs through the place where they've rebuilt their home." Our first Clarkston story drops tomorrow. Be on the lookout!

For decades, residents around Cascade Road have understood what food can do for a community. What that looks like in 2026 is changing fast.⁠ ⁠ Community Journalism Fellow Faith Mbadugha talked to four people who've watched the corridor shift: a legacy resident still trying to spread the word about new restaurants, the general manager of a 46-year-old church-owned restaurant, a Black woman who opened a poke spot in a food desert, and a developer fighting the city for a sidewalk that's been promised since 2017.⁠ ⁠ This is the first story in Neighborhood Eats, a new series.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Faith Mbadugha⁠ 🎨 Khoa Tran⁠ ⁠ Read it at the link in bio.

Canopy Atlanta is coming to Clarkston!⁠ ⁠ Meena grew up in Afghanistan, and for the past seven years she's been doing the work: supporting refugee and immigrant families, teaching ESL, and telling stories through writing and photography. She found her way to Clarkston and saw exactly what it is: a place where people from everywhere build something together.⁠ ⁠ Her stories are coming soon.

Last week, you doubled every gift to our Documenters on Duty program through NewsMatch. Thank you for that. This month we're celebrating six years of Canopy Atlanta and ten communities where neighbors have trained as journalists, documented public meetings, and told their own stories. We're over $1,500 raised, and our Neighbors Make the Difference campaign runs through June 30. There's still time to be part of it. Donate at the link in bio.

Today’s the last day every gift to Documenters on Duty gets matched dollar-for-dollar by NewsMatch—your $25 becomes $50, your $50 becomes $100. Atlanta Documenters are your neighbors who sit through zoning hearings, transit meetings, and public safety briefings across Metro Atlanta every week—taking fact-checked notes so local government decisions don’t happen in the dark. This is part of our Neighbors Make the Difference campaign, celebrating six years of community journalism across ten Atlanta neighborhoods. While the match ends tonight, the work doesn’t. Link in bio to give before midnight.

Atlanta calls itself “a city in a forest.” But living under that canopy isn’t the same for everyone. In southwest Atlanta, tree-related power outages hit harder and more often. Preventing one can cost upwards of $2,000, more than a month’s pay for many West End households. In Buckhead, that same cost is about a week’s pay. West End Fellow Naya Clark started asking why, and made a short film about what she found. ✍️ Naya Clark 🎬 Lev Omelchenko Watch at the link in bio.

NeighborFest ATL was everything. Thank you to everyone who came out Saturday to celebrate six years of community journalism with us. You showed up, and it meant the world to us. A huge congratulations to Dorothy Woods, whose story on Grove Park’s tax allocation districts won Story of the Year. Her work is exactly why this all matters. One more thing before we close out the weekend: you have until Friday, June 19th to double your impact. All donations made this week will be matched by NewsMatch for our Documenters on Duty program, as part of our larger Neighbors Make the Difference campaign. Six years in. Ten communities. The neighbors make the difference. Donate at the link in bio. 📷 Krystle Chanel

Tomorrow at NeighborFest ATL, we're honoring the best stories from our past year. Three nominations. Three stories that asked hard questions and didn't look away. A granddaughter remembering the women who made Collier Heights more than a neighborhood. A community journalist asking why Lakewood Heights has to measure itself against Grant Park. A Grove Park resident watching city money stop before it reaches her block. This is six years of community journalism across ten neighborhoods. Come celebrate it with us tomorrow at @createatl! RSVP at the link in bio.

NeighborFest ATL is THIS Saturday, June 13 at @createatl! We'll have community conversation, a keynote, and a special recognition of our journalism fellows. Six years in, we're still here because our neighbors showed up. This month, we're raising $10,000 to keep that going. Donations made the week of June 13 to 19 will be matched through NewsMatch for our Documenters on Duty program. That's double the impact you'll have on journalism by community, for community. Come through, give what you can, and tell a neighbor. RSVP at the link in bio.

Stone Mountain Community Garden is turning 15, and they're celebrating with brunch. Join them this Saturday, June 6 at 10AM at VFW Park in Stone Mountain. Come out, eat good food, and show some love for a garden that has been part of this community since 2009. RSVP at the link in bio. 📷 Claudia Maturell

Atlanta neighborhood leaders, this one's for you. Neighbors Together is a free, half-day leadership training for current and emerging community leaders from across metro Atlanta. This year's theme, Thriving Together, focuses on connecting the people, partnerships, and resources already in your community.⁠ ⁠ Saturday, June 6 | 10a–2p⁠ St. Luke's Episcopal Church⁠ 435 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta 30308⁠ ⁠ Free to attend. Breakfast, lunch, and door prizes included. Register at the link in bio.

Six years of community journalism. One afternoon to celebrate it together. NeighborFest ATL is Canopy Atlanta’s anniversary gathering—and this year, we’re going bigger. Join us June 13 at CreateATL for an afternoon of conversation, community, and storytelling. 📅 Saturday, June 13 | 12–3pm 📍 CreateATL RSVP at bit.ly/neighborfestatl or the link in our bio.

Riverdale doesn’t have a coffee shop on every corner—but it has something just as important. Canopy Atlanta’s Genia Billingsley visited both branches of the Clayton County Public Library System in Riverdale, and what she found was a true third space. Librarians who know patrons by name. Kids gearing up for summer reading. Community members coming from across Clayton County just to be there. Some of the strongest community engagement in Riverdale is happening right inside these libraries. Want to share what community means to you in Riverdale? Fill out our listening form. 🔗 bit.ly/riverdale-listening or link in bio. #riverdalega #cityofriverdale #riverdalegeorgia #clayco

Georgia candidates spent more than $100 million on TV ads ahead of Tuesday's primary. With several races heading to a runoff, the ads aren't done yet.⁠ ⁠ Before the next wave hits, it's worth understanding what political advertisers are actually trying to accomplish, and whether any of it works. Canopy Atlanta Fellow Jack Rose dug into the frustration voters feel about political ads, and what the research says about why campaigns keep running them anyway.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Jack Rose⁠ 🎨 Khoa Tran⁠ ⁠ Read it at the link in bio.

Less than 9 percent of Georgians eat the recommended amount of vegetables. In majority Black neighborhoods across Atlanta, your chances of finding fresh produce at a small grocery store are just 36 percent.⁠ ⁠ Stone Mountain Community Garden has been working against those odds since 2009. Not just by growing food, but by changing the way people think about it.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Jack Rose⁠ 📷 Claudia Maturell⁠ ⁠ Read it at the link in bio.

For three years, before @gradyhealth opened a freestanding emergency room in Union City this week, Tri-Cities residents have had to travel miles for emergency care. In 2024, Canopy Atlanta reported on what that gap really looked like: women miscarrying without an ambulance in sight, seniors without transportation to reach distant hospitals, and an entire ecosystem of specialists and primary care doctors that collapsed when Wellstar shut the doors on Atlanta Medical Center South. This moment matters. So does the story behind it. ✍️ Gray Chapman 📷 Dustin Chambers Read it at the link in bio.

In the 1880s, the city of Atlanta dug up Black graves at Oakland Cemetery to make room for white burials. That decision helped spark the founding of @southview_cemetery. Recently, South-View was added to the Georgia Register of Historic Places. Winifred Watts Hemphill, whose great-grandfather helped establish the cemetery, explains what made it necessary. More voices from South-View coming soon. ✍️ Ann Hill Bond and Nikki Roberts Read the full story at the link in bio.

The New York Times just named OutKast among the 30 greatest living songwriters. But before the Grammys, before the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there was Headland and Delowe. East Point. Tri-Cities. Last year, Canopy Atlanta sat with community members who didn't just listen to the Dungeon Family. They grew up alongside them, went to the same school as them, and credit them for instilling a pride in this place that never left. ✍️ Immanuel Laidlaw 📷 Rita Harper Read it at the link in bio.

The Conservation Fund just preserved 1,000 acres of greenspace in metro Atlanta. The goal: every resident within a 10-minute walk of a park.⁠ ⁠ It's a real milestone. It's also a good moment to ask who has historically had access to green, clean, safe outdoor spaces in this city, and who hasn't.⁠ ⁠ In 2023, South DeKalb Fellow Amiri Banks walked these trails and wrote honestly about what makes them vital, and what continued neglect puts at risk.⁠ ⁠ The greenspace is there. The question is whether the investment matches it.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Amiri Banks⁠ 📸 Mark Anthony Brown, Jr.⁠ ⁠ Read it at the link in bio.

Ms. Hadley is growing something special in Riverdale, and she needs your help. On Earth Day, we visited her community garden at the Riverdale Recreation Center. She's looking for volunteers to adopt a bed and help with upkeep. When the growing season kicks in, the harvest is free for everyone who helps tend it. Interested? Email Ms. Hadley at jeryl.hadley@claytoncountyga.gov or drop by the Riverdale Recreation Center at 1475 E Fayetteville Road. #RiverdaleGA #RiverdaleGeorgia #CityOfRiverdale #SouthsideATL #ClayCo

She didn’t just sign up to drive. She signed up to survive. After losing two jobs back to back, TiBerni Hall turned her car into income. But somewhere between pickups and drop-offs across Atlanta, something else happened: she started reclaiming herself. This week’s Community Notebook follows her rides through Bankhead, Buckhead, and beyond, and the unexpected connections she made along the way. ✍️ TiBerni Hall Read it at the link in bio.

Riverdale has a lot going on, and the people who live there know it best.⁠ ⁠ We're collecting stories and perspectives from residents about what makes this community worth paying attention to. The good, the challenging, and everything in between. If you haven't shared your take yet, we want to hear it.⁠ ⁠ Fill out our community listening form. 🔗 Link in bio.⁠ ⁠ #RiverdaleGA #RiverdaleGeorgia #CityOfRiverdale #SouthsideATL #ClayCo

Atlanta has been flooding for nearly 200 years. ⁠ In this story from the When the Creeks Rise project, historical newspaper archives reveal how cloudburst after cloudburst has overwhelmed the city's infrastructure, and how some neighborhoods have always faced the worst of it.⁠ ⁠ The patterns are older than most people think.⁠ ⁠ ✍️ Victoria Lemos⁠ ⁠ Read the full story through the link in our bio.⁠

Riverdale has a story. Actually, it has thousands.⁠ ⁠ Canopy Atlanta is collecting perspectives from residents about what matters most in this community. If you haven't shared yours yet, now's your chance! ⁠ ⁠ 🔗 Visit bit.ly/riverdalelistening or the link in bio.⁠ ⁠ #RiverdaleGA #RiverdaleGeorgia #CityOfRiverdale #SouthsideATL #ClayCo

When people in Riverdale have something to say, they say it. These are just a few of the voices we've heard. We're still collecting stories from residents—about local government, daily challenges, and what's been overlooked for too long. Haven't filled out our community listening form yet? Now's the time. 🔗 Link in bio.

Riverdale has been here since 1908. A lot has changed—and a lot is still being written. ⁠ ⁠ We want to hear from residents about what matters most in this community: what's working, what's not, and what stories deserve more attention. If you live, work, or have roots in Riverdale—fill out our community listening form. ⁠ ⁠ 🔗 Link in bio.

When heavy rain hits Atlanta, some neighborhoods flood again and again. But the story of flooding here goes deeper than the weather. When the Creeks Rise is a community journalism project exploring how history, development, and public policy shape flooding across the city. Through reporting, photos, maps, and community voices, the project documents what residents experience—and how communities are responding. Have a story about flooding in your neighborhood? We want to hear from you. Learn more and share your experience through the link in our bio. 🌊 whenthecreeksrise.org

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