Westside residents, community members, and business leaders attended the February 16 Transform Westside Summit to hear from Venessa Harrison, AT&T’s Coastal States President, and the pivotal role of corporate partnerships, particularly with AT&T, in driving neighborhood restoration efforts.  

Dr. Kimberley Hundley, Behavioral Health Specialist, House of Cherith and Home on the Westside homeowner led the devotion.  John Ahmann, Westside Future Fund President and CEO, moderated the discussion.

Key Moments from the Conversation

A video showcased AT&T’s initiative to distribute 500 laptops to Westside students, bridging the digital divide and providing vital resources for education and connectivity. The emotional impact on families and students was evident, with expressions of gratitude and excitement at the opportunity for enhanced learning and independence. A panel discussion featuring Venessa Harrison, Robert Williams, M. Agnes Jones Elementary School Principal, and Larrie King, a parent of a student who received a laptop, provided further insights. 

Harrison has worked at AT&T for more than 40 years and currently leads the company’s strategy, policy, and corporate affairs activities, as well as guides governmental and community policy decisions in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. During the discussion, she emphasized the company’s commitment to closing the digital divide through continued collaboration and investment in infrastructure and educational initiatives. 

“I grew up in low-income housing projects. And this community [the historic Westside] reminds me of my community. So I felt like I was giving back using AT&T’s resources to be able to make an impact in the community,” said Harrison. “I believe that affordable housing and internet access are two of the most critical things that you need. You can’t close the digital divide if you don’t have a home for our people to live in.” 

Principal Williams highlighted the transformative impact of technology on student learning, emphasizing the importance of partnerships with industry experts to enhance educational experiences.

“It’s been overwhelmingly positive from our students, as well as our families when we look at the opportunity to be able to access a variety of different apps and create their own timeline at their own pace,” said Williams. “The students can extend their learning at home, and they’re really able to explore all their different interests and know that there are really limitless opportunities out there that are now available to our families.”

Larrie King shared her family’s experience with receiving a tablet, emphasizing its positive impact on her daughter’s self-esteem and academic independence. 

“When she came home and let us know she won a laptop, you just saw the excitement in her eyes, and it built her self-esteem up,” said King. “It gave her that independence at home, where before she and her brother were working on two different assignments with access to only one device. She’s now able to access apps she uses at school at home so she can work independently on her own time.” 

Collaboration emerged as a central theme, with panelists expressing appreciation for Dan Cathy’s advocacy and emphasizing the importance of ongoing community engagement and networking. The Summit concluded with a call for continued collaboration and gratitude for the transformative efforts underway in the Westside community.

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

Westside Future Fund (WFF) was honored to host former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary and Mayor of San Antonio Henry Cisneros, and a delegation from San Antonio, including ESTAR West, at WFF’s headquarters earlier this year. The delegation included 35 leaders from the Westside of San Antonio, across industries including education, neighborhood groups, city government, economic development, and housing development.

The group came to Atlanta to hear from City of Atlanta officials, transit experts and leaders on affordable housing about best practices for neighborhood revitalization. Cisneros is the chairman of ESTAR, a neighborhood effort in San Antonio described as “the poorest Census tract of the city”. The effort intends to lead with economic development and entrepreneurship initiatives to help spur revitalization within the community.

“I’ve been looking for the best places where we could model ourselves,” said Cisneros. “I read a McKinsey interview [highlighting the work of Westside Future Fund] and it was so powerful in describing precisely the things that we were interested in that I said the best thing we could do is go to Atlanta and see for ourselves.”

The multi-day visit included discussions and a tour of WFF’s service footprint within the historic Westside including English Avenue, Vine City, Ashview Heights, Atlanta University Center and Just Us. WFF leadership had the opportunity to share the organization’s model for equitable neighborhood revitalization and its signature program Home on the Westside focused on retention of residents with key ties to the community (live, work, and learn), and restoring the historic Westside to a mixed-income neighborhood where all residents have the opportunity to prosper.

Cisneros praised WFF for its “innovative” approach of intentional neighborhood planning with input from the community (the Westside Land Use Framework Plan), land acquisition near key neighborhood assets such as green space and engaging private-public partners.

“As HUD Secretary I visited every one of the 50 states and 200 different cities, looking for places that are doing the best job at the neighborhood, block, and site level of revitalizing a neighborhood,” said Cisneros. “What I’ve found is that the Westside Future Fund is doing it better than anybody else.”

WFF is currently in the midst of its Our Next Chapter capital campaign aiming to raise $55 million in philanthropic dollars to help unlock another $45 million in low-cost financing from its Impact Fund and leverage $10 million in public grants to complete its quality affordable housing goals established in 2017. In this next chapter, WFF plans to:

• Develop 285 multifamily units, of which 185 will serve families at 60% Area Median Income (AMI) and less.
• Build 225 single-family homes with accompanying income-qualified down-payment assistance, and
• Continue supporting the Anti-Displacement Tax Fund to help legacy resident homeowners stay in the community

Learn more about Westside Future Fund’s signature affordable housing program Home on the Westside. Click here to partner with WFF for Our Next Chapter.

For T. Dallas Smith, accepting the role as chairman of the Board of Directors for Westside Future Fund (WFF) was a full-circle moment. Smith grew up in Hunter Hills, off Simpson Road on Child’s Drive. Today, it’s known as Joseph E. Boone. His mother was an entrepreneur, running a daycare in his childhood home. His father, a former paratrooper in the Air Force’s 82nd Airborne division, worked at Lockheed Martin and drove a taxi for Simpson Road Cab Company.

“I was born and raised in the historic Westside, and, for me, it was paradise. I lived in that five-block radius for 14 years and everything I wanted was there,” said Smith. “We had grocery stores, movie theaters, and bowling alleys. For me the conversation isn’t about gentrification, but instead restoration.”

Smith attended EC Clement Elementary and Turner High School before moving to College Park. His family’s move to College Park was his parents searching for “better opportunity,” said Smith. The departure from his childhood home, however, left him with a void – longing for community, or a “gumbo of people” from his neighborhood on Atlanta’s Westside. After his family arrived in their new College Park neighborhood, Smith remembers their white neighbors putting up for sale signs – a personal experience of the “white flight” that was pervasive in Atlanta during the early 1970s.

This early experience of racial prejudice would inform so many moments of Smith’s personal and professional journey and fuel his motivation to become successful. He shares the story of working in a clothing store when he observed a well-dressed woman buying several expensive garments for her husband. He asked about her occupation and was excited when she shared that she worked in real estate, an industry Smith was also interested in pursuing as a career. When he shared his interest with the well-dressed, white woman she replied “You will never make it. You are too you and you’re Black.”

“I always had a mindset that I would be successful and never let what others said deter me. My parents told me I could, and everyone around me, so I believed it,” said Smith. “My whole job here [at T. Dallas Smith and Co.] is to empower my team the same way.”

Smith is now the Founder and CEO of T. Dallas Smith & Company, the largest African American-owned pure tenant rep commercial real estate firm in the U.S. Smith said that mentors like Thomas W. Tift and Herman J. Russell inspired his work, and continue to be a blueprint for the future, especially in giving opportunities to the next generation.

He chronicles his professional journey and personal triumphs in his book In the Black: Changing the Dominant Narrative in the Commercial Real Estate Industry published by Forbes Books.

It is all of these experiences, along with his passion for his childhood community, that led Smith to the work of WFF. Several years ago, Smith was at a networking event and ran into John Ahmann, WFF’s President & CEO. Both men shared they were looking for new homes, and Smith was struck when Ahmann, a white man living in Decatur, expressed interest in moving to Vine City on Sunset Avenue – just down the street from Dr. King’s home. Smith says his conversation with Ahmann, and others at the time, led him to decide it was time to return home to his childhood community. He has since purchased T.M. Alexander’s home on Sunset and is currently renovating the property. During the process of rehabbing the property, Smith met a neighbor who told him the previous owner had promised her a blue sofa that was left behind. Smith was happy to oblige the request and moved it into the woman’s home. After, she thanked him and said, “I’m going to fix you a plate”. It was a phrase Smith hadn’t heard since he left the historic Westside as a teenager. The exchange brought tears to his eyes.

“It made my day. I looked at that woman, straight in her eyes, and I told her ‘You’re the reason I’m moving back to this neighborhood. That spirit,” said Smith. “I want to restore the neighborhood to that place.”

WFF is working to help more people with “live, work, learn” connections be part of this restored Westside. The organization is currently in the midst of its $55 million Our Next Chapter capital campaign to complete its affordable housing targets established in 2017. The philanthropic support will enable WFF to build 285 multifamily units, 225 single family homes, and continue to support legacy residents in its Anti-Displacement Tax Fund.  This capital raise twill help the organization unlock key funding from its Impact Fund in combination with public grants to supercharge its efforts to complete high-quality affordable housing in its service footprint. Smith said philanthropic partners are critical for the work of WFF to thrive.

“I think it’s so important for the people and companies writing the checks to be part of something transformational, not just for the city of Atlanta, but for the state of Georgia and the United States of America,” said Smith. “It’s an opportunity to create a model for everyone. This will impact futures that we can’t even imagine.”

Learn more about Westside Future Fund’s signature affordable housing program Home on the Westside. Click here to partner with WFF for Our Next Chapter.

Community members and business leaders gathered at the January 19 Transform Westside Summit to hear from Quest Community Development Corporation’s President and CEO Leonard L. Adams Jr. Leonard shared insights into Quest’s impactful journey and its commitment to serving vulnerable populations.

The morning opened with connection and community building, where attendees shared resources for the group’s collective efforts to improve the Westside. Melanie Faison, Chief Operating Officer at Quest Communities, led the devotion.  John Ahmann, Westside Future Fund President and CEO, moderated the discussion.

Acknowledging the Founders and Leadership
John Ahmann expressed gratitude for Leonard’s significant role in the Westside community. He highlighted his leadership and generosity in fostering a partnership between Westside Future Fund and Quest.

“What I appreciate about Leonard as an entrepreneur is starting Quest to serve those suffering from addiction. Out of addiction, they really need to have stabilized housing.”

John also highlighted Quest’s pivotal role as a supportive housing nonprofit developer. Their dedication to the cause, even during challenging times, has positioned Quest as a leading organization in the city.

New Developments and Initiatives
Leonard presented Quest’s strategic initiative, the Westside Trifecta, involving a $110 million investment over the next three years. This initiative aims to develop 300 units in various housing models, catering to different income levels. Notable projects include Quest Residences at Grove Park, Heritage Village at Westlake, and Simpson West in historic Vine City.

• Quest Residences at Grove Park: A 40-unit development for individuals ages 55 and older with incomes at 30% AMI or lower, costing $14 million.
• Heritage Village at Westlake: A preservation project transforming the historic building into 102 units of permanent supportive housing, costing $42 million.
• Simpson West: A new construction project at 810 Joseph E, Boone, providing 139 units for families, using an income-averaged approach, costing $53 million.
• Quest Legacy: A 12-unit home ownership program in Vine City, costing $2.8 million, aimed at legacy residents.

Capital Campaign for Program Services
Acknowledging the funding challenges, Leonard introduced Quest’s capital campaign focused on program services. He emphasized the need for support in scaling up services, as the demand for housing and support services increases with the addition of 300 units.

“All of that $110 million is for the sticks and bricks. It’s not for any of the care that goes on inside of these units. We need money for services, for programming, for scaling or working capital to scale up.” 

Facing the Challenge Together
In a candid conversation, John and Leonard discussed the frustrations and high demand for affordable housing and supportive services. Leonard shared his motivation, citing faith, team dedication and the impact on vulnerable populations. Both leaders emphasized collaboration, acknowledging that despite competing for funds, they share the same goal of making a positive impact on the community.

Quest Podcast Launch – Westside Wednesdays
Leonard concluded by announcing the launch of Quest’s podcast, “Westside Wednesdays,” co-hosted by Ebony Ford. The podcast aims to provide a platform for sharing insights into Quest’s work and the challenges faced in serving vulnerable populations.

The summit concluded with a call to action, urging the community, philanthropists and partners to invest in Quest’s mission to provide not just housing but comprehensive support services for those in need.

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

Westside Future Fund had the honor of welcoming over 1,400 volunteers to over 10 sites throughout the historic Westside for our annual MLK Day of Service on January 15. Together, we worked to make a transformative impact on the community in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and many other Civil Rights leaders lived, learned, and worked.

The event united people of all ages and backgrounds in our collective effort to transform our community into one that Dr. King would be proud to call home. Volunteers had the opportunity to engage in a wide range of activities ranging from creating arts and crafts, tending to local gardens, cleaning up local schools, and more.

The impact of the event was further magnified by the generous support of our presenting sponsor, The Home Depot Foundation, whose contribution provided essential additional resources to amplify our work in the community. 

“Everybody can be great because everybody can serve…
You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. King has a rich history and legacy within our community, the place he called home for much of his life. He attended Booker T. Washington High School in Ashview Heights and later graduated from Morehouse College. In 1965, he and his wife Corretta purchased 234 Sunset Avenue in historic Vine City where his family lived for years after his assassination in 1968. It would later become the home of the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change and is currently protected by the National Park Service.

Historians have said that Dr. King was moved to the King family home on Sunset Avenue to “prove a point.” A Nobel Peace Prize winner, he had the option to reside in a highly affluent neighborhood. However, he deliberately chose Vine City due to the community’s conditions, seeking to draw attention to the challenges it faced. It was his vision that one day the historic Westside community, and our nation, could one day be a “Beloved Community.” 

That sentiment was echoed by Annie Moore, a historic Westside resident with the Green Team of English Avenue Inc. and Friends of Lindsey Street Park and Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park “This day of service is an opportunity to continue to expand on Dr. King’s dream,and build the Beloved community,” said Moore. “WFF is my annual MLK Day volunteer organization and I’m looking forward to getting Kathryn Johnston Memorial park ready for the summer.”

Doug Cain was volunteering with Chick-fil-A on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Cain is a resident of the West End and a parent. “M. Agnes Jones is my local elementary school and I have a kindergartener coming up next year. When the opportunity came to give back to my own community, I thought ‘why wouldn’t I do that?’”

Today, we continue to work towards the principles of Dr. King and embody his vision. The 2024 MLK Day of Service is a perfect example of how we as a community can unify as one and forge forward in this work together. In addition to our presenting sponsor the Home Depot Foundation, Westside Future Fund would like to give a special thanks to our corporate and community partners for their participation in our MLK Day including:

• AT&T
• Breakthrough Atlanta/The Lovett School
• Chick-fil-A
• Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
• Community Teen Coalition
• Equifax
• Georgia Power
• Georgia Natural Gas
• Grant Thornton
• HoopSupreme
• Most Valuable Kids
• Novelis
• PNC Bank
• Quest CDC
• Verizon
• Workday Atlanta

This winter Westside Future Fund (WFF) sold homes to two more families as part of its signature program Home on the Westside. This brings the total number of homes sold in 2023 to 10. Through Home on the Westside, WFF’s community retention guidelines prioritize legacy and future residents with live, work, and learn connections to the historic Westside. The program’s three service areas include single-family homeownership, rental housing, and property tax assistance for legacy residents. You can hear more from the residents WFF serves here.

Dr. Fernando Esquivel-Suarez is an Assistant Professor in the English Department of Spelman College. His family now owns a 3-bedroom and 2-bathroom home in English Avenue.

Destiny Motley is a legacy resident of Vine City and a former music teacher for youth with the At-Promise Center. She now owns a a 3-bedroom and 2-bathroom home in English Avenue.

Learn more about how you can support Home on the Westside through WFF’s capital campaign Our Next Chapter.

When Dr. Kimberley Hundley first came to Atlanta from Los Angeles, she knew she’d found home. She recalls visiting the city many times as a child with family, with extended familial roots in the South stretching from Mississippi, but it wasn’t until her return as a young adult attending school in the Atlanta University Center that she realized this was the place where she was meant to be.

She spent much of her young adulthood living in and walking the streets of the Historic Westside, first as an undergraduate student at Clark Atlanta University and later a two-time graduate student at the Interdenominational Theological Center. For years, she lived in the Beckwith Hall dorms on the school’s campus before later moving to the Cascade neighborhood and then back to a rental home near Morehouse College. 

Her education led her to serving the local community for much of her professional career, currently working on the campus of City of Refuge as a behavioral health specialist for House of Cherith working with women rescued from human trafficking. 

Dr. Hundley met all of the criteria to participate in Westside Future Fund’s (WFF) Home on the Westside program, having lived in, been educated in, and worked in the Historic Westside community. After undergoing homeowner education courses and meeting with various stakeholders in the homeownership process, she was able to close on her new forever home in August of 2023 – a beautiful two bedroom, one bathroom house on Proctor Street adjacent to Kathryn Johnston Memorial Park. 

The closing came at a difficult time in her life, having lost her mother in the weeks just prior. She initially was hesitant to move forward at the time given her recent loss, but when she first arrived at the home, it was clear to her that this moment was meant to be. The home was her mother’s favorite color – an awe-striking baby blue. 

As if the beautiful connection to her mother wasn’t reason enough, she was awarded roughly $95,000 in first-time homebuyer assistance through a number of programs led by local nonprofit programs including WFF and City of Refuge. 

At a time when home was most important, she found a home that embodied all of her needs in one. Now a few months into her time in her new home, she’s reflecting on all that went into her incredible achievement.

To learn more about WFF’s Home on the Westside visit here.

In August of 2023, Westside Future Fund (WFF) launched its Our Next Chapter campaign. The campaign has a goal to pair philanthropic dollars with capital from its Impact Fund and the addition of public grants to complete its housing targets. This includes:

• 285 multifamily units, of which 185 will serve families at 60% Area Median Income (AMI) and less
• 225 single-family homes with accompanying income-qualified down-payment assistance, and
• Supporting the Anti-Displacement Tax Fund to help legacy resident homeowners stay in the community

As the year comes to a close, WFF’s Chief Real Estate Officer Rachel Carey shares what is on the horizon in the organization’s plans for the future of high-quality affordable housing in the Historic Westside.

Can you talk about how much of the groundwork for this has already begun and what projects the community will start to see underway in 2024?

We have been working toward these goals for years — since 2018 when we started acquiring properties. Since then, we have rehabbed eight apartment buildings and have built or rehabbed over 20 homes. We have already been working on the planning and design of several of the projects included in the Our Next Chapter campaign and will be starting some this year. One that I’m really excited about is the renovation of the Yellow Store at the intersection of James P. Brawley and Cameron Alexander Boulevard. Seeing this beautiful and historic building put back in service for the community is something we have been looking forward to for a long time.

Can you provide insights into the specific multifamily properties set to open in 2024, and how they align with WFF’s goals for equitable neighborhood revitalization?

In the beginning of 2024, we will be opening up 588 and 592 Paines Avenue, the last of our apartment rehabs. The 12 units will all have rents at 60% AMI or less, with 8 of them offering HomeFlex from Atlanta Housing. Then for the rest of 2024, we will be working on building three new apartment buildings totaling another 83 multifamily units. In all of our properties, we have a high percentage (at least 50%) of the apartments reserved for families at 60% AMI or less. We strive to build high-quality homes that are also in alignment with the Land Use Framework Plan and its design guidelines. That means preserving existing buildings with good bones, like 588-592 Paines, to honor the historic fabric of the neighborhoods, and designing new buildings with the look and feel that the community has said they want.

Building single-family homes is a crucial aspect of community development. How does the WFF plan to address affordability and inclusivity while balancing the economic challenges taking place in the U.S. such as inflation?

We know that increasing homeownership in the neighborhoods, particularly in English Avenue, is an important goal. And for us, ensuring that the homes are affordable to purchasers who meet our legacy guidelines is exceptionally important. We do this by selling at or below our cost to build them, providing down payment assistance to income-eligible purchasers, and marketing in the community to identify and work with our purchasers to meet their needs. It can be very difficult to buy a home these days, with high home prices and the highest interest rates in over 20 years. If you can’t make an all-cash offer or close quickly, you are likely to lose out on a home. I’m proud that we don’t work that way. We are intentional about selling homes to people who have ties to the community and being a patient partner in the purchasing process. And then, it feels like a real celebration when we get to sit at the closing table with someone who is thrilled to buy their first home and to be a new homeowner investing in the community.

WFF just celebrated a groundbreaking for a mixed-use development at 839 Joseph E. Boone, which will include 33 units of multifamily and 1200 square feet of retail space. It’s just one of many more exciting projects underway for the organization. Do you anticipate breaking ground on any more developments in 2024?

Yes, we do! We have two more new projects on Echo Street and Sunset Avenue that will be breaking ground in mid-2024. We are really excited to get these started—we’ve been working on them for a long time!

When WFF launched in 2014 the need to ensure affordable housing was clear but the approach to achieving that goal has taken some time to develop. What would you say are some key learnings from a real estate acquisition and development perspective, nearly a decade into this work?

A few big learnings. One is, if you don’t control the land you don’t control the outcome — this is what led us to begin acquiring property, which was not necessarily the plan when we started in 2014. Second is that partnership is everything. Our partnerships with the City, Invest Atlanta, Atlanta Housing, and other non-profit builders and developers are what enable us to deliver against our goals. Third is that you can’t do it all on your own. We are always tracking the collective progress in the neighborhoods — from projects by Quest, Integral, oaksATL, and others — it is through the sustained efforts of many that true impact is achieved.

Looking ahead to 2024, what challenges and opportunities do you anticipate, particularly in managing the diverse portfolio of multifamily properties, single-family homes, and special development projects on Atlanta’s historic Westside?

It is always a challenge to be operating on all fronts. Every single member of the WFF team is incredibly dedicated to ensuring that we are able to execute with excellence on all of these initiatives. I am excited to work with our team and all of our partners, to continue advancing plans for the campaign build-out. I look forward to sharing our plans with the community, to asking for their feedback and engagement as we progress, and to collaboratively problem-solve to keep moving the mission forward.

Neighborhood residents, faith leaders, heads of nonprofits and corporate executives gathered together at the December 15 Transform Westside Summit to hear from Roz Brewer, former chief executive officer of Walgreens Boot Alliance and former chair of the Spelman College Board of Trustees. The Summit provided a unique opportunity for the audience to engage with Roz, who shared insights into her remarkable journey and her commitment to marginalized communities and inclusive workplaces.

Attendees had the opportunity to share resources for the group’s collective efforts to improve the Westside. Rev. Dr. Neichelle R. Guidry, dean of Sisters Chapel at Spelman College, led the devotion.  John Ahmann, Westside Future Fund President and CEO, moderated the discussion.

Key Moments from the Conversation

Roz began by reflecting on her upbringing and the profound influence of her parents, George Gates and Sally Sty Gates, who migrated from the southeast to Detroit, Michigan and both worked in the auto industry. Raised in a family of five children, she emphasized the unwavering expectations her parents set for discipline and hard work. She recounted stories of her early years, highlighting the discipline instilled by her father’s encouragement to wake up early and the communal support she received from neighbors.

“My story is absolutely embraced in my parents and my upbringing. I can only tell my story if I talk about George Gates and Sally Sty Gates, my parents…Their expectations weren’t are you getting A’s or B’s they it was around discipline. We were the children that didn’t sleep past 6:30 a.m. My dad has this saying, ‘Do you know how long the white boy has been awake?’ He [believed] if you plan on getting ahead, you need to get up.”

Expressing her love for Atlanta, Roz, a Spelman College graduate, spoke about her decision to attend the college and the impact it had on her life. She credited Spelman for broadening her perspective on diversity within the Black community, shaping her into a well-rounded individual. Roz shared her experience as a student at Spelman and her commitment to giving back to the college, eventually becoming a trustee and chair of the board for 17 years.

“When I got to Spelman it helped me learn the diversity within the diversity because we are a broad breadth of people…Spelman exposed me to the world. Spelman is a place where you cannot leave there without developing your whole self because of sister accountability and you want to do well for your sisters and by them.”

The conversation delved into her corporate leadership roles at major companies, including Kimberly Clark, Walgreens and Starbucks. As the discussion shifted towards navigating predominantly white, male-dominated environments, Roz highlighted the importance of authenticity. She emphasized the need for women, especially in such environments, to resist assimilation, maintain self-awareness, and showcase their unique qualities. Roz stressed the significance of creating a vision, strategy and inspiring hope as a leader, fostering mutual respect and understanding.

“I didn’t feel good about myself until somebody would speak my name because you just want to be seen and heard. I didn’t need a big star on my forehead, I didn’t need anybody to come and bring me my coffee. I just wanted somebody to see that’s my work. I did it. I then began to get sponsorship from people who pulled me through, and I needed it.”

Addressing the challenges faced by women in male-dominated spaces, Roz encouraged them to persist, fight against assimilation, and seek spaces where they can be true to themselves. She underscored the value of self-awareness, both in understanding personal strengths and weaknesses and in building a support network. 

“I know it might be hard not to assimilate because you will likely be the only woman in the room and you might pick up skill sets, tactics and even speaking language that’s not your natural language just to fit in. Fight that fight and as best as you can look at your best qualities and try to bring them forward. And feel OK about it. And when they are rejected, which they will be rejected at some point, then you make the decision that ‘maybe this isn’t the right place for me’ and find your space. Because there is a space there for sure.”

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

Earlier this month, with the holiday season in full swing, Westside Future Fund’s Volunteer Corps brought the spirit of giving  to the organization’s 970 Jefferson headquarters, as they gathered for a holiday gift-wrapping extravaganza. Their collective efforts orchestrated the wrapping and distribution of hundreds of toys for children in need in Atlanta’s Historic Westside community.

Volunteers came from throughout the community, with one large group from LIIV Atlanta Church joining for what they call Second Serve Saturdays, an opportunity for their membership to support the local community through volunteerism. For Maureen, a member of the LIIV Atlanta congregation, it was an incredible opportunity to help those in need – and also learn a new skill in the process.

“Gift wrapping was uncharted territory for me, so this is a cool opportunity to learn how,” said Maureen. “It’s such a good environment to see all of these gifts and all of these people putting in this effort to ensure that children in need can celebrate the holidays the right way this season. It just feels like a blessing.”

Local business leaders and staff also came out with helping hands. Suna, an employee of Portal Innovations in Science Square located adjacent to English Avenue, saw an opportunity to help out the community she’s come to know and love. 

“I wanted to come out to get more involved with the community around here and see how I can be of assistance as well as how my company can contribute. There’s a lot of need for help, and with this turnout I believe we’re actually making an impact,” said Suna. “As more and more people come out for things like this, support for this community will only get bigger and bigger. I’m happy to be here to help drive momentum in that direction.”

This year, the WFF Volunteer Corps was joined by interns from WFF’s and its community partner Integrity Home Solutions internship program. These interns, ranging from ages 11 to 21, are employed by the two organizations thanks to a grant from Georgia Natural Gas as a part of the Mayor of Atlanta’s Year of the Youth program. The program intends to keep youth under the age of 25 engaged, employed, and off of the streets while learning job skills. 

Jonathan, a 16 year-old member of the current intern cohort, enjoys that his internship provides him the opportunity to give to the community in a way that leaves him fulfilled by his contributions and supports his work experience.

“I wanted to come out to help the community and make sure every kid gets a present this holiday. Being here makes me feel so much younger. I’m seeing toys I used to play with as a kid all the time,” said Jonathan. “This internship allows me to leave each day that I work knowing that I did something important, something that helps benefit the community.”

After a few hours of gift wrapping, families began to arrive to collect their gifts to go under the tree this year. Of the first to arrive were Tasha, Priscilla, and her daughter Destiny who’s sights are set on a L.O.L. Doll for Christmas this year. For Tasha, this event came at a crucial time for her and her family.

“This is a huge blessing for us. Times are a little tough right now. Christmas was going to be hard this year,” said Tasha.

This event is just one  of several that WFF hosts each year to support the Westside community during the holiday season. If you or someone you know would like to get involved, please visit https://volunteer.westsidefuturefund.org/.