May Summit Recap: Rooted and Rising — Protecting Our Neighbors

On Friday, May 15, the Westside Future Fund (WFF) welcomed residents, partners, nonprofits, advocates, and community leaders committed to shaping a stronger future for Atlanta’s historic Westside to the Transform Westside Summit.

Hosted by Westside Future Fund President & CEO John Ahmann and Chief Development Officer Jon Ingram, this month’s summit welcomed guests for a morning of reflection, fellowship, and honest dialogue through the featured presentation, Rooted and Rising: Protecting Our Neighbors. The discussion explored housing stability, displacement prevention, preservation, and the importance of ensuring longtime residents remain part of the community’s future.

Grounding the Conversation in Community

The summit opened with a devotional reflection from Sterling Johnson, Senior Program Officer for Atlanta’s Westside at the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. Drawing from the story of Nehemiah, Johnson encouraged attendees to reflect on the deeper purpose behind community development work — not simply what is being built, but who it is being built for.

“When we’re going, let’s go with reflection and thoughtfulness and reverence of the people who already occupy the space,” Johnson shared.

He also highlighted the importance of building with community rather than for community, pointing to Nehemiah’s example of inviting residents into the rebuilding process together.

“The first thing he did is he went to the people,” Johnson said. “‘Let’s build together.’”

That spirit of collective work and relationship-building carried throughout the morning as attendees paused for fellowship and conversation before transitioning into the featured panel discussion.

Addressing Housing Stability and Displacement

Moderated by Johnson, the panel featured Lisa Flowers Jones, Executive Director of HouseProud Atlanta, and Michael Lucas, Executive Director of Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation. Together, the panelists explored the realities many longtime residents face amid rising housing costs, neighborhood change, deferred home maintenance, and eviction pressures.

The conversation began with a simple but powerful question: Why housing justice?

For Jones, the answer was deeply personal.

“I understood the difference between living in housing that’s not good for you and then working really hard to get into much better housing,” she shared. “How much better that was for my mental health, my parents’ mental health, for just having an environment that feels good. That’s something I deeply believe we all deserve.”

Lucas reflected on how his background in social work and policy revealed the direct impact housing instability has on families and communities, particularly for renters facing eviction and displacement.

One of the most striking moments of the discussion came as Lucas shared data showing that more than 48,000 evictions were filed in Fulton County last year, with a significant percentage concentrated within Atlanta Public Schools clusters connected to the Westside.

He explained how housing instability creates ripple effects far beyond housing itself — impacting school stability, educational outcomes, and long-term community health.

“There’s folks that are left out of that conversation,” Lucas said. “In my experience, it is the legacy renters.” Lucas emphasized that while creating new affordable housing is critical, communities must also ensure longtime renters remain part of the neighborhoods they helped sustain for years.

“If we don’t also do the work to keep folks — those legacy renters — here while we’re building all of that, they’re not going to be the ones moving into those better opportunities,” he said.

Preservation Beyond Property

The conversation also explored the importance of supporting longtime homeowners — particularly seniors — who often face mounting financial pressures, deferred maintenance, and aggressive outside investment interest in rapidly changing neighborhoods.

Jones spoke candidly about the scale of equity loss impacting Black and Brown communities across Atlanta, explaining how many longtime homeowners no longer view their homes as assets because of deteriorating conditions and neighborhood instability.

“What we need to do is figure out how to flip that narrative,” she said.

She stressed that preservation work must go beyond physical repairs and include education, financial planning, and long-term support that helps residents understand and protect the value of their homes.

“Preservation without education, you’re just setting that house up for somebody to come and steal it from them and to steal that equity from them,” Jones said.

Throughout the discussion, both panelists emphasized that protecting residents requires a holistic approach — one that addresses housing, legal support, financial education, food insecurity, safety, and community connection together rather than in isolation.

Building a Future That Includes Everyone

Audience members brought the conversation to the ground level — asking about House Proud’s wait times, food insecurity among senior homeowners, the policy barriers that make it harder for stabilizing households to access federal benefits, and the legal rights of tenants in properties heading toward foreclosure.

As the summit concluded, Ahmann reflected on the urgency of this moment for Atlanta and the importance of ensuring resources reach the communities that need them most. He encouraged attendees to remain engaged in upcoming citywide conversations around neighborhood reinvestment and housing policy.

The May Transform Westside Summit served as a reminder that restoration is about far more than new buildings or development projects alone. At its core, the work is about people — ensuring longtime residents can remain rooted in the communities they helped shape while creating opportunities for future generations to rise alongside them.

“This city is rich in resources to solve these problems,” Ahmann said. “The question is how we get those resources to the people who need them. Now is the time to put your voice into what the city is going to be doing.”

Missed the event? Watch the full May Transform Westside Summit on YouTube.