Groundbreakers Finalist

Fugees Academy grew out of the acclaimed soccer program for refugee children. Today, the school enrolls 100 students from more than twenty countries, helping them thrive as they make the transition to a new home. Thanks to donations and sponsors, tuition is free.

Howard’s initial involvement in Habitat in 1996 was born out of remembrance for his father, who grew up during the Great Depression and whose parents were evicted twice. And the famous penny-pincher’s mission intersects nicely with that of the organization.

Since 2007 the nonprofit has put on original theater productions in senior centers, churches and synagogues, retirement communities, and assisted living facilities—at no charge to audience members.

Since 2007, the ArtsBridge Foundation has helped more than 240,000 students and teachers from Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina experience the performing arts, with free or low-cost performances, field trips, and even Broadway master classes.

Science shows that people of color are nearly twice as likely as their Caucasian counterparts to develop some form of dementia. And yet African Americans are consistently under-represented in Alzheimer’s studies. So geriatrics physician Dr. Monica Parker—whose mother and grandmother both suffered from dementia—doesn’t mince words when she’s doing community outreach for Emory’s centers on Alzheimer’s Disease Research and Brain Health.

Egbert Perry’s Integral Group bought bought the shuttered GM Plant in Doraville to create a new development called Assembly. Perry, a veteran of mixed-income and senior housing complexes spanning the metro area, has ventured into adaptive reuse in a big way. The under-construction hub of housing, corporate headquarters, retail, parks, and movie and television studios could encompass a massive 10 million square feet across 140 acres when completed over the next several years.

One steamy July morning, in the dining room of a spacious Inman Park home, a group of longtime neighborhood residents strategized over muffins and coffee about how to combat the unpleasant problem of root-busted sidewalks. And how to address the fact that Inman Park is home to nearly 4,300 people and a multitude of pricey luxury apartments but not a single residence classified as senior housing.

In Georgia one in five adults suffer from some kind of mental illness, and the rate is higher in adults over age 60. “When people get older, they fall off the map in terms of mental health services,” says Dr. William McDonald, a geriatric psychiatrist who heads the Fuqua Center.

In Atlanta’s civic circles, “public art” is a popular buzzword. But too often the projects are created by outsiders with little connection to the communities where the art is installed. Arts nonprofit WonderRoot has a different vision.

A stunning addition to downtown Atlanta, the Center connects triumphs of the past with today’s global struggles. The Center showcases Atlanta’s civil rights legacy, and also reminds us that, although we have come a long way, we have not yet overcome.