The State of Black Atlanta: Exploding the Myth of Black Mecca

The State of Black Atlanta Summit 2010 was held this past Saturday February 20 on the campus of Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, GA. The one-day Summit was convened by the Environmental Justice Resource Center to coincide with the Black History Month celebration and was part of the center’s Smart Growth and Sustainable Communities Initiative (SGSCI) funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation. The Summit organizers commissioned working papers from top Atlanta leaders in academic, public health, business, media, and local community based organizations with the goal of impacting public sector policies around health, environmental justice, civil rights and human rights, transportation and land use, housing and home ownership, wealth creation and business development, equitable development, education, food security, and parks and green access in Atlanta’s underserved communities. More than a dozen Summit authors presented a shared vision for leading Black Atlanta into a just, healthy, and sustainable future. The Summit also provided a forum at which diverse aspects of the community can learn about shared priorities for the year. This overview paper represents a synthesis of challenges, barriers, and opportunities facing Black Atlanta.