By Britton Edwards, COO, Atlanta Way 2.0
By now you may have heard of Atlanta Way 2.0. Our founders created this nonprofit intending to bring back the best of the old Atlanta Way, think collaborative efforts to solve major challenges in our city, but with a new element called “Activators.” This is different than the old Atlanta Way in that everyone can and should participate. We want everyone to have a seat at the table. We’re calling on all Atlantans to become Activators. What does that mean? It’s simple. You do your best every day to help strengthen the civic fabric of Atlanta.
Atlanta Way 2.0 Vision: Atlanta has a thriving civic culture where all people are connected, engaged, and empowered.
How do you strengthen Atlanta’s civic fabric? By making connections between people or organizations that should know each other, welcoming newcomers to the city, sharing resources, and helping spread the word about events or opportunities to get involved in initiatives around our region where community voices are needed. Activators should always be “periscope up,” as our Board Chair Ann Cramer says, on the lookout for opportunities to connect, collaborate, and convene. Ideally, everyone can find a way to have an Atlanta Way 2.0 moment every day!
Mission: To create a compassionate and just community by educating, equipping, and engaging activators, partners, and stakeholders.
Our goal is to build community. This is a people-driven movement, meaning success depends on everyone actively participating and contributing. While Atlanta Way 2.0 is here to provide guidance and support, it’s essential that each of you takes ownership and engages in the work. Together, we can achieve great things, but it requires commitment from all of us. Our organization is a movement, not a force. Atlanta Way 2.0 does not issue policy statements for or against campaigns, projects or events. That doesn’t mean our staff and board members aren’t outspoken advocates for or against various controversial happenings around town. On the contrary, they are very involved and passionate people who look forward to opportunities to have discussions and debates about current events. We aim to bring people together for civil conversations to find common ground and look for solutions to move the ball forward and create the best possible future for our city. We hope to host many events in the future where people from all sides of an issue have the opportunity to share their opinions, look for common ground, and find possible solutions.
Last year, the U.S. Surgeon General Murthy issued a report titled “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community.” Scientific research shows that “about one in two adults in America reported experiencing loneliness.” Half of us are suffering post-pandemic effects from remote work, siloed vs collaborative processes, and an ever more wired existence. “Community is a critical component of human success and satisfaction. However, it is the quality of those connections that has the most impact on health, not the quantity of them,” says a UC Health article reviewing the findings of the report.
How do we bring people together again? One example from Munir Meghjani, an Atlanta Way 2.0 board member, looks for ways to “make Atlanta smaller” through gatherings where attendees connect on a deeper level than “so, what do you do for a living?” Instead, Munir creates a prompt for nametags such as “ask me about” or other alternative identifying information to spark conversation and create connections that might have been missed if not for this small but powerful change in approach to introductions. As our city continues to grow, it’s essential to find new ways to reconnect and foster connections. We want to hear from you about how you make Atlanta feel smaller and create pathways for people to connect again.
Another way to connect is to bring people together through introductions with intention. Maria Saporta is famous for her ability to listen to folk and connect the dots between people. We are all connected in some way, but how we connect the dots is how things get done. I often witness an Atlanta Way 2.0 moment when Maria hears someone mention a passion or potential challenge in their work, and before you know it, she has her phone out to connect this person with someone she knows who can help. Sometimes she will follow up and even set a date and time to get them together for coffee or lunch. At an Atlanta Rotary lunch several years ago, she realized she was sitting between the executive director of Atlanta Regional Commission and the chair of the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the two had never met! These moments are critical to our civic fabric, and relationships drive collaboration.
In 2023 Maria was the emcee at Southface’s Visionary dinner. Over the years, Michael Halicki, an Atlanta Way 2.0 Board member, and Maria have reminisced about the Sustainable Atlanta Roundtable (SART) forums that used to take place before the pandemic. They connected with James Marlow and others at Southface and agreed to help organize a SART program for Southface’s 46th anniversary. It was a captivating discussion on the future of sustainability with environmental leaders who had taken on new leadership roles in the past four years. Maria and Michael moderated a panel discussion with the sustainability pioneers. Convening events that foster community and build connections is critical to our civic fabric.
I hope you will consider becoming an Atlanta Way 2.0 Activator. We’re looking for Atlantans who love our city and building community to join this movement. Once you sign up, you pledge to do one or all of the following when you can and track your activities:
● Make connections: introduce people who need to know each other.
● Welcome wagon: welcome people new to Atlanta and help them become engaged in the community.
● Build bridges: seek to build bridges that exist between people and organizations not currently working together.
● Compassion corner: provide support to people who may be going through tough times personally or professionally.
● Encourage success: look for ways to help people become more successful.
● Pay it forward: spread the word of Atlanta Way 2.0. to all generations –inviting people from all walks of life to become Atlanta Way 2.0 activators.
We will send an end-of-year survey to our Activators to see how you’re embodying the Atlanta Way 2.0 activities. How many times did you make introductions? Were you able to assist and connect people or organizations with resources? With more than 500 Activators already signed up, we know this movement can and will make an impact as everyone works towards completing these kinds of tasks regularly.
What’s your passion? Is there something you want to see revived in Atlanta that fell by the wayside? How can we help you get something started that builds community or strengthens Atlanta’s civic fabric? What are we missing? We love feedback and look forward to the opportunity to engage with everyone through this movement.
To become an Activator visit our website and complete our sign-up form. We will send information about upcoming events, opportunities, and more once a month via our newsletter. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!
Contact Britton Edwards with any questions or ideas: Britton@atlantaway.org
Atlanta Way 2.0
The Atlanta Way, a concept that dates back to the early days of Atlanta, emerged as a driving force during the Civil Rights era when white and Black business and civic leaders worked together to resolve problems and issues peacefully. The cooperative approach of business and civic leaders helped Atlanta become a beacon of peace and resolution during the 1960s through the early 2000s.
Atlanta Way 2.0 is a modern-day concept aimed at connecting people and organizations for the greater good of the Atlanta region. Examples include bringing together people and organizations with related missions to work on common goals, introducing executives new to the city and helping them form community ties, and linking regional leaders facing challenges with people who can help them work on tangible solutions.
Unlike the historic Atlanta Way, composed mostly of powerful male leaders, Atlanta Way 2.0 will strive to be much more inclusive – embracing civic-minded people from all walks of life to become part of the multi-layered fabric that makes up our region.
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