Author Archives: Maria Saporta

A united team welcomed Julian Castro, secretary of the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Monday morning when he announced that Atlanta had been awarded a competitive $30 million Choice grant.

Castro said he is pleased with all the economic development that has been drawn to Atlanta, but HUD wants to make sure that “progress happens and every neighborhood benefits, that every section of Atlanta can share in that prosperity.”

The theme of the sixth annual Neighborhood Summit – the largest to date – was “Embracing the Power of Education.”

The keynote address on the “Power of Education” was delivered Michael Thurmond, who recently stepped down as the interim superintendent of DeKalb County Schools.

Thurmond said he’s a living example of the transformational power of education – as the descendant of three generations of illiterate cotton sharecroppers.

The City of Atlanta likely has been awarded a $30 million Choice grant to help revitalize communities in west Atlanta from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed had a twinkle in his eye Friday morning when he said HUD Secretary Juliån Castro would be coming to Atlanta Monday morning to make an announcement.

Reed revealed Castro’s upcoming visit during a sit down interview with three reporters after the quarterly meeting of the Atlanta Committee for Progress at Invesco.

Green Law honored four legacy environmentalists Thursday evening at the Nelson Mullins law firm while introducing its new executive director – Melissa Allen Heath – to attendees.

Heath is joining the GreenLaw firm after working for the Environmental Protection Agency Region 4 since 1987 – most recently as associate regional counsel.

For city dwellers, there is no freer feeling than when people on foot or bicycles take over a street that’s been closed off to cars.

That feeling is so infectious that it is spreading throughout the country and the world – getting a foothold in a multitude of cities including right here through Atlanta Streets Alive – the next one will be held on Sunday, Sept. 27.

Plans to locate the soccer training facility for the Atlanta United FC in DeKalb County might not be a done deal after all.

An official with the AMB Group – Arthur M. Blank’s group of companies – confirmed that the soccer club is reconsidering a site in Marietta in case the DeKalb deal falls apart.

Over the years, Jimmy Sibley and I would joke about the “When I’m dead” column.

He would tell me certain things in confidence, and then tell me in his Southern gentleman’s way that it could go in the “When I’m dead” column.

Well this was a column I never wanted to write.

Georgia is on the cusp of seizing an opportunity to leverage the rich and diverse global health assets that exist the state.

At the end of the 2015 Health Connect South gathering at the Georgia Aquarium on Wednesday, a framework for a Georgia Global Health Alliance was presented by two influential champions – Dr. Louis Sullivan and Dr. Mark Rosenberg.

The Urban Land Institute Atlanta selected one of the city’s most precious treasures – the Fox Theatre – for its 2015 Awards dinner on Sept. 10.

At the beginning of the evening, ULI Atlanta Chairman Kevin Cantley, president and CEO of Cooper Carry, gave a poignant history of the 41-year-old “Save the Fox” movement.

Then, at the end of the movement, ULI Atlanta gave its highest award – the Project of the Year – to the most suburban development among the 2015 finalists – Avalon in Alpharetta.

The Morehouse School of Medicine has received a $3 million gift from one of Atlanta’s most beloved couples – Henry “Hank” and Billye Suber Aaron.

The gift will be used to expand to expand the Hugh Gloster Medical Education building and create the Billye Suber Aaron Student Pavilion, the School announced on Friday.