By Alex Beasley, Donor and Public Relations Manager, ISA Certified Arborist, Trees Atlanta Atlanta’s summers are becoming hotter, drier, and longer. This is the new norm. Much of the world has undergone ‘climate change-induced seasonal creep,’ meaning fall arrives later and spring arrives earlier each year. As the tropics expand by up to .2 degrees […]
Author Archives: SaportaReport
Be ‘thoughtful’ about how and who you give to
Kim Greene speaks candidly about her passion for United Way. She says if it hadn’t been for the nation’s biggest supporter of local communities, her career wouldn’t be the same. Greene is the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Southern Company Gas, the leading natural gas company in the industry with more than 4.2 […]
Unique Community Collaborations Can Fight Displacement and Improve Housing Conditions
Introduction by John Ahmann, President & CEO, Westside Future Fund Our guest columnist is Ayanna Jones-Lightsy, Co-Director of Safe and Stable Homes at Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (AVLF). Last month, Ayanna spoke at the September 20th Transform Westside Summit as part of a panel discussion on wraparound services that support Hollis Innovation Academy families, especially […]
Small Town Sights
…and Supporting the Communities that Host Them By Georgia Conservancy Senior Planner Nick Johnson In recent years, Georgia’s larger cities have taken great strides toward incorporating sustainability into their designs, plans, and objectives. Atlanta’s new stormwater parks and living buildings have introduced natural systems into the urban fabric, while Savannah has contemplated how to adapt its […]
Community Foundation and FCS invest in affordable housing in South Atlanta
By Mark Crosswell, managing director, social impact strategy, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta Since its launch in 2018, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta’s impact investment fund, the GoATL Fund (GoATL), has invested $6.25 million to advance impact in affordable housing, education and small business development. The fund’s latest investment closed recently, a $500,000 loan to […]
Take back parks from invasive plant species!
By Ellen Bruenderman, Director of Community Building and Kayla Altland, Friends of the Park Program Manager Invasive plants are a serious problem in our local parks and are top of mind for Park Pride volunteer staff, our government partners, and Friends of the Park groups. Invasive plant species are not native to the local ecosystem […]
Love United. Work United. Live United.
LIVE UNITED is United Way’s tag line. To me, Live United means to not only embrace individual differences, but also the community as a whole. This is particularly important when identifying and addressing the needs of the community, regardless of how those needs may directly impact you. To Live United means acknowledging that collective impact […]
OktoberForest: Celebrating the Connection between Healthy Forests and Beer
By Marlena Reed, communications & marketing manager, The Nature Conservancy in Georgia The critical link between healthy forests and beer may not be obvious to most people, but it comes down to beer’s main ingredient: water. That’s why Georgia brewers are joining The Nature Conservancy to celebrate OktoberForest, a campaign to raise awareness about the […]
Groundbreaking Data For Health Program Expanded to Reach More Countries and People
By Michelle Panneton, MPH, senior program officer for the CDC Foundation More than 29 million deaths go unrecorded each year, and less than half of all deaths around the world are registered with a cause. To help strengthen the quality of birth and death registrations, Bloomberg Philanthropies, along with partners including the CDC Foundation, announced the next […]
Supporters Big and Small Following Hurricane Dorian
Beth Hodges, Senior Marketing Specialist, MAP International When fourth-grade teacher, Nafi Espana, from St. Simons Elementary located in St. Simons, Georgia wanted to conduct a school fundraiser with MAP International to help survivors of Hurricane Dorian, we enthusiastically said yes. Moved by the images of destruction and devastation across Grand Bahama and Abaco islands, the […]
Change the Trajectory
By S. Kelley Henderson, Chief Executive Officer, Action Ministries Readers of the “Poverty and Equity” section of the Saporta Report, have hopefully become aware of the challenges of food insecurity for Georgia’s children. Food insecurity is a real challenge, and one that has a long-term impact on our communities, economy, and future workforce. With 1 […]
Where do you belong?
By Erin Dreiling, marketing and communications manager, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta Human beings are unique animals. A sense of love and belonging is integral to our well-being. Belonging even appears in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. No matter how different we are or how different our backgrounds, we all have a common need to belong […]
Can You Walk to a Park within 10 Minutes?
By Jay Wozniak, Georgia Parks Director for The Trust for Public Land One hundred million Americans cannot walk from their home to a park within 10 minutes. According to The Trust for Public Land’s 2019 ParkScore rankings, about 71 percent of Atlanta residents can reach a park in that timeframe, and that number has been […]
United Way’s College Bound Program Assists Students, Parents Apply for Student Aid
United Way of Greater Atlanta has launched a new program aimed at helping students in select high schools apply for college funding by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid [FAFSA] form. United Way hosted a pilot event for the program, which is sponsored by Delta Air Lines, last spring at Tri-Cities High School […]
MedShare Disaster Relief – Hurricane Dorian
By Charles Redding When natural disasters strike vulnerable areas around the world, MedShare is poised to respond quickly and effectively. We are in a unique position to equip first responders in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster and partner with local institutions and government agencies to support long-term recovery and rebuild capacity. Many areas […]
U.S. Senate Joins in the Effort to Save The Right Whale
Georgia’s marine mammal, The North Atlantic Right Whale, numbers only 400. By Brian Foster, Communications Director, The Georgia Conservancy With an estimated global population of only 400, the North Atlantic right whale is in trouble, and a bipartisan measure from the U.S. Senate seeks to provide some much-needed help. The Scientific Assistance for Very Endangered […]
Scholarships help send first-generation students to college
By Ryan Rodriguez, grants manager, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta With the new academic year in full swing, nearly 200 students from the Atlanta region have financial assistance from Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta scholarships. Almost $600,000 in scholarships has been awarded for the 2019-2020 academic year. A total of 584 students applied for scholarships […]
Atlanta Convenes: IoT/Smart Cities Gamechangers from Around the Globe are Solving the Most Pressing Issues of Our Time
By Cynthia Curry, Director of IoT/AI/Smart Cities Ecosystem Expansion, Metro Atlanta Chamber The U.N. predicts that almost 70% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. Metros across the globe are faced with challenges around sustainability arising from such rapid growth. Issues of safety, transportation, sustainability, equitable housing/infrastructure and workforce development are topics of discussion […]
See what kids can become if they are not hungry
The challenge was simple and straightforward: Create a video that tells the all too familiar story of more than 350,000 children across Greater Atlanta. These kids are hungry during the summer because they don’t have access to school lunches — that one daily meal they’ve become reliant on during the other 10 months of the […]
Our 30 Year Obsession with Parks, Explained
By Rachel Maher, Park Pride For 30 years, Park Pride has engaged communities to activate the power of parks. Thirty years. The organization was founded in 1989, the year that Seinfeld premiered. Park Pride was organizing volunteer projects and beautifying Atlanta’s greenspaces when America was “getting online” in the early 90s. Park Pride was helping […]