By Olivia Chatman, Program Associate – Food Initiatives, Reinvestment Fund Across the country, the shameful reality of limited access to healthy food plagues historically marginalized communities. It is an issue that is rooted in discriminatory policies and disinvestment, and is reflected in the 27.6 million people living in places with inequitable and inadequate access to healthy food, according to our research on supermarket access disparities in the contiguous United States. In cities like Atlanta, supermarket development has notoriously followed patterns of redlining, a discriminatory lending practice beginning in the 1930s, as retailers concentrated development in wealthy, white communities while avoiding low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.  Atlanta’s recently released Fresh Food Access Report showed that 25% of the city’s population lived more than half a mile away from fresh food as of 2020, an indicator of limited food access according to the USDA’s Food Research Atlas. Nationwide, there are significantly fewer chain supermarkets in predominantly low-income areas in comparison to middle-income areas. Similarly, there are approximately half as many chain supermarkets in predominantly Black neighborhoods in comparison to white neighborhoods.  Addressing food access challenges relies on partnerships and collaboration. Community organizing, advocating and engagement are all important pieces in the process of making steps towards food justice and dismantling food system inequities. Reaching these goals requires resources, such as money and technical expertise that can ensure the long-term sustainability of community efforts. Unfortunately, these tools are often not easily accessible in the underserved communities to which they would be most beneficial.   As a national community development financial institution (CDFI) with offices in Atlanta, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, Reinvestment Fund works in a variety of sectors, including food access, healthcare, education, and housing to address historic disinvestment and inequity due to systemic and institutional racism. These historic inequities have prevented certain groups of people, especially people of color, from accessing the resources needed for community development and prosperity. In the food space, Reinvestment Fund has pioneered strategies to provide debt, grants, and technical assistance, and analytical tools to support equitable food systems with programs such as the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative that serves as a model for food access partnership and investment strategies.  Over the last ten years, Reinvestment Fund has deployed over $253 million in financing in for healthy food retail and non-retail projects nationally.  With a dozen studies on topics related to food, including access, financing mechanisms, program design, and food systems, Reinvestment Fund has produced a body of research, which furthers collective knowledge about opportunities and gaps. Reinvestment Fund has also convened peer CDFIs in food systems lending for learning and advocacy towards building the field of expertise and resources to invest in food systems projects and retail food access. Fundamentally, moving towards the creation of a more equitable food system will require continued widespread collaboration between stakeholders and organizations, and the disbursement of knowledge and tangible resources to marginalized communities through organized efforts.   America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative Financing food retailers and other food system businesses to develop, renovate, and expand in historically marginalized communities is one effective approach to addressing inequities in the nation’s food system. These investments help retailers increase availability and access to food in underserved communities while also contributing to local economies. America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) is a national program that embraces this framework by providing capital, in the form of grant funds and technical assistance, to food retail organizations and non-retail food enterprises in underserved areas. HFFI is a public-private partnership administered by Reinvestment Fund on behalf of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development to improve access to healthy food in underserved areas that was established by the 2014 Farm Bill and reauthorized in 2018. Since then, the program has distributed $4.8 million in targeted assistance to 43 food access projects, including grant awardees in 23 states and technical assistance recipients in 12 states.  Through HFFI, organizations and entrepreneurs are receiving grant funds and technical assistance to tackle food access gaps in their communities.  A diverse range of food retail and non-retail enterprises qualify for funding including independent grocers, alternative models – such as virtual and mobile markets – and other businesses looking for upfront capital to support project development, renovation, or expansion. Grant funds can be used for a variety of project needs such as predevelopment necessities, one-time fees, soft-costs, construction, equipment, materials, or as portion of an overall capital project that includes debt and/or local economic development incentives. Local to Georgia, the City of Albany’s Department of Community and Economic Development is using a $150,000 HFFI award to bring an affordable independent grocery store with a low-cost business model to the community. The South Albany community lost its grocery store in 2018 and is designated as a USDA Low Income Low Access area. The new Food for Less will make it easier to access healthy food locally and, while also creating new jobs. To be eligible for the HFFI program, food retail projects must accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Over 42 million low-income Americans receive SNAP benefits and retailers serving low-income communities rely on SNAP sales as a crucial source of revenue for their operations. With an increase in SNAP benefits for US households following the recent update of the Thrifty Food Plan for the first time since its establishment, efforts to expand retailers that accept SNAP benefits through programs such as HFFI complement the modernized plan to elevate food access within underserved populations. HFFI funds are targeted to projects in underserved areas, including the USDA Low Income, Low Access (LILA) areas, and Reinvestment Fund’s Limited Supermarket Access (LSA) areas, in order to address geographic disparities in healthy food access that are rooted in historic disinvestment and disproportionately affect low-income populations, people of color, and rural communities. Addressing the issue of food access for underserved populations by increasing the affordability and accessibility of food is closely tied to national efforts to decrease food insecurity. Increasing food access reduces some of the barriers […]

Longtime Legal Counsel to Retire, Chief & Deputy Chief Legal Counsel Named MARTA Chief Legal Counsel Elizabeth M. O’Neill has announced her retirement after 22 years and will be succeeded by Peter J. Andrews from global law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP on Jan. 1, 2022. MARTA Senior Director of Corporate Law Jonathan J. Hunt will work with Andrews as Deputy Chief Legal Counsel. “Liz has been a tremendous asset to MARTA over the past two decades, previously serving as associate counsel, Chief of Litigation, and interim General Manager,” said GM/CEO Jeffrey Parker. “Her legal expertise and guidance were crucial when expanding our service to Clayton County and in the passage of the 15th amendment. Most recently, she has been instrumental in navigating the legality of COVID-19 restrictions and requirements. She is a trusted colleague and friend and I wish her the best in her retirement.” O’Neill’s successor Peter Andrews has 20 years of legal experience, representing clients in the areas of government law, state and local government contracts and procurement, public transportation, public-private partnerships, request for proposal (RFP) compliance, and public finance. As a former Deputy City Attorney for Atlanta he negotiated agreements with MARTA and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to build the Atlanta Streetcar. Andrews studied political science at Delaware State University and received his Juris Doctor degree from Western New England College of Law. “Efficient and accessible transportation will continue to be critical for the transformation of the Atlanta metro area. As such, MARTA plays such a vital role in our community. Representing MARTA is a source of pride for me and I am thankful for this is a unique and exciting opportunity,” Andrews said. “As a firm and personally, we will miss Peter, however, we understand and share in his excitement at joining an agency as committed to Atlanta as we are,” said Greenberg Traurig President Ernest L. Greer. “We look forward to continuing to have great lawyers like him as members of our exceptional economic development practice who thrive in our historically collaborative culture.” A member of MARTA’s Legal Department for seven years, Jonathan Hunt will assume the position of Deputy Chief Legal Counsel and report directly to Andrews. His experience includes employment with the City of Atlanta, Dentons US LLP, Limited Brands Inc., and BakerHostetler. Hunt earned his Juris Doctor degree from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. Andrews was hired after an extensive industry search that resulted in a competitive recruitment and selection process. He will transition into the role over the next three months and begin serving full-time as Chief Legal Counsel after the first of the year, reporting directly to the General Manager and CEO. This is sponsored content.

“During the pandemic, we would have really been struggling if it weren’t for Families First. They were getting us food and supplies, and even when there was a toilet paper shortage, they were getting us toilet paper. Everything in general they’ve helped us a lot,” shared Victoria Talavera, CHISPA parent. In Spanish, “CHISPA” means “spark.” CHISPA, specifically for the Spanish-speaking community in Gwinnett County, focuses on the early education of children, ages 0-5 years old. Our bilingual parent educators visit parents and children in their homes and provide parent leadership training as well as school transition and literacy activities. Since August 2009, our Early Learning programs use the Parents as Teachers (PAT) method which utilizes an evidence-based early home visitation program to optimize early development, learning, and health of children by supporting and engaging parents and caregivers. It ensures parents with children ages 0-5 take an active role early on through parent-child interaction, development-centered parenting, and family well-being. PAT programs also offer personal home visits, health screenings, community connections, and play-and-learns with other children. “Throughout COVID, our CHISPA families have needed us more than ever before as they tackled virtual learning, limited access to vital resources and the overall uncertainty that came with the pandemic,” said Troya Jackson, CHISPA Program Manager. “Our team became even more of a safety net for these families to ensure that the children continued to learn during these challenging times.”  Our team connects with families from school, church and health services referrals. During COVID many of these exchanges were virtual or outside in public spaces. The team continued to find creative ways for   one-on-one, hour-long parent-child sessions that focus on recognizing letters, colors and shapes. The older kids work on other skills including reading and writing. A key component is the activity books the families can take home and work on together.  “We provide access and education on the tools, resources and support for families to be the first teachers at home,” said Soledad Ruiz, CHISPA Program Coordinator. “Even during COVID, we were able to get our families ready for their children to start school and encourage them to become leaders in their homes and communities.” The CHISPA team also helps the families celebrate their cultural heritage with their children. Recently, the CHISPA families gathered to celebrate International Day of the Child as well as Hispanic Heritage Month. Everyone enjoyed sampling special recipes from the Hispanic countries represented by our families. Through Chispa, we not only focus on early education for children and their families, but also celebrate their amazing cultures and Hispanic heritage. CHISPA IMPACT   July 2020 – June 2021 90% of parents increased their positive parenting skills and quality parent-child interactions.  92.5% of parents increased their knowledge of healthy, age-appropriate child development.   CHISPA SUCCESS STORY  A.G. and his mom have been part of CHISPA for the past two years, since he was turning three years old. During initial observations and assessments, our parent educator detected a delay in A.G.’s communication skills and referred his mom to Georgia’s Babies Can’t Wait Program, which helps families and special needs children from 0-3 years of age. Once he was evaluated and started receiving services, A.G. began using simple words. Our parent educator and his mom worked on his vocabulary during Play & Learn sessions and home visits. Once he aged out of the Babies Can’t Wait program, A.G. was referred to the Gwinnett County Public Schools Special Education Services. Through these services and CHISPA, A.G.’s vocabulary has increased, and he can communicate with sign language and words. AG and his mom are one of the many families Soledad and her team are helping with early intervention and child development. A.G’s mom shares how thankful she is for CHISPA and how quickly her son got the support he needed to begin to thrive.   This is sponsored content.

Last week, the Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC) announced ATL Action for Racial Equity, a multi-year, multi-step action plan designed to help address the ongoing effects of systemic racism impacting the Black community. In just a few days since launch, 30 additional metro Atlanta-based companies ranging in size and industry joined the initiative – to-date totaling more than 180 participating organizations. These companies and leaders will leverage the size, scale and expertise of the region’s business community to advance racial equity. Invitations to the initiative remain open, and MAC is inviting all businesses across metro Atlanta to sign on.  ATL Action for Racial Equity focuses on measurable actions across corporate policies, inclusive economic development, education and workforce development – critical areas in addressing the region’s immobility and inequity challenges. See quotes below from the region’s business leaders on why they chose to participate and why this initiative is important, now more than ever. Reach out to [email protected] to learn more. Ed Bastian, CEO Delta Air Lines and 2021 Board Chair, Metro Atlanta Chamber: “In metro Atlanta, our differences are our strength. We work together to make our community and the world better. We are not perfect, but we are committed to preserving and holding up this region’s legacy, especially now. As we tackle economic recovery, public health and the disproportionate impacts on our Black community, our business community must do its part. This is a moral and economic imperative as we work to grow our region’s competitiveness today and into the future.”   Jimmy Etheredge, CEO North America, Accenture: “Accenture is proud to collaborate with the Metro Atlanta Chamber and business leaders across Atlanta to take action on building a more equitable future for our community. Together, we are acting, we are leading, and we are driving change.”  Steve Koonin, CEO, Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena: “We proudly support ATL Action for Racial Equity and promise that our franchise will continue taking the steps and supporting the causes that lead to equity for all in our city.”  Rohit Malhotra, Founder and Executive Director, Center for Civic Innovation: “The Center for Civic Innovation mission and day to day operations are designed to fight for an equity-centered Atlanta. The business community in Atlanta has a long and complicated history with equity in our city— we’re glad to see the Metro Atlanta Chamber call on companies and institutions to take measurable actions that align with their publicly stated values and sentiments. It is in this city’s best interest for this effort to succeed.”  Jenna Kelly, President, Truist Northern Georgia Region, Truist Bank: “At Truist, we firmly believe in building more just, inclusive, and equitable communities by standing for social justice, denouncing racism in all forms, and partnering with people and organizations who are as committed to equity we are. As we continue to have intentional dialogue around the role we can play in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, we’re excited to join the ATL Action for Racial Equity to do our part in making a positive difference throughout Atlanta.”  Mary Schmidt Campbell, President, Spelman College: “If metro Atlanta is to close the region’s stark wealth gap, we all have to commit to bold innovative solutions. Spelman College, committed to the educational excellence of the 2000 Black women who attend the College, is also committed to the educational excellence of students in our neighborhood schools. For the past three years, our students have enjoyed major success in improving the reading scores of students in our neighborhood Washington Cluster Schools. We intend to launch a program that will accomplish improvements in math proficiency. This commitment to the improvement of K-12 education is aligned with the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce’s business and community imperative to advance racial inclusion. We are proud to partner with MAC in their strategic approach to advocating for equity.”  Kyle Porter, CEO, SalesLoft: “The social justice and equity issues facing our companies, city, and nation are complex and intense. At SalesLoft we are committed to the necessary introspection, self-reflection, and action to be a more inclusive company because we believe it’s the right thing to do for our team, customers, and marketplace. SalesLoft is joining the ATL Action for Racial Equity because our internal efforts will be magnified and our progress accelerated through collaborative community work. Our community will become our ally and accountability partner providing the space to heed best practices, share wisdom, and generate ideas that will positively impact us all.    Russ Torres, President, Kimberly-Clark Professional: “At Kimberly-Clark, we believe racial equity and justice are moral issues that must be addressed through comprehensive actions to enact meaningful and sustainable change. We are moving with urgency. Therefore, we are proud to partner with ATL Action for Racial Equity in this mission. Their disciplined, multi-year plan leverages the collective strength of metro Atlanta employers to support focused corporate policies that foster inclusive workforce and community development. With more than 1,500 Kimberly-Clark employees in the metro Atlanta area, this initiative is uniquely personal to us. We believe the success of our company depends on creating workplaces, communities, and experiences where inclusion and diversity are evident and thriving. Together with ATL Action for Racial Equity, we look forward to creating a vibrant and more inclusive region that offers opportunity, growth, and long-term value for all.”  Elie Maalouf, CEO, Americas, InterContinental Hotel Group: “We applaud the Metro Atlanta Chamber on this initiative and stand with our peers in the Atlanta business community to advance diversity and inclusion. This commitment and collaboration reflect IHG’s values and inclusive culture, and builds on our own efforts to bring lasting, sustainable progress for the region and our colleagues.”  Paul Bowers (Chairman and CEO) and Chris Womack (President), Georgia Power: “At Georgia Power, we deeply value the diversity of our team and the communities we serve. That’s why we are committed to creating an environment where employees and customers feel a sense of belonging and can be their true authentic selves.  We’re proud to be a part of the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s ATL Action for Racial Equity efforts to do the same here in Atlanta. We believe businesses working together to ensure equality is how we can make a collective impact, and we’re …

By Peter Aman, former Bain & Company Partner and former City of Atlanta Chief Operating Officer There is a lot of conflicting information circulating about the financial impact of Buckhead leaving the City of Atlanta. For this column I invited Peter Aman to respond on behalf of the Committee for a United Atlanta to claims being made by the Buckhead City Committee. – Jim Durrett, President of the Buckhead Coalition and Executive Director of the Buckhead CID The advocates for the Buckhead City movement are dismissive of those pointing out the destructive financial consequences of a Buckhead divorce from Atlanta. The Buckhead City website makes a point that the $203 million in revenues derived for Buckhead City in a feasibility study done by Valdosta State University are only 10% of the City of Atlanta’s fiscal year 2022 budget of $2.04 billion. No big deal, right? Wrong. The problem is that the budget number cited by the Buckhead City proponents is either intentionally misleading or they just don’t understand how Atlanta’s budget works. The $2.04 billion cited by the Buckhead City proponents includes roughly $1.3 billion in dedicated funds associated with Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atlanta Watershed Management and others. Those funds may not be co-mingled and used in the general operations of the City. The General Fund, with a fiscal year 2022 budget of $710 million, is the fund out of which the City pays police officers and fire fighters and conducts the general business of the City. That General Fund budget is what the City Council approved in June. In fact, the revenue line items contained in the General Fund budget were used by Valdosta State to compute its revenue estimates for a proposed Buckhead City. So, the appropriate way to analyze the impact on Atlanta is to look at the revenues Buckhead City would siphon off as a percentage of Atlanta’s General Fund. Using the Valdosta State estimate of $203 million and the City’s fiscal year 2022 General Fund budget of $710 million results in a 29 percent reduction in revenues for the City of Atlanta. The City has never had to deal with a revenue reduction of that magnitude since the Great Depression and it would cripple the City. The good people at Valdosta State would no doubt understand this, but they were not asked to look at the impact of a proposed Buckhead City on the rest of Atlanta. They were only tasked with assessing whether Buckhead City would have enough revenues to operate. And, of course, if you’re only looking at whether the wealthiest neighborhoods in Atlanta can support themselves, the answer is going to be yes. But a Buckhead divorce would impact Atlanta in profound ways and we need to have an honest debate about that. This is why KB Advisory Group was engaged to prepare an analysis of what a Buckhead de-annexation would mean for the rest of Atlanta. In KB Advisory Group’s report, even after cost reductions undertaken by no longer providing services in Buckhead, Atlanta would stand to have a net loss in its General Fund budget of $80 to $116 million annually. The Atlanta neighborhoods that are not in Buckhead City would bear the brunt of the loss. And if the rest of Atlanta is substantially less able to pay for public safety officers and other city services, Buckhead won’t be safer, and the Atlanta region won’t continue to thrive as a place that attracts businesses from all over the world. The Buckhead cityhood movement stems from real concerns about crime, the level of city services and the unresponsiveness to the issues that affect Buckhead and the rest of the City. We should all press the incoming Mayor and City Council to work urgently to address these issues, not just for Buckhead, but for all communities within the City of Atlanta, and I encourage all Atlantans to make your voices heard and vote on November 2nd. But in the meantime, when you hear anyone suggest that Buckhead leaving Atlanta wouldn’t have devastating financial consequences, know that this claim is nothing but wishful thinking.   This is sponsored content.

By Olivia Chatman, Program Associate – Food Initiatives, Reinvestment Fund Across the country, the shameful reality of limited access to healthy food plagues historically marginalized communities. It is an issue that is rooted in discriminatory policies and disinvestment, and is reflected in the 27.6 million people living in places with inequitable and inadequate access to healthy food, according to our research on supermarket access disparities in the contiguous United States. In cities like Atlanta, supermarket development has notoriously followed patterns of redlining, a discriminatory lending practice beginning in the 1930s, as retailers concentrated development in wealthy, white communities while avoiding low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.  Atlanta’s recently released Fresh Food Access Report showed that 25% of the city’s population lived more than half a mile away from fresh food as of 2020, an indicator of limited food access according to the USDA’s Food Research Atlas. Nationwide, there are significantly fewer chain supermarkets in predominantly low-income areas in comparison to middle-income areas. Similarly, there are approximately half as many chain supermarkets in predominantly Black neighborhoods in comparison to white neighborhoods.  Addressing food access challenges relies on partnerships and collaboration. Community organizing, advocating and engagement are all important pieces in the process of making steps towards food justice and dismantling food system inequities. Reaching these goals requires resources, such as money and technical expertise that can ensure the long-term sustainability of community efforts. Unfortunately, these tools are often not easily accessible in the underserved communities to which they would be most beneficial.   As a national community development financial institution (CDFI) with offices in Atlanta, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, Reinvestment Fund works in a variety of sectors, including food access, healthcare, education, and housing to address historic disinvestment and inequity due to systemic and institutional racism. These historic inequities have prevented certain groups of people, especially people of color, from accessing the resources needed for community development and prosperity. In the food space, Reinvestment Fund has pioneered strategies to provide debt, grants, and technical assistance, and analytical tools to support equitable food systems with programs such as the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative that serves as a model for food access partnership and investment strategies.  Over the last ten years, Reinvestment Fund has deployed over $253 million in financing in for healthy food retail and non-retail projects nationally.  With a dozen studies on topics related to food, including access, financing mechanisms, program design, and food systems, Reinvestment Fund has produced a body of research, which furthers collective knowledge about opportunities and gaps. Reinvestment Fund has also convened peer CDFIs in food systems lending for learning and advocacy towards building the field of expertise and resources to invest in food systems projects and retail food access. Fundamentally, moving towards the creation of a more equitable food system will require continued widespread collaboration between stakeholders and organizations, and the disbursement of knowledge and tangible resources to marginalized communities through organized efforts.   America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative Financing food retailers and other food system businesses to develop, renovate, and expand in historically marginalized communities is one effective approach to addressing inequities in the nation’s food system. These investments help retailers increase availability and access to food in underserved communities while also contributing to local economies. America’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) is a national program that embraces this framework by providing capital, in the form of grant funds and technical assistance, to food retail organizations and non-retail food enterprises in underserved areas. HFFI is a public-private partnership administered by Reinvestment Fund on behalf of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development to improve access to healthy food in underserved areas that was established by the 2014 Farm Bill and reauthorized in 2018. Since then, the program has distributed $4.8 million in targeted assistance to 43 food access projects, including grant awardees in 23 states and technical assistance recipients in 12 states.  Through HFFI, organizations and entrepreneurs are receiving grant funds and technical assistance to tackle food access gaps in their communities.  A diverse range of food retail and non-retail enterprises qualify for funding including independent grocers, alternative models – such as virtual and mobile markets – and other businesses looking for upfront capital to support project development, renovation, or expansion. Grant funds can be used for a variety of project needs such as predevelopment necessities, one-time fees, soft-costs, construction, equipment, materials, or as portion of an overall capital project that includes debt and/or local economic development incentives. Local to Georgia, the City of Albany’s Department of Community and Economic Development is using a $150,000 HFFI award to bring an affordable independent grocery store with a low-cost business model to the community. The South Albany community lost its grocery store in 2018 and is designated as a USDA Low Income Low Access area. The new Food for Less will make it easier to access healthy food locally and, while also creating new jobs. To be eligible for the HFFI program, food retail projects must accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Over 42 million low-income Americans receive SNAP benefits and retailers serving low-income communities rely on SNAP sales as a crucial source of revenue for their operations. With an increase in SNAP benefits for US households following the recent update of the Thrifty Food Plan for the first time since its establishment, efforts to expand retailers that accept SNAP benefits through programs such as HFFI complement the modernized plan to elevate food access within underserved populations. HFFI funds are targeted to projects in underserved areas, including the USDA Low Income, Low Access (LILA) areas, and Reinvestment Fund’s Limited Supermarket Access (LSA) areas, in order to address geographic disparities in healthy food access that are rooted in historic disinvestment and disproportionately affect low-income populations, people of color, and rural communities. Addressing the issue of food access for underserved populations by increasing the affordability and accessibility of food is closely tied to national efforts to decrease food insecurity. Increasing food access reduces some of the barriers …

By Jared Teutsch, Executive Director Bird migration is one of the most amazing feats in the natural world. Each fall and spring, billions of birds take to the skies, avoiding predators, and dodging turbulent weather as they travel between breeding grounds in the north and wintering grounds in the Caribbean or Central and South America. Some of these migration routes are epic, like the Red Knot that travels more than 9,300 miles one-way each fall and spring, pausing along Georgia’s coast to refuel. Or, the tiny Ruby-throated Hummingbird, weighing about the same as a penny, that spends summers in Georgia and then, in a stunning migratory feat, crosses the Gulf of Mexico, a 500-mile trip, in a single 18- to 22-hour flight!  Many of these birds pass through Atlanta where they face a new and dangerous threat—glass-covered, brightly-lit buildings. Current research estimates that between 365 million and 1 billion birds perish each year after colliding with buildings in the U.S. Atlanta is a particularly challenging place for migrating birds, ranking as the fourth most dangerous city during fall migration and ninth in spring for light exposure to migratory birds, according to a 2019 study by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. With an estimated 250 million birds passing over Georgia during spring and 675 million birds migrating over in the fall, it is vital to learn about migration over our state and make our cities safer. Most migrating birds pass through Georgia during the nighttime hours, when skies are calmer, predators are less active, and temperatures are cooler. Large, brightly lit cities wreak havoc on migratory birds as the ever-present glow of artificial light turns the normally safe nighttime sky into a perilous pathway. Bright lights confuse and disorient birds causing them to collide with structures or become trapped in beams of light where they circle until they are exhausted. Once on the ground, brightly lit building lobbies, reflective glass showing trees and shrubs, transparent facades, or even indoor plants near windows can lead to more collisions.  Since 2015, Georgia Audubon has been studying this problem through Project Safe Flight Georgia to gain a better understanding of what buildings are most problematic and which species are most affected. During spring and fall migration, volunteers patrol routes in downtown Atlanta, Buckhead, Dunwoody, as well as at Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State University, and Georgia State University. Through newly developed partnerships with these universities and the Lily Branch Audubon student chapter at the University of Georgia, in Athens, we have opened the door to new research opportunities, student engagement, and the possibility of making the campuses safer for birds.  A sister program to Project Safe Flight, the Lights Out Georgia initiative is a voluntary effort designed to make Georgia safer for our resident and migratory birds. Modeled after similar successful programs in New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Toronto, Lights Out Georgia participants pledge to take bird-friendly steps during spring and fall migration between the hours of 12:00 midnight and sunrise to create safe passage for migrating birds. You can learn more about Light Out Georgia at www.georgiaaudubon.org/lights-out-georgia.  Finally, thanks to a collaborative effort between Georgia Audubon and Dr. Kyle Horton, at Colorado State University, and a generous grant from the Disney Conservation Fund, Georgia Audubon recently launched a new tool allowing us to predict nights of high bird migration and issue Lights Out Alerts. While it might not be possible to dim the lights every single night during migration, reducing or eliminating nighttime lights on the ten or so peak migratory nights each season may be the most palatable approach. Beyond monitoring for building collision victims, we are taking steps to reduce these collisions through education, advocacy, and physically improving problematic buildings. From applying bird-safe film to select buildings with a collision problem to exploring the best avenues for implementing bird friendly glass in new construction projects, Georgia Audubon is working to make Atlanta a city that works not only for its residents, but also for the avian life that shares our space.   This is sponsored content.

Average U.S. credit scores climb to 695 according to Experian’s State of Credit report and new HOPE Financial Wellness Index As we end the second summer since the arrival of COVID-19, Experian® today announced key findings from its 12th annual State of Credit report. This year’s report also serves as a launch for Operation HOPE’s all-new HOPE Financial Wellness Index, which will help shine a consistent light on the current state of consumer credit. Despite a challenging year and a half, the new data shows consumers are managing credit well with average credit scores climbing seven points since 2020 to 695 – the highest point in more than 13 years. “While consumers on average are managing their credit histories well, we know there are many communities in critical need of more financial education and resources” Tweet this According to Experian’s report, many consumers were managing credit well before the pandemic’s arrival and the accommodations afforded by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act may have helped consumers protect their financial health. At the same time, stay-at-home orders and record savings levels1 may have contributed to lower unsecured and total debt levels, lower credit utilization rates and fewer missed payments. This year, Experian is partnering with Operation HOPE – the nation’s largest nonprofit dedicated to improving financial literacy – to launch the HOPE Financial Wellness Index, which highlights the average credit score in every state and city. According to the index, consumers in Minnesota have the highest credit scores with an average of 726, followed by Vermont (719), New Hampshire (718), Washington (717) and Massachusetts (716). States with the lowest credit scores were found in the south, including Mississippi (666), Louisiana (669), Alabama (672), Oklahoma (672) and Texas (673). The HOPE Financial Wellness Index will be updated regularly and will be used to develop programming and identify communities most in need of financial education and resources. “We believe credit education plays an important role in driving financial inclusion and helping consumers reach their fullest potential,” said Alex Lintner, President Experian Consumer Information Services. “While these findings are positive, we recognize they do not tell the full story and many consumers face financial obstacles due to a limited credit history. We are committed to working with consumers, as well as our partners like Operation HOPE, to improve financial equity and access.” Given the unique circumstances of 2020, this year’s report compared credit trends over the last three years. While consumers took on more mortgage and auto debt, score improvements were supported by fewer missed payments, lower credit utilization rates and reduced card balances and total debt levels year-over-year and prior to the pandemic’s arrival. Highlights of Experian’s State of Credit report include: 2021 State of Credit Report 2019 2020 2021 Average VantageScore® 2 682 688 695 Median VantageScore 687 697 707 Average number of credit cards 3.0 3.0 3.0 Average credit card balance $6,494 $5,897 $5,525 Average revolving utilization rate 30% 26% 25% Average number of retail credit cards 2.50 2.42 2.33 Average retail credit card balance $1,930 $2,044 $1,887 Average nonmortgage debt $25,057 $25,483 $25,112 Average mortgage debt $210,263 $215,655 $229,242 Average auto loan or lease debt $19,034 $19,462 $20,505 Average 30–59 days past due delinquency rates 3.8% 2.4% 2.3% Average 60–89 days past due delinquency rates 1.9% 1.3% 1.0% Average 90–180 days past due delinquency rates 6.6% 3.8% 2.5% “While consumers on average are managing their credit histories well, we know there are many communities in critical need of more financial education and resources,” said John Hope Bryant, Operation HOPE founder and CEO. “By helping people raise their credit scores, we are empowering them to take advantage of one of our nation’s most democratic tools. From housing and employment to healthcare and education, credit worthiness can be leveraged to improve our overall quality of life. We’re committed to using the HOPE Financial Wellness Index as a force for good in the communities we serve.” Understanding generational differences State of Credit also spotlights how each generation is managing their debts, showing scores have improved for every generation year-over-year. This trend is attributed to declining utilization rates and fewer missed payments. Credit utilization rates have declined for nearly every generation since 2019 except Gen Z who saw a slight uptick year-over-year. Similarly, credit card balances decreased for consumers of all age groups except Gen Z who increased their balances by $115 year-over-year. Across the board, consumers are missing fewer payments, with notable improvements seen among the youngest consumers. Gen Z decreased their 90 – 180 days past due delinquency rate by 29 percent year over year to 1.73 in 2021. This is a 72 percent decrease from the same period in 2019. Millennials also decreased their 90 – 180 days past due delinquency rates to 1.73 percent in 2021, down from 4.4% in 2021 and 10.6 percent in 2019. Additional 2021 generational findings from Experian’s State of Credit report include: 2021 findings by generation Gen Z Gen Y Gen X Boomers Silent Average VantageScore® 660 667 685 724 730 Median VantageScore 674 678 699 755 741 Average number of credit cards 1.7 2.7 3.3 3.4 2.7 Average credit card balance $2,312 $4,569 $7,236 $6,230 $3,821 Average revolving utilization rate 31% 30% 30% 21% 13% Average number of retail credit cards 1.6 2.1 2.5 2.5 2.1 Average retail credit card balance $1,125 $1,819 $2,214 $1,887 $1,329 Average nonmortgage debt $12,524 $28,317 $32,898 $24,136 $11,725 Average mortgage debt $192,276 $255,527 $259,100 $198,203 $163,254 Average 30–59 days past due delinquency rates 2.1% 3.1% 3.0% 1.8% 1.1% Average 60–89 days past due delinquency rates 1.0% 1.3% 1.3% 0.8% 0.5% Average 90–180 days past due delinquency rates 1.7% 3.2% 3.4% 2.0% 1.3% A strong credit history and responsible credit management can help consumers save thousands of dollars over a lifetime. For example, a person with a low credit score may pay close to $3,000 more in interest to purchase a $10,000 used car3 and a person with a subprime credit score may pay $241 more per month or $86,503 more over the life of a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan than a person with a score of 760 or above4. …

By Charles Redding, MedShare CEO & President More than 5 million men, women and children have fled Venezuela since 2014 because of violence, insecurity, and threats aggravated by lack of food, medicine and essential services – making it the world’s second largest refugee crisis, after Syria. The country’s healthcare, local-market, employment and food systems have collapsed. The situation has been further aggravated by political violence and hyperinflation over the past several months. High rates of poverty have left Venezuelans and indigenous populations struggling for a decent life, with an estimated 7 million people vulnerable to disease outbreaks and other emergencies and in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. The scale to which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected highly developed countries is a clear warning of the impact that it can have on developing countries with far less capacity. Indeed, cases are increasing rapidly in Venezuela, with few doses of COVID-19 vaccine available. In early May 2021, 202,578 cases and 2,226 deaths had been reported – a 45% increase in cases (from 139,545) and a 114% increase in deaths (from 1,038) in just two months since March 1, 2021. This unparalleled challenge to public health is amplified in contexts like today’s Venezuela, where essential medicines, basic medical supplies and qualified personnel are lacking and communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, measles and malaria are pervasive and maternal and infant mortality are on the rise. This is where MedShare steps in… “Thanks to MedShare’s support, our team distributed medical supplies equipment to vulnerable families in five states and the Distrito Capital in Venezuela.” – International Medical Corps Medshare recently partnered with International Medical Corps (IMC) to address the growing Covid-19 outbreak and other realted health challenges brought about due to the poor health system infrastructure. The medical supplies and equipment donated by MedShare complemented International Medical Corps’ health programming in 29 health facilities across the Distrito Capital, Bolívar, Falcón, Miranda, Sucre and Zulia states. Distrito Capital (Caracas) The Distrito Capital has been the most affected by COVID-19 and has passed 30,000 positive cases. On November 24, 2020, International Medical Corps’ Venezuela team distributed MedShare medical supplies and equipment at two health facilities, Dr. Leopoldo Manrique Terrero and Jesús Yerena. The health facilities have a considerable area of influence and serve as two of the main hospitals for the District’s nearly 2 million residents. Bolívar State  Bolívar State is Venezuela´s largest in size and has approximately 2 million inhabitants, according to the last census in 2018. It is home to 39,538 indigenous people, distributed among 455 communities. This population is estimated to have tripled in size since the 1990s, aggravating their ongoing unmet need for access to healthcare, electricity, safe water and waste management. Bolívar has a high risk of COVID-19 transmission as it shares borders with Brazil, Colombia and Guyana. With donations from MedShare, International Medical Corps partnered with the local organization Fomento del Desarrollo Popular and the regional Ministry of Health, to implement a mobile medical team in Bolívar. The teams provided medical care across 11 communities and healthcare consultations to 2,978 people (1,782 female and 1,196 male) in Bolívar State.  Ten health facilities – 1) Camurica, 2) San Antonio del Orinoco, 3) Sayusodiña, 4) Tadakwaña, 5) Chajuraña, 6) Entre Ríos, 7) Santa María de Erebato, 8) Kanadakuni, 9) Majadakuwe Mai and 10) Nichare – received medical supplies donated by MedShare, which included pill bottles, face masks, face shields, syringes and needles in October 2020 to support ongoing activities in Bolívar. Falcón State As elsewhere in Venezuela, new COVID-19 cases and an increase in hospital admissions have been challenging the state’s already weakened health sector. On November 30, 2020, International Medical Corps supported three health facilities, two hospitals and one outpatient clinic, with donated medical supplies and equipment from MedShare. Their team provided Wilfredo Medina Outpatient Clinic, located in La Vela de Coro city, and Ezequiel Zamora and José María Espinoza Maternal Hospitals, located in Punto Fijo city and Coro city, respectively, with bandages, gauze, catheters, disposable washcloths, gloves, facemasks, syringes, needles and more. Miranda State Miranda is the second most populous state in Venezuela, home to 3.7 million people. Most of its communities are low-income and have difficulties accessing basic resources and services due to scarcity of products, high prices and distance from urban centers. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the dire situation in most of the municipalities in this state as hospitals have a shortage of beds, medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE).  In Miranda state, International Medical Corps supported two health facilities with MedShare-donated medical supplies and equipment – Dr. Domingo Luciani and Dr. Jesús Reggeti. Both health facilities serve as the main health centers in their respective municipalities. To support their work among this vulnerable community, International Medical Corps distributed an array of supplies including surgical drapes, catheters, blood collection sets, gloves, IV extension sets and more. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, with support from International Medical Corps, the health facility has provided uninterrupted service – reaching more than 9,500 people in 2020.  “MedShare’s generous donation helped continue this support by allowing our team to provide sodium chloride solution, gauze, gloves, lancets, crutches, specimen containers and more.” – International Medical Corps Sucre State The majority of Sucre State’s public health facilities are functioning at low capacity due to the lack of medical staff, medicines, and medical equipment. The state is neglected in all senses, as it consists of a long peninsula with very remote communities situated all along it. Preventing COVID-19 transmission in this state is challenging as many people do not follow bio-security measures or even believe in the virus’s existence, despite the health authorities’ efforts to sensitize the population. In January 2021, International Medical Corps’ Venezuela team distributed donated MedShare items to Fundasalud, Sucre State’s Health Secretariat. By providing Fundasalud with items such as drapes, feeding kits, masks, gloves, IV extension sets, X-ray sponges and more, they can help fill gaps as they arise. Zulia State Zulia State is the fifth largest and the …

By Aixa Pascual Recently released 2020 Census data confirms that the Hispanic population continues to be a major engine of growth in the 11-county Atlanta region. As we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, we share some key data points that show how the nation’s second-largest racial or ethnic group is shaping demographic trends across our metro area. Read more at What’s Next ATL. This is sponsored content.

On July 1, 2021 the Supreme Court handed down its decision in a highly anticipated voting rights case, Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, on appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The case arrived at the Court as a result of past litigation filed by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and certain affiliates challenging the validity of two provisions in the State of Arizona’s voting framework under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA). While VRA Section 2 cases have previously come before the Court for consideration in matters involving redistricting challenges and vote-dilution claims, Brnovich represents the Court’s attempt at answering the important question of how to answer a Section 2 challenge to state laws governing the time, place and manner of an election. As summarized below, the impact of the Court’s ruling will have a profound effect on how courts interpret VRA Section 2 challenges going forward, and the ability of plaintiffs to challenge facially-neutral state election laws based purely upon allegations of disparate impact on certain groups of voters. The first election regulation under review in the Brnovich case requires that Arizona state residents who live in counties using an electoral precinct system vote in their assigned registration precinct if they choose to vote in person on Election Day. The second state regulation under review in the case makes it a felony for anyone other than an election official, postal worker, or designated caregiver, family, or household member to collect another voter’s early ballot prior to or after completion. In the underlying litigation associated with the case, the DNC and its affiliates challenged both regulations as in violation of VRA Section 2 under the theory that they caused a purported “adverse and disparate effect” on Arizona’s American Indian, Hispanic, and African-American voters. The District Court in the case rejected these claims, as did a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit. Those findings were reversed, however, in an en banc decision by the Ninth Circuit, which was subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court. Following review and oral argument earlier this spring, a 6-3 majority of the Supreme Court reversed the en banc decision of the Ninth Circuit and upheld the legality of both Arizona regulations. In its decision, the Court held that neither regulation violated the VRA’s requirement that the voting process be “equally open” to all voters based upon a review of the challenged regulations under the totality of circumstances required by Section 2. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, noted that Brnovich was a case of first impression as it relates to the Court analysis of state laws governing the time, place, and manner of voting under VRA Section 2. While the Court refused to announce a formal rubric for analyzing Section 2 challenges to time, place, and manner voting rules going forward, the majority did compile a list of guideposts by which to conduct the mandated totality of circumstances analysis. Factors identified by the Court for this analysis included: the size of the burden imposed by a challenged voting rule; the degree to which a voting rule departs from what was standard practice when Section 2 was last amended by Congress in 1982; the size of any disparities in a rule’s impact on members of different racial or ethnic groups; the opportunities provided by a state’s entire system of voting; and the strength of a state’s interests served by a challenged voting rule. Since Arizona’s system generally makes it easy to vote (through a combination of early voting, permanent no-excuse mail voting, and vote centers), and because Arizona has a “strong and entirely legitimate state interest in preventing election fraud,” the Court found that the challenged regulations did not burden voters in a manner that kept the state’s voting process from being equally open to all. According to the majority, both requiring Election Day voters to cast their ballots at their assigned precincts, and requiring voters to cast their own paper ballots or use statutorily authorized proxies for such activities, were examples of “the usual burdens of voting.” The Court also rejected the DNC’s argument that Arizona’s second regulation was racially-motivated, finding no evidence that the legislature’s restriction on early ballot collection was “imbued with racial motives”. Writing for the dissent, Justice Elena Kagan argued that the majority interpreted Section 2 of the VRA too narrowly, and created a set of extra-textual factors by which to apply the totality of circumstances analysis mandated by the statute. Rejecting this approach, the dissent noted that following a Supreme Court decision in 1980 requiring a showing of discriminatory purpose to support a Section 2 claim, Congress amended the law in 1982 to “make clear that ‘results’ alone” could establish a violation of the VRA. The majority, however, took issue with this analysis, highlighting Justice Kagan’s focus on adopting a disparate-impact standard for legality under Section 2 and placing a least-restrictive means requirement on the facially-neutral regulation of voting by state legislatures. Given the substantial number of states that have enacted new voting legislation in the wake of the 2020 election and the assortment of legal challenges pending across the country regarding these nascent laws, the legal standards announced in the Brnovich decision will undoubtedly have a huge impact on the implementation and interpretation of state election law in many jurisdictions leading up to the 2022 midterm elections. Much remains to be seen in the wake of this consequential decision, but at the very least the Court’s opinion signals that neutral time, place, and manner rules governing voting will likely withstand Section 2 scrutiny provided that a state’s election processes remain equally open to all voters. The Court’s ruling also likely strengthens the viability of efforts around the country to implement and strengthen state laws restricting third-party ballot collection, sometimes referred to as “ballot harvesting” activities. Looking ahead to the important 2022 election cycle, Dentons Political Law team will continue to monitor key election litigation, legislation and policy developments nationwide and provide updates as appropriate.   This is sponsored content.

Westside Future Fund (WFF) is excited to be supporting thought leadership in the SaportaReport on Atlanta’s Historic Westside. At the October 15 Transform Westside Summit we announced the Westside Future Fund (WFF) PRI Program!  A program-related investment (PRI) is low-cost capital that not-for-profit organizations can use to spur community development. Thanks to charitable support from Truist and PNC banks, WFF will provide low-cost loans to small, minority-owned businesses based in or serving the Historic Westside.  This program builds on a pilot initially funded by AT&T and the Beloved Benefit.  Our goal is to mobilize people with current, historical, or aspirational ties to the community to organically support the Westside’s economic development.  The October 15 Transform Westside Summit highlighted the importance of economic empowerment of African American entrepreneurs with three special guest panelists – Courtney Smith from PNC Bank, Paul Wilson, Jr. from the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE), and Keitra Bates of Marddy’s Shared Kitchen and Marketplace.  A common theme from the panelists was the need for equity in access to capital for Black business owners.  Keitra Bates noted that white startups have access to $100,000 from family, on average, while for black startups, it’s only $11,000. In June 2020, PNC Bank announced its bold $1 billion commitment to playing a role in combatting racism and discrimination.  During the Summit, Courtney elaborated on PNC’s commitment to the Westside by helping end systemic racism by donating to WFF for program-related investments.  Keitra Bates is a recipient of a WFF PRI that she used to renovate and expand her shared kitchen.  Marddy’s focus is on economic inclusion, business development, and growth opportunities for local food entrepreneurs with their primary service groups of people of color, women, and other marginalized populations. With the help of RICE, the PRI recipients will have access to resources to innovate, grow, create jobs, and build wealth. Part business generator, innovation lab, and museum, RICE invests in African American entrepreneurs, strengthens businesses, and creates community. We have many miles to eliminate the wealth gap between white and black startups.  Thanks to our panelists and the organization they represent, we are making progress and hopefully serving as models for others!  Check out our newsletter to learn more about the October 15 Summit. This is sponsored content.

By Michele Jacobs, Senior Director, Youth Development at United Way of Greater Atlanta The lives of too many young people in Metro Atlanta hang in the balance. More than 50,000, 16–24-year-olds in our region are out of school and not connected to work which could have lifelong negative impacts on earnings, housing stability, mental health and other factors.  But, there is hope and solutions.  At the United Way of Greater Atlanta, we’re committed to ensuring young adults have the tools to build a bright future. With a vision to build out a Youth Apprenticeship System focused on creating multiple pathways to economic well-being for Black, Hispanic and other youth of color, our CareerReady ATL Initiative is developing the talent pipeline to meet the needs of our diverse industries. And we know these investments are necessary – right now a young person’s zip code is a greater predictor of our children’s future achievements, earnings, and life expectancy than their talent, hard work, or other factors.  Atlanta has a strong and diverse business sector, many post-secondary educational institutions, first-rate nonprofits, and a civil rights legacy that has grown into a movement ─ all of which have elevated our status to one of national recognition of activism and change. And yet, structural inequities born of racism create conditions that all too often entrench youth and young adults in cycles of poverty. Atlanta is ranked number one in economic inequality, a dynamic that fuels enormous economic and human negative repercussions for our city and the ability to realize our young people’s greatest potential.  So, we’re turning the tide and working to become a national model for how best to drive transformational change in addressing the multi-layered issue of youth employment. Our goal is to create 4,000 high-quality Youth Apprenticeship opportunities within the Greater Atlanta region.  First and foremost, young people are empowered to be the leaders of their own journey. Since 2013, we have been working to align key youth development and youth organizing strategies in collaboration with our community partners to achieve youth-led changes in our metro Atlanta region. There are few youth employment programs that are implemented by multi-sectoral partners. We are building a comprehensive workforce development initiative that will create sustainable career pathways with youth at the center.  Our efforts are intentionally building programs that reach into our schools and create pipelines to good jobs through pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs connected to high demand industries that pay family sustaining wages. We offer coaching and no wrong door approaches. And our initiatives pay our youth living wages because we know many of these young people are heads of household for their families or have other care-giving responsibilities. So far, we have served over 10,000 youth.  And we could do more with greater federal support. We were thrilled to see President Biden’s commitment to young people and now we need to see action. Federal investments in workforce development, a focus on apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs, and subsidized employment is exactly what our community needs. Additionally, intentional investments in creating the jobs of the future within the green economy offers new and renewed opportunities for us to build even more pipelines to good paying jobs for young people while incubating new business opportunities for our region.  It’s beyond time to invest in education and employment opportunities at scale and we know what works for our young people. Failing to meet this moment with the investments necessary at the scale and for the duration needed will result in far too many young people being locked out of the labor market – which will have lifelong negative impacts for youth, families, employers, and our entire Atlanta community.  This is a pivotal moment for positive impact of the future economic and community well-being in metro-Atlanta through changing the trajectory for youth and young adults. So, they choose the future they want to see for themselves and their community.     This is sponsored content.

A team of six Emory computer science students are helping to usher in a new era in artificial intelligence. They’ve developed a chatbot capable of making logical inferences that aims to hold deeper, more nuanced conversations with humans than have previously been possible. They’ve christened their chatbot “Emora,” because it sounds like a feminine version of “Emory” and is similar to a Hebrew word for an eloquent sage. The team is now refining their new approach to conversational AI — a logic-based framework for dialogue management that can be scaled to conduct real-life conversations. Their longer-term goal is to use Emora to assist first-year college students, helping them to navigate a new way of life, deal with day-to-day issues and guide them to proper human contacts and other resources when needed. Eventually, they hope to further refine their chatbot — developed during the era of COVID-19 with the philosophy “Emora cares for you” — to assist people dealing with social isolation and other issues, including anxiety and depression. The Emory team is headed by graduate students Sarah Finch and James Finch, along with faculty advisor Jinho Choi, associate professor in the Department of Computer Sciences. The team also includes graduate student Han He and undergraduates Sophy Huang, Daniil Huryn and Mack Hutsell. All the students are members of Choi’s Natural Language Processing Research Laboratory. “We’re taking advantage of established technology while introducing a new approach in how we combine and execute dialogue management so a computer can make logical inferences while conversing with a human,” Sarah Finch says. “We believe that Emora represents a groundbreaking moment for conversational artificial intelligence,” Choi adds. “The experience that users have with our chatbot will be largely different than chatbots based on traditional, state-machine approaches to AI.” Last year, Choi and Sarah and James Finch headed a team of 14 Emory students that took first place in Amazon’s Alexa Prize Socialbot Grand Challenge, winning $500,000 for their Emora chatbot. The annual Alexa Prize challenges university students to make breakthroughs in the design of chatbots, also known as socialbots — software apps that simplify interactions between humans and computers by allowing them to talk with one another. This year, they developed a completely new version of Emora with the new team of six students. They made the bold decision to start from scratch, instead of building on the state-machine platform they developed in 2020 for Emora. “We realized there was an upper limit to how far we could push the quality of the system we developed last year,” Sarah Finch says. “We wanted to do something much more advanced, with the potential to transform the field of artificial intelligence.” They based the current Emora on three types of frameworks to advance core natural language processing technology, computational symbolic structures and probabilistic reasoning for dialogue management. They worked around the clock, making it into the Alexa Prize finals in June. They did not complete most of the new system, however, until just a few days before they had to submit Emora to the judges for the final round of the competition. That gave the team no time to make finishing touches to the new system, work out the bugs, and flesh out the range of topics that it could deeply engage in with a human. While they did not win this year’s Alexa Prize, the strategy led them to develop a system that holds more potential to open new doors of possibilities for AI. In the run-up to the finals, users of Amazon’s virtual assistant, known as Alexa, volunteered to test out the competing chatbots, which were not identified by their names or universities. A chatbot’s success was gauged by user ratings. “The competition is extremely valuable because it gave us access to a high volume of people talking to our bot from all over the world,” James Finch says. “When we wanted to try something new, we didn’t have to wait long to see whether it worked. We immediately got this deluge of feedback so that we could make any needed adjustments. One of the biggest things we learned is that what people really want to talk about is their personal experiences. ” Sarah and James Finch, who married in 2019, are the ultimate computer power couple. They met at age 13 in a math class in their hometown of Grand Blanc, Michigan. They were dating by high school, bonding over a shared love of computer programming. As undergraduates at Michigan State University, they worked together on a joint passion for programming computers to speak more naturally with humans. “If we can create more flexible and robust dialogue capability in machines,” Sarah Finch explains, “a more natural, conversational interface could replace pointing, clicking and hours of learning a new software interface. Everyone would be on a more equal footing because using technology would become easier.” She hopes to pursue a career in enhancing computer dialogue capabilities with private industry after receiving her PhD.  James Finch is most passionate about the intellectual aspects of solving problems and is leaning towards a career in academia after receiving his PhD. The Alexa Prize deadlines required the couple to work many 60-hour-plus weeks on developing Emora’s framework, but they didn’t consider it a grind. “I’ve enjoyed every day,” James Finch says. “Doing this kind of dialogue research is our dream and we’re living it. We are making something new that will hopefully be useful to the world.” They chose to come to Emory for graduate school because of Choi, an expert in natural language processing, and Eugene Agichtein, professor in the Department of Computer Science and an expert in information retrieval. Emora was designed not just to answer questions, but as a “social companion.” A caring chatbot was an essential requirement for Choi. At the end of every team meeting, he asks one member to say something about how the others have inspired them. “When someone sees a bright side in us, and shares it with others, everyone sees that …

In July 2021 GEEARS commissioned a statewide survey of 400 Georgia parents with children ages 0-4 that focused on a range of topics including child care arrangements and satisfaction levels, general attitudes toward, perceptions of, and preferences for child care, and financial and employment impacts in relation to child care during these unprecedented times.  Greater than six in ten (62%) said in light of the coronavirus pandemic, they are more likely to consider smaller, home-based care compared to larger group settings. Home-based care includes family/friend/neighbor care and family child care homes. With families preferring to keep their children in smaller settings, our citywide alliance of public and private partners saw an opportunity to step in and support Atlanta’s licensed homed-based child care providers.   PAACT: Promise All Atlanta Children Thrive, a citywide alliance convened by GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, in partnership with the Low-Income Investment Fund (LIIF), launched a new grant program exclusively for family child care learning home programs located in the City of Atlanta. PAACT and LIIF provided grants to family child care learning homes to help sustain operations as they continue to navigate the impacts of COVID-19 on their child care businesses. Twenty family child care homes received funding awards ranging from $7,000 to $18,500 to cover operation costs such as payroll, rent, utilities, and insurance. Grant recipients may also use funding to purchase program materials, furniture, or supplies needed to meet the demands of operating during COVID-19 and beyond. All eligible child care programs that submitted a complete application and met the criteria were awarded a grant.  “The launch of this fund allowed PAACT to support the City of Atlanta’s small network of family child care homes, so they have the financial resources to weather the crisis and continue providing quality care to families with young children,” said Brittany Collins, Director of PAACT. “Family child care learning homes are a critical part of the child care system in Georgia, and these investments help to ensure that families in Atlanta can continue to rely on them to provide high quality, equitable and responsive care for their children,” said Mindy Binderman, Executive Director of GEEARS. “Throughout Georgia, family child care providers are struggling to recover from the loss of income due to COVID -19. The help PAACT and LIIF are providing Atlanta providers is critically important,” said Joe Perreault, Public Policy Chair, Professional Family Child Care Alliance of Georgia (PFCCAG).” The grant program is funded through a national grant from Well Fargo Foundation and administered by LIIF.  “These grants will provide crucial financial support for family child care learning home programs struggling to provide quality child care amidst the pandemic,” said Angie Garling, Vice President of Early Care and Education Programs at LIIF.  “The early care and education sector, made up primarily of women of color, has been hard hit by the pandemic and recession. These small businesses need financial support in order to survive and for the local economy to recover.” Family child care home operator, Jane Benson said, “This grant opportunity afforded me the opportunity to not only remain open but also to maintain my affordable rates as well as hire a new staff person to support the program. I am thrilled to have the additional support at the program but also to be able to provide employment opportunity to a member of my community. In addition, I am also now able to provide a scholarship to an existing client, a single mom who no longer was able to afford childcare. I want to express my gratitude for being selected as recipient of this grant.”  PAACT and LIIF are proud to support family child care home providers who care for over 180 children from age birth to five in the City of Atlanta. LIIF administered the funding, reviewed applications, and deployed grant awards. Grant funding was only available for licensed family child care learning homes located in the City of Atlanta, caring for children ages birth to five. All grantees were:  Located in the City of Atlanta Licensed by August 9, 2021, and have no substantial licensing infractions  Higher funding tiers were given to programs that:  Primarily serve families with low incomes and those with the greatest need  Are Quality Rated or in process (receiving TA or waiting on an assessment)  Accept CAPS subsidies Participate in the PAACT Fund for Quality Facility Improvement Program Operate within the Washington and Douglass APS clusters or other areas with a high population of children under 5 in poverty and known shortage of high-quality child care (prior to the crisis) – (See ATL Access Map for more information. About PAACT: Convened by GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, PAACT: Promise All Atlanta Children Thrive is a city-wide alliance of public and private partners collaborating to improve learning, health, and well-being outcomes for Atlanta’s youngest children and their families.  About LIIF: LIIF is a national nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) with a mission to mobilize capital and partners to achieve opportunity, equity and well-being for people and communities. In combination with capital, LIIF delivers specialized business support and development, including training and technical assistance on facilities design, development, financing, and operations. The LIIF Child Care Team also supports local communities’ efforts to identify and organize resources to increase the supply of quality local child care options.   This is sponsored content.