Category: Guest Column

Eleven days. That is how long we have until the first FIFA World Cup match kicks off at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on June 15, 2026. And Atlanta is getting ready for company. Streets are being repaved. Crosswalks are getting fresh paint. New signage is being installed across the Beltline corridor; the Atlanta Beltline’s own construction records […]

It was an evening of insight, relevance and inspiration. A memorable Black and Jewish America Fireside Chat featuring a powerful and engaging conversation between renowned literary critic, professor and filmmaker Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and UNCF President and CEO Dr. Michael L. Lomax, held at The Temple, the oldest synagogue in Atlanta. Nearly 500 guests […]

For decades, “Food Is Medicine” was viewed primarily as a compassionate community service. Today, it is rapidly becoming one of the most important conversations in American healthcare. That shift is happening because the research is now catching up to what community-based organizations like Open Hand have seen firsthand for years: when people living with serious […]

Nonprofits have always been asked to do more with less. What they face now is something different — not a cyclical squeeze, but a structural one. In 2025, the sector hit a fiscal cliff as the last of the COVID-era stimulus funding expired. That alone would have been disruptive. Layered on top of it came […]

It’s hard to forget the TPS report. In the film “Office Space,” the now-iconic gag hinges on a piece of paperwork so trivial —and so obsessively formatted — that it becomes a symbol of everything hollow about corporate life. The joke lands because it feels absurd: a man reprimanded, repeatedly, for not putting the right […]

Atlanta is a region I love deeply and have been proud to call home for almost 20 years. Every time the wheels touch down, and I see the skyline rise into view, I feel the exhale of returning to a place that has loved me, stretched me, bloomed me and challenged me to become braver […]

“Jan” became a patient of ours, not in a hospital, but on a muddy back road of East Atlanta. This was her new home, after she had just been evicted from her apartment, without the dignity of collecting any of her belongings. Not even her psychiatric prescriptions.  Without them, her depression deepened, and at the […]

Each year, millions of American families are impacted by cancer. But cancer does not affect all communities equally. Nationally, Black Americans experience higher cancer rates, including for breast and prostate cancer, and have the highest overall cancer death rate among racial and ethnic groups, according to the American Cancer Society. For Black seniors in particular, […]

April 30, 2026, marks the two-year anniversary of the completion of Plant Vogtle, the only nuclear reactors built in the United States in the past 30 years. While state leaders celebrate it as a triumph, for Georgia Power customers experiencing two years of high electricity bills, this anniversary is not a celebration. It is a […]

When you ask most parents what their children need to thrive, the answers come quickly: a safe place to live, a good school, healthy relationships, access to healthcare, and opportunities to grow. These are not controversial ideas; they are shared values. But what often goes unspoken is this: whether children have access to these essentials […]

How would you respond to the question, “how is climate change personally impacting your life?” For many, the answer is no longer abstract or distant. It is felt in the relentless heat advisories that stretch summers longer each year. It is found in flooded basements after storms once described as rare. It shows up in […]

Atlanta is once again facing a familiar tension. Growth and equity are pulling in different directions, and the westside is caught in between. The debate over a proposed homeless shelter along the Atlanta BeltLine has sparked organized opposition, much of it framed as a fight for economic justice. As detailed in this Urbanize Atlanta report, […]

When Mayor Andre Dickens delivered his fifth State of the City address this week, he spoke to an audience that extends far beyond Atlanta’s borders. That audience, our state legislature, holds the key to Georgia’s next decade of growth — a key that can only be turned through stronger, more formal city-state collaboration. Atlanta is […]

For 35 years, Ed McBrayer’s passion for connecting people with trails reshaped the landscape of Atlanta and far beyond. His vision helped carve the face of Georgia by building pathways — bridges, tunnels, and miles of trails so that many generations will be able to walk, ride, and enjoy without ever knowing the loving and […]

On a humid summer evening in downtown Atlanta, a patient of ours living in an encampment near Peachtree Street is arrested for the minor offense of trespassing and loitering. He is then taken to Fulton County Jail. During booking, the Methadone medication he takes daily for opioid use disorder is stopped. Within 24 hours, withdrawal […]

At the end of 2025, over a span of just a few months, our family celebrated the lives and mourned the losses of five beautiful people who were our matriarchs, mentors and neighbors, ages 44, 63, 67, 68 and 81. Four were mothers, one a son and brother, all beloved in their own spheres and […]

In Atlanta, we often celebrate innovation — in business, technology and health care. Yet for many families across the metro area, the most basic part of health care remains the hardest: knowing whether they can afford the care they’re told to get. As someone who grew up translating insurance letters for my immigrant parents, and […]

The National Park Service has proposed a Cumberland Island National Seashore Visitor Use Management Plan (VUMP) — again. The plan would introduce sweeping changes to the uniquely wild landscapes of Georgia’s southernmost barrier island and fundamentally alter the visitor experience. Among other recommendations, the proposal would more than double visitor capacity from 300 to 700 […]

There’s no city like Atlanta. Since the 1996 Olympics, we have grown into a global powerhouse at the intersection of culture, commerce and campuses. Our influence is undeniable, from the music that helps shape the world’s sound to the civic movements that shape the national conversation. But as the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaches, we […]

Get ready, Atlanta history buffs, Christmas is right around the corner. I am, of course, referring to the most exciting time of the year for those who want to learn about all things Atlanta: Phoenix Flies. During the month of March, the Atlanta Preservation Center hands out the best present any Atlantan could ask for […]