All sectors of the Grove Park community — from corporate to government to nonprofit — gathered at the Delta Sky360 Club at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Oct. 14 to recognize the residents who had made a difference in the neighborhood. The third annual Grove Park Heroes Awards, hosted by the Grove Park Foundation, recognized community leaders who contributed to transforming the neighborhood.
Wendy Stewart, president of Global Commercial Banking at Bank of America, received the Icon Award for her service on the board of the Grove Park Foundation and her commitment to the nonprofit’s progress.
CJ and Kelli Stewart were named Youth and Education Heroes for their nonprofit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth, which aims to improve students’ academic outcomes. Eric Pinckney received the Economic Development Award for his leadership in affordable housing. Leah LaRue, the director of Atlanta’s Neighborhood Planning Units and a Grove Park resident herself, was named the 2025 Community Champion for her contributions to shaping the culture of the neighborhood.
Grove Park Foundation Vice Chair Katerina Taylor kicked off the night with a memory from 2018, when she first moved to Grove Park. While using a rideshare service, she had asked the driver to avoid a certain street for safety.
“As he made a left turn onto the exact same street I told him not to — the same street that gave me anxiety — he looked at me and said, ‘One day you’re going to be one of the people to be able to help change this community,’” Taylor recalled.
“Back then, I never could have imagined what Grove Park would look like today,” Taylor said. “The same street that I once avoided is the same street that gives me hope for Grove Park. It also lets me know that I’m close to home.”
Taylor said that in the years since 2018, Grove Park has become a safer neighborhood with better infrastructure and more plans for progress.
“None of this happened by accident,” she said. “Every step forward has been intentional, smart, ethical, and measured. And along the way, we always ask, how will the decisions that we make impact the people who live here?”
Grove Park Foundation uses the Purpose Built Communities model, which aims to create an education pipeline, secure quality affordable housing, and create opportunities for economic mobility. According to its website, the goal of the foundation is to improve the quality of life for residents with initiatives driven by the residents themselves.
According to Grove Park Foundation’s website, “[the foundation] helps families build better lives, and helps children reach their highest potential through a holistic approach to community revitalization that incorporates mixed-income housing, cradle-to-college education and community wellness.”
The nonprofit Purpose Built Communities was founded in Atlanta in 2009 by Georgia real-estate developer Tom Cousins, Warren Buffett, and Julian Robertson as an expansion of the model Cousins used to redevelop Atlanta’s East Lake neighborhood into mixed-income housing in the late 1990s. The theory behind the model is that breaking up concentrated areas of poverty with mixed-income housing and services may create upward economic mobility for residents.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens took the stage to praise Grove Park Foundation’s efforts and outcomes.
“One of the first lessons you learn as an elected official is that government simply cannot do it all. Even with the best intentions, there’s only so much that us elected officials can do,” Dickens said.
Grove Park Foundation Executive Director Gavin McGuire told a story about meeting a resident who always kept their porch light on. Given the cost of electricity, McGuire wondered why the light stayed on.
The resident told him that the light had been on for 20 years. “‘You want people to know that someone cares, that someone is here,’” McGuire remembered. “That light is a symbol of hope and a symbol that they still believe.”
Thank you! We are so proud of what Grove Park represents and how our neighbors make this a community where everyone can thrive.