Mayor-elect Dickens announces inaugural weekend activities leading to Jan. 3 swearing-in

By John Ruch

Mayor-elect Andre Dickens has announced a weekend of volunteer activities and prayer leading up to his Jan. 3 inauguration at his alma mater, Georgia Tech.

The schedule starts Saturday, Jan. 1 with a “Community Service Day” and community block party.

The community service includes three in-person events organized by the inauguration committee, running from the morning to 1 p.m., plus suggestions for virtual and do-it-yourself service. The in-person events include a cleanup at Buckhead’s Little Nancy Creek Park; assembling personal hygiene and clothing kits at Southwest Atlanta’s C.T. Martin Natatorium and Recreation Center; and a similar personal-kit project and “community Wiffle Ball games and outreach activities” at Midtown’s Piedmont Park.

The block party and “citizens reception” are scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. at Pullman Yards in Kirkwood.

On Sunday, Jan. 2 at 4 p.m., a virtual “Interfaith Prayer Across Atlanta” will be streamed on the inaugural website, movingatlforward.com.

On Monday, Jan. 3 at 1 p.m., Dickens will be sworn in as mayor at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium. The newly elected City Council will also gather there for the first time.

All in-person events will require mask-wearing and proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or negative test within the previous 24 hours. Registration is required for some events as well, including the inauguration itself, which is sure to fill up fast. For details, see the website.

The inauguration committee co-chairs include W. Imara Canady, an executive with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation; Candice Coleman Franklin, head of development at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights; philanthropist Lindy Radow; and Kenneth and Akilah Saffold, a BlackRock global credit executive and a schoolteacher, respectively.

Honorary co-chairs include Nicole Armstrong, CEO of the nonprofit TechBridge, where Dickens long worked and recently joined its national board of directors; Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera; Harold Melton, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia; and U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, who also chairs the Georgia Democratic Party.