Just weeks before the World Cup touches down in Atlanta, hundreds of volunteers took to the streets for the 2026 “Together for Downtown Community Day,” a large-scale volunteer initiative to revitalize South Downtown.
Hordes of volunteers painted murals, landscapes, cleaned up litter and covered graffiti at the all-day event on June 1. In total, organizers said 600 volunteers contributed a combined 3,000 hours of service worth roughly $105,000.
Hands on Atlanta President and CEO Naomi Green said the city can “see what happens when people from around our city decide to roll up our sleeves and rise up together.”
The community day was led by the Blank Family of Businesses with Hands on Atlanta, a nonprofit that connects individuals and corporate groups with volunteer opportunities.
The volunteer work is the finishing touch on a rapid-moving effort to revitalize the fraught downtown area in time to welcome an estimated 300,000 visitors during the World Cup. Green said the efforts help “make Atlanta a more welcoming place for the more than 51 million visitors that we welcome every year.”
But it’s a long-term investment in the city’s urban core. Many of the projects aren’t just for the FIFA frenzy — the CEOs, investors and project leaders say it’s for the people who will be here after.
“We want to do this kind of work now and in the future,” City of Atlanta Deputy Chief of Staff Austin Wagner said. “Because when FIFA leaves, when all this signage changes back, we’re still here. Atlanta is still here.”
Still, there’s a mad dash to ready the city’s major projects in time to welcome the world. South Downtown alone has already invested over $140 million in two and a half years to turn a disinvested neighborhood into a walkable density haven.
It lines up with other transformations. Centennial Yards sank over $5 billion to make “The Gulch” into a massive 50-acre mixed-use development, complete with apartments, hotels and an entertainment district. Cosm, a massive LED immersive entertainment dome, is set to open its third U.S. venue downtown on June 10 to screen live sports games and movies.
Blocks away, the CNN Center has been rebranded as “The CTR” opening June 12. It will be home to the “Cultural Exchange” and a 24,000-square-foot food hall. South Downtown CEO has called the host of projects a “once in a city’s lifetime” effort that can transform the urban core.
It all came together at the volunteer day. Hundreds of people from dozens of companies like Deloitte, the Home Depot and Coca-Cola gathered at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on the morning of June 1. Organizers called it a good “group project.”
But Birdsong pointed out the work is “way more than just one particular day.” City leaders agreed.
“This is the type of work that has a long-lasting impact,” Wagner said. “Part of that impact, part of that thing that we’re talking about with that new project, is this revitalization that we’re trying to have here in downtown.”
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