For Annie Moore, Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision of a beloved community didn’t die when he was assassinated.
A long-time community volunteer and activist, Annie’s passion is to revitalize her Atlanta, Georgia neighborhood, bringing to life Dr. King’s vision of a strong, thriving, resilient community.
The English Avenue neighborhood in Northwest Atlanta is located only a half mile west of Georgia Tech, the World Congress Center, the World of Coca-Cola, and the Georgia Dome, but suffers—ironically enough—from both crime and the threat of gentrification.
Annie is also part of a new Resilient Communities Impact Program, a whole-community effort engaging local changemakers to take individual and collective action to ensure all neighborhoods are thriving places of opportunity.
The Resilient Communities Impact Program, a collaboration between Southwest Airlines, Points of Light, Hands On Atlanta and other local partners, seeks to strengthen cross-sector participation and connections, instill a greater sense of identity and pride, increase quality of life, and support the livelihood of residents.
The initiative works to address a variety of needs in the English Avenue community – including programs designed to minimize hunger and malnutrition, alleviate poverty and deter crime, and leveraging the community’s historic and cultural arts focus to bring beauty to the community.
In the Points of Light interview linked to below, Annie says “We are trying to rebuild an old church, St. Marks in English Avenue, to restore it and make it a place for our community where we can always go. We are working with several organizations to stabilize the area. I am working on establishing its historical value for historical preservation.”
The Resilient Communities Impact Program is underway in three Southwest Airlines markets: Atlanta, Chicago, Illinois, and Phoenix, Arizona.
Steve Land (on left) and friends.
In Phoenix, local Resilient Communities Impact Program volunteer and Southwest Airlines employee Steve Land says “I am thankful for our involvement in the Phoenix Park South community and am excited to be part of the project. This community is near and dear to my heart. Park South is the community that raised me and nurtured me throughout my youth. I know that this effort will rejuvenate their sense of ownership and pride, both of which have been lacking in the neighborhood for quite some time.”
Land continued, “I am a product of this community and someone who visits family there almost weekly. I know the potential, the pride, and the resilience of the folks in Park South. This area was once a thriving, safe, and energetic subdivision of middle class families, high performing schools, and active youth programs. As a matter of fact, historically Park South was one of the first middle class subdivisions within the state of Arizona that was primarily African American. My parents purchased their first home here in the late 1960s and still call Park South home as do many other original homeowners and their descendants. They still hold on to hope, and they remain optimistic for what once was and what could be once more.”
See full Points of Light article about Annie + [hoto credit.
See full Southwest Airlines interview with Steve Land + photo credit.