Place Matters

We believe equity is more than civil rights. It’s more than equal access to decent housing. It’s more than equal opportunity to attain a living wage. It’s more than equality. We believe equity is a state of being in which people in communities small and large do not encounter barriers to opportunity and attaining the life they want to lead, particularly because of the color of their skin.

Realizing that vision requires a solid understanding of the social and systemic frameworks that have created unjust opportunities in America, resulting in present day inequities. In order to restructure social and systemic frameworks that will ensure equity for all, community members and leaders require tools to identify methods for dismantling the systems that have led to barriers. It requires a baseline and connection point for understanding where we’ve been, where we are, and where we want to go.

The Metro Atlanta Racial Equity Atlas (MAREA) is an immersive, story-centric tool that contextualizes personal narratives with engagement, interactive community data, and historical background with an explicit focus on advancing racial equity. This platform will help users explore and understand the multifaceted landscape of today’s race- and ethnicity-based inequities, as well as pathways toward a future of equity. While we acknowledge that systematic discrimination has impacted many groups in America, the overwhelming amount of evidence shows that communities of color face the greatest obstacles today and continue to experience the lasting effects of discriminatory systems.

Partnership for Southern Equity logo

The Partnership for Southern Equity

The Partnership for Southern Equity (PSE) is an Atlanta-based nonprofit that advances policies and institutional actions that promote racial equity and shared prosperity for all in the growth of metropolitan Atlanta and the American South. Through forums, research, and organizing efforts, PSE brings together the regional community to lift up and encourage just, sustainable, and civic practices for balanced growth and opportunity. While equal rights under the law have afforded many of us opportunities that were denied for so long, an equity agenda works to advance just outcomes that are sensitive to the needs and circumstances of the populations in question – erasing the barriers that stand in the way for everyone to succeed. PSE stands to address these inequities in our communities so prosperity can be created and shared by all.
Neighborhood Nexus logo

Neighborhood Nexus

Neighborhood Nexus is growing a culture of data-informed decision-making among Georgia’s social impact leaders. Nexus empowers leaders across the state to more easily and confidently ask the right questions, use the best data, tell compelling stories, and make informed decisions. Nexus values an equity-driven, data-informed approach to policy, program, and funding decisions to create a more livable region for all. As a partnership of four regional institutions—Atlanta Regional Commission, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and United Way of Greater Atlanta—Nexus is uniquely positioned to make its mission a reality. Learn more at www.neighborhoodnexus.org.
ARCHI logo, the Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health Improvement

ARCHI

ARCHI (the Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health Improvement) is a collaborative of over 100 organizations with a shared 28-year commitment to improving health in the core metro Atlanta area by focusing on improving access to the vital conditions for health which include: a thriving natural world, basic needs for health and safety, humane housing, meaningful work, reliable transportation, lifelong learning, belonging and civic muscle. ARCHI works with our partners and across the Atlanta community to deepen the knowledge and understanding of how policies, practices and prejudices have created and continue to perpetuate health and racial inequities. ARCHI is committed to making immediate and long term systems change that inverts the burden and puts individuals at the center of the system of care.

Steering Committee

  • Madi Shields, Atlanta BeltLine, Inc
  • Max Blau, Canopy Atlanta
  • Ed Chang, redefinED Atlanta
  • Na’Taki Osborne Jelks, West Atlanta Watershed Alliance
  • Odetta MacLeish-White, Center for Community Progress
  • Kim Addie, United Way of Greater Atlanta
  • Katrina DeBerry, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
  • Freddie Broome, Georgia Municipal Association
  • Ade Oguntaye, Annie E. Casey Foundation
  • Erika Smith, Microsoft
  • Ginneh Baugh, Purpose Built Communities
  • Michael Baptiste, MAC
Photo of an activist giving a speech with a t-shirt of "Black Voters Matter"