East Atlanta Village Neighborhood Social Work Program
East Atlanta Village is a historically Black neighborhood with a population of roughly 3,000 people. Over the last few years, population growth and increasing home prices have contributed to homelessness in the area. In 2023, I helped build a coalition between Atlanta City Council, East Atlanta residents, business owners, and Intown Cares in order to raise $100k and pilot a neighborhood social work program to support the local unhoused population.
Over the past year, I’ve managed the program on behalf of the neighborhood and evaluated progress on behalf of the city by conducting interviews, virtual ethnography, and tracking key performance metrics. We have housed 13 individuals in one year with 15 more in the housing queue. I present monthly updates at neighborhood association meetings and quarterly updates at City Council meetings. I additionally created a Slack channel to organize over 80+ neighbors to coordinate daily drop-offs at a local church’s food and clothing closet.
I have presented the results from this 1-year pilot to Atlanta City Council. I have also published a news media article to popularize the idea of neighborhood social work as a model to address homelessness.