Grove Park Foundation has grown out of the efforts to connect and restore several historic Westside neighborhoods along Proctor Creek. These neighborhoods have suffered from decades of disinvestment environmental degradation.

In October 2015, the foundation’s leadership met Purpose Built Communities and started conversing about a possible collaboration. This led to dialogues with potential stakeholders and partners. Over the next 18 months, the foundation forged a series of new partnerships with Atlanta Public Schools, KIPP, the YMCA and several arts organizations to bring an A+ school, a new YMCA facility and new housing options for all income levels to the Grove Park neighborhood.

Collectively, this evolution and growing momentum led to the launch of Grove Park Foundation as a Purpose Built Communities Network Member, to serve in Grove Park as the “community quarterback” and guide an inclusive, holistic neighborhood revitalization effort. Using the Purpose Built Communities model, Grove Park Foundation is working with the neighborhood and partners from the public, private and nonprofit sectors to achieve an equitable and sustainable transformation that preserves and builds community. Grove Park Foundation is committed to a long-term effort that will build a cradle-to-college education pipeline, develop affordable and mixed income housing, and community health and wellness programs and facilities. Building on the neighborhood’s strengths and needs, Grove Park Foundation is also building partnerships and attracting investment around the arts, affordable health care and bringing a “main street” economy back to life along the Donald Lee Hollowell corridor. The ultimate goal is to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty by creating wide, durable channels out of poverty for low-income residents. Another crucial goal of this effort is for existing homeowners to capture earned wealth through equity gains as a result of this holistic set of investments in the neighborhood.