Place Matters

In the midst of rapidly gentrifying cities, people often ask us what can be done to stem the tide of rising costs and the displacement of legacy residents. As welcomed as more retail, nicer parks, and better infrastructure are for neighborhoods that have been historically denied these basic things, they are often evidence that longer-term, lower-income residents will soon be pushed out and that all this new development wasn’t done with them in mind anyway. So what do we do? For us, the answer lies in a having a robust acquisitions strategy. In today's episode, Shawn will talk through the FCS acquisitions strategy with Jim Wehner, Marvin Nesbitt, and Cynthia McNeal.

When people visit us in Atlanta to see up close and personal what our holistic neighborhood development work looks like, they’re often struck by the volume, quality, and complexity of housing that we are working on. As of today, in Historic South Atlanta alone we have completed construction on about 200 single family homes and 100 multi-family units. But we didn’t start out with a plan that far reaching. So where did it all begin? How did we get here? Join us for the next episode in our series on Mixed-Income Housing for a deep dive into housing at FCS throughout the years. Shawn is joined in conversation by President of FCS, Jim Wehner, and Director of Mixed-Income Housing, Cynthia McNeal.

It is no secret that the United States is in the midst of a housing crisis. It is all but impossible to find quality housing that is affordable and located in healthy neighborhoods. This is not just a challenge for those living below the federal poverty line. Working adults from a wide array of ages and incomes are struggling to secure housing. But what if thinking about housing alone is not the solution to the nation's housing crisis? At FCS, the big idea behind how we approach housing is a belief that the crisis we are facing is not actually a housing issue; it’s a neighborhood issue. Joining Shawn Duncan for this first episode is Jim Wehner, President of FCS; Marvin Nesbitt, Senior Director of Community Development at FCS; and Cynthia McNeal, Director of Mixed-Income Housing at FCS. Throughout this season, you'll get to hear more about FCS's approach to housing in the past, present, and future.

There are a lot of great books, articles, and maps about the impact that place and neighborhood can have on life outcomes. An area that is lacking, however, is the crucial role that social-relational connections plays in repairing the fabric of a place. For this final episode of our series on Neighborhood Engagement, we are excited to share with you a conversation between Shawn Duncan and Seth Kaplan - author, lecturer, and leading expert on fragile states.

Our training and consulting team has the pleasure of traveling the country to meet people doing inspiring work in their communities. In this episode, you'll get to meet some of those people: Darian and Yolanda Colbert from Cohesion Network in Allentown, Pennsylvania. We're so excited to share the conversation they had with David Park about what deep-dive, people-centered work looks like in their context. We hope it inspires you the way it inspired us!

Proximity, neighboring, and relationships are at the core of what we do at FCS. We think natural, unhurried relationships without an agenda are deeply important. We also believe in the power of structure and intention to move toward collective efficacy. But how do you build collective efficacy? This happens through something called relational organizing, a practice we'll introduce to you in today's episode.

So far in this season, we've told you a lot about the "why" of neighborhood engagement. In this episode, we want to get into the "what" of neighborhood engagement! We'll explore the programs FCS is involved in, as well as the partnerships we maintain. We hope this gives you a better understanding of what sorts of things might work in your neighborhood, and who you could try and connect with.

Some of the most significant work that we do at FCS is small, quiet, and often goes unnoticed outside of the neighborhood. One of those crucial works is walking alongside children and teenagers. In this episode, we'll talk with three people engaged in youth development at FCS: Michelle Witherspoon, Mikayla Santos, and Joel Barber. Their passion for building community among youth in South Atlanta inspires us each day, and we hope it does the same for you.

These days, there are thousands of resources available on how to become a great leader. However, the resources are pretty thin if the context of your leadership is not an organization or business, but a place. Being a place-based leader often comes without a title, authority, or compensation. Instead, being a place-based leader has to do with the quality of one's character and their commitment to coalition-building. In today's episode, Shawn discusses what it means to become a place-based leader, alongside returning guests Stacy Brungardt, Stephen Causby, and Pamela Stringfield.

In this week's episode, we'll continue our discussion around the importance of social cohesion when it comes to holistic neighborhood development. If you haven't already listened to last week's episode, "Sense of Place and Neighborhood Connectivity," we recommend starting there. We are excited to get into the conversation surrounding the last two of the four indicators that define social cohesion: civic infrastructure and credible leadership. This episode features lead consultant Stephen Causby, and Tanisha Corporal -- a South Atlanta neighbor, Civic League co-chair, and member of the FCS Senior Board.