Members of a Georgia-focused funding collaborative recently visited Athens Land Trust (ALT) during a month-long tour of Drawdown Georgia Climate Solutions & Equity Grants awarded throughout the state. ALT received a two-year, $200,000 grant in 2023-24 to conduct energy efficiency improvements and workforce development programs in previously disinvested neighborhoods in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia.
The Athens Energy Opportunity project expands on two existing initiatives launched by ALT in the Historic West Broad community; the West Broad Neighborhood Sustainability Project and the Young Urban Builders (YUB) workforce development program.Â
The West Broad Neighborhood Sustainability Project addresses barriers to low-income and historically disadvantaged communities in accessing energy efficiency, weatherization, and renewable energy benefits. By pursuing this effort in conjunction with capacity building, impacted communities are now poised to take ownership and assume leadership in the direction of current and future opportunities to implement energy efficiency, weatherization, renewable energy, and other services in their neighborhoods. Working with YUB, the implementation of these community improvements have opened pathways to careers for impacted youth in the field of sustainable building, energy efficiency, and solar energy.
The West Broad Sustainability Project was expanded into North Athens and East Athens in 2024 with help from the Drawdown Georgia grant.
YUB is a paid job skills training program for Athens youth between the ages of 16 and 25. The program was started in 2018 as a way to address youth unemployment and perform owner-occupied rehabilitation for community homes. YUB is designed to provide job training and experience while working on community projects and aiding in neighborhood revitalization.Â
ALT provides land protected in perpetuity, and affordable housing to allow first time homeowners from previously disinvested communities access to their goals for homeownership. In doing so, they are also investing in keeping communities in West Broad, North Athens and East Athens together, and defying patterns of gentrification.
New home clients are not only provided with affordable housing opportunities, they are encouraged and empowered to take action and help other neighbors navigate similar experiences through leadership, education, advocacy and collective action. The new Earthcraft homes that ALT offers in legacy communities are unique and attractive in design, varied in size and top of the line for energy efficiency. Most of all, with the help of federal, state and local grants and rebates that ALT carefully manages, the homes are comfortable and affordable, allowing first time homebuyers to purchase new homes for a fraction of the real cost.
ALT also offers energy efficiency upgrades for existing homes in the same neighborhoods. They help legacy residents protect their land and their homes, and they help retrofit and weatherize existing homes in the same communities where they oversee new builds; however, as they’ve prepared to weatherize older housing stock to help reduce energy burdens, they’ve identified many of the target homes that need significant and costly repairs, outside the scope of ALT’s weatherization grants and budget.Â
The Drawdown Georgia Climate Solutions & Equity Grant helped fill this void. Grant dollars were bundled, allowing ALT and its contractors to make repairs for health and safety prior to weatherization. In many cases, this extra boost has made the difference between losing a home and keeping one for legacy residents. Common repairs include flooding, holes in roofs and floors, moldy interiors, rotten support beams, asbestos remediation and more. ALT also helps elderly residents with mobility friendly access features like ramps, and they often add central air and heat systems, where none previously existed.
Community Farming in the Heart of Athens
In addition to housing projects, ALT runs a community agriculture program, right in the heart of the city. Through a conservation easement, they were able to help the Williams family protect their farm into perpetuity, ensuring that it would never be developed. Once the family members were no longer farming the land, they arranged for ALT to run a community farm. Williams Farm is managed by ALT employees, but relies mainly on its Young Urban Farmers (YUF) program and community volunteer groups to complete the day to day tasks. In 2024, Williams Farm produced more than 9,000 lbs of produce that was provided to more than 40 high poverty-risk families identified through the Athens-Clarke County elementary schools.
Challenges for the Future
The pressure for big development continues to surround and slowly encroach on legacy communities in Athens, so the importance of educating citizens on their rights and their collective impact is crucial. With federal funding expected to continue to contract in the near future, ALT is poised to expand their reach for additional funding from foundations, corporate giving and individual giving. With the increased occurrence of extreme weather events, and the number of aging legacy homes in the communities they serve, ALT will need to retrofit many more homes with new electrical upgrades and HVAC systems to combat the effects of extreme heat. They will also need to be prepared to address more water and wind intrusion issues due to inland impacts from tropical storms and hurricanes.
The grant ALT received from Drawdown Georgia was supported by a funding cohort that included The Kendeda Fund, The R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. Foundation and its Dobbs Fund, The Ray C. Anderson Foundation, The Sapelo Foundation and The Wilbur & Hilda Glenn Family Foundation.
Click here to read a story about Former U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm from the Biden Administration, visiting homes in 2023 in the West Broad community. The resident that she interviewed was Bennie Tillman, one of ALT’s Community Advisory Board members, a legacy resident, and a recipient of repairs and upgrades through the West Broad Sustainability Project, enhanced by the Drawdown Georgia grant.
Watch a video featuring Secretary Granholm and Bennie Tillman here.
About Athens Land Trust
The mission of Athens Land Trust is to improve quality of life for all by preserving, protecting, and strengthening the fabric of the community through education and the stewardship of land for purposes of affordable housing, conservation, agriculture, and economic development. They respond to community-identified needs and build individual and collective power among historically marginalized people.Â
