Center for Community Progress Launches Developers of Color Initiative in Metro Atlanta

New initiative helps build capacity for small-scale development firms and fosters opportunities to transform vacant and abandoned property into community assets.

WASHINGTON, DC – The Center for Community Progress is pleased to announce the receipt of a $1.04 million grant from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation to launch the Developers of Color Initiative in metro Atlanta. This groundbreaking program will address the enduring impacts of systemic and institutional racism in Georgia’s real estate and financing sector by building the capacity of developers of color to acquire and develop vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated (VAD) properties in alignment with community goals.

The Developers of Color Initiative supports nonprofit and mission-driven for-profit development firms led by people of color which are committed to neighborhood scale residential projects in three metro Atlanta communities—Fulton, DeKalb, and Gwinnett counties—impacted by vacant and abandoned properties. As a national expert in systemic vacancy and community revitalization, Community Progress will help developers of color in metro Atlanta build connections with each other and developers across the nation to identify ways to increase the pipeline of vacant properties for affordable housing development. As part of the initiative, Community Progress will also develop recommendations for the philanthropy, policy, and financing fields to support developers of color and advance housing affordability, energy efficiency, and housing resilience.

“In Atlanta and across the country, community developers are at the heart of successful revitalization,” said Kathleen J. Guillaume-Delemar, President & CEO of the Center for Community Progress. “These small-scale developers must overcome additional hurdles created by systemic barriers in financing real estate development to build a portfolio of projects. The Center for Community Progress is committed to changing how neighborhood-scale developers of color are connected to land and opportunity to unlock their full potential.”

“We are thrilled to support Community Progress’ work to promote diversity and equity in real estate development,” said Suganthi Simon, Vice President, Mid-South Region for JPMorgan Chase & Co. “This initiative aligns with our commitment to fostering inclusive economic growth and creating opportunities for Atlanta’s underserved communities.”

The initiative will be administered in partnership with the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Initiative, the Historic District Development Corporation, and The Guild. These expert partners will lend decades of local expertise in community development, affordable housing, and inclusive growth through the training and education aspects of the program.

The Developers of Color Initiative launched at an event co-hosted with the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative, which also received a grant from JPMorgan Chase Foundation for work to support Black-owned businesses.

For more information about the Developers of Color Initiative and the Center for Community Progress, please visit www.communityprogress.org/developers-of-color.

###

About Community Progress: The Center for Community Progress helps people to transform vacant spaces into vibrant places. Since 2010, their team of experts has provided urban, suburban, and rural communities battling systemic vacancy with the policies, tools, and resources needed to address the full cycle of property revitalization. As the only national nonprofit dedicated to tackling vacant properties, Community Progress drives change by uncovering and disrupting the unjust, racist systems that perpetuate entrenched vacancy and property deterioration. Community Progress has delivered customized, expert guidance to leaders in over 300 communities and provided hundreds of hours of free educational resources as well as leadership programming to help policymakers, practitioners, and community members across the country return properties to productive use. To learn more and get help for your community, visit communityprogress.org.