People walking, biking and riding transit are the face of the new Atlanta commuter – lighting the Atlanta BeltLine will make it a little easier to see that face.

A delegation of Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Fellows, representing 22 countries, visited The Task Force for Global Health on July 22 to learn about the organization’s work in Africa and better understand the role global public health plays in society. YALI, which was launched in 2010 by President Barack Obama, seeks to equip the next generation of African leaders with the skills and connections needed to foster positive change in their countries. Task Force Senior Business Analyst Juneka Rembert, MS, who helped organize the visit, said The Task Force and the YALI program share the common goal of building capacity in African countries. “The Task Force also wants to foster long-lasting relationships with leaders in countries where our global health work has a direct impact,” she said. During their time at The Task Force, the young leaders learned about Task Force programs to eliminate neglected tropical diseases, increase access to vaccines, and strengthen health systems. The young leaders had opportunities to network with Task Force staff members and were encouraged to apply the lessons they learned at The Task Force to help improve public health in their countries. Chaikhwa Lobatse, a registered nurse in Botswana, was inspired by The Task Force’s work to help countries improve their abilities to detect and respond to disease outbreaks. “Today’s visit has taught me a lot about field epidemiology,” said Lobate. “My country doesn’t have a field epidemiology training program. I’m going to go to my Ministry of Health and advocate for an FETP.” She added that she plans to stay connected with her new friends at The Task Force and continue collaborating on issues of global public health.

by Bill Bolling & Maria Saporta >> Original Story Atlanta, GA – Today we hear from Bill Bolling, executive director and founder of the Atlanta Community Food Bank. He’s been good friends with journalist Maria Saporta and her family for two decades. And as Maria knows, his work to stop hunger has been going on even longer. Play Audio

Atlanta Regional Commission online survey for The Region’s Plan looks at how technology will affect travel in the region’a future.

Georgia State University is preparing the next generation of entrepreneurs who will lead in business and address problems facing society.

By Shirley Anne Smith, Executive Director, Atlanta Fire Rescue Foundation When I was in high school, I felt alone. Not because of the sheer number of students but because my school simply lacked other students who looked like me, spoke Spanish like me or had deep rooted cultural traditions that could be traced back to countries in Latin America. I felt alone because no matter where I looked, I didn’t have a group or support system made up of women who understood my challenges of not knowing how to become college or career ready. I am proud to say that while it has been many years since I graduated high school, young Latina women no longer need to feel alone as they plan for a future beyond high school graduation. Latina teens now have Estrellitas. Estrellitas in Spanish means young stars and the name is so incredibly appropriate for what these teens experience year after year through their participation in the group. Junior League has created a magical formula for empowering these young women. Estrellitas recruits Latina teens from local schools, partners with the nonprofit LaAmistad, and then exposes these teens to volunteer mentors from the Junior League of Atlanta (JLA). All of these components alone may not have much impact but together, they create a pathway for success. The Junior League of Atlanta originally created Estrellitas as an outreach tool to increase the league’s support to Latina women and children.  It was also intended to help reduce high school dropouts, teen pregnancy along with helping these teens navigate through a critical time in their life. This has now evolved to a year-long program that exposes these young women to leadership, community service, health and wellness along with many other topics. In my experience, women who achieved success all had one thing in common. They all had one person, or a collective of people, who challenged them to shoot for the stars and reach for their ultimate potential. The women of Junior League are doing just that. Not only are they mentoring these young women but they are also helping advocate for them so that they may achieve and dream as far as their imaginations allow. The Junior League of Atlanta’s Estrellitas gives Latina teens a place to dream, plan and achieve. As a Latina league member, I could not be any more proud of the women who volunteer with Estrellitas and I know these young women will be the young stars of Atlanta.    

By Patrick Adcock The 2016 Atlanta Metro Export Challenge announced their top five finalists Aug. 20 as part of the JPMorgan Chase-powered Atlanta Metro Export Plan (MEP) grant program designed to help small and medium-sized businesses begin or expand their exporting programs.

New research from the Journal of Public Transportation shows taking public transit is significantly safer than commuting by car; rail transit is approximately 30 times safer than driving and riding a bus is 60 times safer.

By Eric Tanenblatt, Rick Jackson Ed. Note: This article originally ran at the Huffington Post As the rain fell and the flood waters rose, those safe from the devastation that racked coastal Texas watched in disbelief as displaced mothers were forced to wade through waist-high waters with infants desperately clinging to their neck, and as chair-bound seniors held their heads above an encroaching floodplain. The devastation sustained was historic by all measures and the scenes witnessed were heart-wrenching. But as the crisis deepened, as the flood rose to crest even bridges and attics, something remarkable was sparked by the misery the storm wrought: ordinary folk demonstrated extraordinary grace and kindness in an unprecedented private, humanitarian and relief response. Some, still fresh with the memory of Hurricane Katrina twelve years before, towed boats from nearby Louisiana while others inflated dinghies. With thousands still trapped in their homes, these private citizens stepped into the breach as they began floating drowned streets in all manner of watercraft to save the lives of people they’ve never met and who couldn’t possibly repay their kindness. Asked why, they responded it was simply the right thing to do: people needed help, and it didn’t matter their color or creed. In her first television interview after the 1980 parliamentary elections, Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, famously said, “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions; he had money as well.” But the tenderness demonstrated by the heroes of Hurricane Harvey, ordinary people with a unique resource that met the call of an extraordinary challenge,  proves that you needn’t immense wealth to help others, only a willingness. We’re all capable of accomplishing feats of goodness, both ordinary and extraordinary. If just one person with a boat could save a hundred stranded flood victims, imagine the magnifier effect of a mid-sized business serving the communities in which it operates. In 2015, The Home Depot piloted a basic tool skills workshop for at-risk Atlanta youth, ages 11 to 18. To teach the children tool competency, program participants learned to build a table, which was later donated to military veterans and their families through another local nonprofit’s furniture distribution operation. Other companies have taken a less direct, but no less impactful, approach to corporate philanthropy. The Bank of America awards its employees two hours of paid time per week to volunteer. Here in Atlanta, nearly half (49 percent) of the bank’s employees, including senior leadership, participate in volunteer programs. On the aggregate, their pro-volunteerism program logged more than 48,000 volunteer hours in support of more than 700 nonprofits. Bank of America and Home Depot aren’t alone in paid-release time volunteer programs: in fact, more than 56 percent of companies had a similar program, according to data from the CEO Force For Good. But a business needn’t notch upwards of $100 billion in retail sales to make a profound impact. Like the boat owners of the Gulf Coast, small and mid-sized businesses should approach corporate philanthropy with some creativity. In the same way that home improvement retailer The Home Depot launched a tools competency program, smaller operations should leverage their unique resources (primarily time and talent) to make a difference through skills-based volunteering. Harvey’s heroes taught us that we can all make a difference. They didn’t need extravagantly orchestrated operations or millions of dollars. Instead, they recognized they possessed a unique resource, and maybe not much else, that could help others in a moment of need. Businesses can and should do the same. Rick Jackson is corporate philanthropist who serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Jackson Healthcare.  Eric Tanenblatt chairs the public policy practice at the global law firm Dentons and served as vice chair of the board of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency the administers AmeriCorps.

By Pedro Cherry in the Atlanta Business Chronicle Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is responsible for putting more metro Atlantans to work than any single employer in the region, claiming direct responsibility for more than 64,000 jobs. And it contributes $32 billion to the economy every year.

The City of Atlanta is experiencing new investment and development that are transformative.  Potential new public investments resulting from MARTA and SPLOST referendums will ensure the City has more growth, new businesses and increasing incomes for many Atlanta residents.  But what will be the legacy of this growth and public investment 10 or 20 years in the future? The unintended consequences of development are increasingly regressive and displacing low- and moderate-income families. What will be the impact of these investments without substantial actions and funds to ensure housing development in the City of Atlanta is available to diverse populations and incomes?  

Trees Atlanta is having its first Canopy Conference on September 23rd, and it will highlight arboreta, which are botanical gardens that focus on trees and other woody plants used for demonstration, education and display.

Trees Atlanta is having its first Canopy Conference on September 23rd, and it will highlight arboreta, which are botanical gardens that focus on trees and other woody plants used for demonstration, education and display.