Sustainable Lakewood is an organization dedicated to reshaping Lakewood Heights into a vibrant, thriving, green neighborhood just outside of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Sustainable Lakewood aspires to offer affordable historic homes with eco-friendly upgrades and technologies, and to foster a community that practices recycling, community service, community shopping, and outdoor activities.
How do we accomplish our goal of transforming Lakewood Heights into a picturesque neighborhood with perfect imperfections? Well, the first issues tackled were trash and safety. In conjunction with the community association, a neighborhood watch program is currently being organized. Many area cleanups have taken place with the help of residents and volunteers to minimize the degradation along the streets. This summer, we launched a Walk-n-Talk series to personally engage residents. The event, which involved members and volunteers visiting neighbors house by house to inform them on current programs, yielded positive ideas and results! Front porch conversations included discussions on how we can secure recycling bins, setup pickup schedules, locate city dumpster hot spots for legal dumping, and how residents can qualify to have their home weatherized. Frankly, it became a way for residents to know who lives on their street! Residents have even volunteered to make sign sculptures out of tractor tires illegally dumped to deter this criminal behavior. Other initiatives in progress are a dog park in the local park, a community garden, and acquiring parcels from the city and county through the land bank program to “greenovate” for those of all incomes to purchase.
How has Grassroots.org helped to expand our capacity? Well, they have provided us with a free website, www.sustainablelakewood.org, to keep us connected with our community. Sometimes residents just need to see a logo, common interest, or visual movement to know that progress is being made. It is highly important that nonprofits do not forsake staying connected with their base and the Grassroots.org Toolbox definitely contributes to this factor. A key feature is the webmail service that offers staff emails configured with our domain name. This lets residents, community activists, grant organizations, and politicians know that we are serious about changing Lakewood Heights. The webmail service is also linked to our ‘Contact us’ form on our Doodlekit website to keep anyone interested in the loop. An informed neighbor begets a great neighborhood!!
Tina Arnold, Program Director
Sustainable Lakewood
23 Gould Street
Atlanta, GA 30315
P: 404.602.0723
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