Over the past two years, the City Shapers cohort serving the College-Hill and Blythe-Oldfield neighborhoods has demonstrated what is possible when neighbors, businesses, nonprofits, and community leaders come together around a shared vision for holistic neighborhood development.

Stacy Brungardt, FCS's Manager of Faith-Based Integration, and Kyle Stokes, Executive Director of City Fields Community Development Corporation, leading the work alongside Dustin Tommey, Redevelopment Coordinator for the City of Cleveland, TN, this partnership is turning neighbor-identified priorities into tangible change. Five new mixed-income homes have been completed—three-bedroom, two-bath homes designed for families earning approximately 80–120% of AMI, including one home designated as a rental property. The Blythe-Oldfield Playground is complete, providing children and families with a new community gathering space, including a large covered picnic area and outdoor restrooms. These accomplishments are worth celebrating. But they represent more than completed projects. They are the beginning of a long-term vision shaped by the people who call these neighborhoods home. Over the next three years, the strategic development plan will focus on three neighbor-identified priorities: 1. CONNECT Develop a physical and structural environment that creates intentional connectivity and sustains a good quality of life for all neighbors. 2. EMPOWER Equip neighbors to mobilize a strong social network that actively shapes equitable placemaking in their neighborhood. 3. STRENGTHEN Build economic vitality through equitable access to stable housing, employment opportunities, local entrepreneurship, and value-added goods and services. This is what holistic neighborhood development looks like: neighbors identifying what matters, partners aligning around a shared vision, and collective action turning that vision into reality. Two years in, there is much to celebrate. And there is much more to build. The work continues. The vision is growing. And this is just the beginning! #FCSAtlanta #FCS #SoutheastAtlanta #HistoricSouthAtlanta #ThomasvilleHeights