Fighting for Equitable Community Development
Tour Leader and Speaker: Ms. Yeou-Rong Jih
Time: April 9, 2022 at 2:00-3:30 PM
Meeting Location: Westside Park, Atlanta
(1660 Johnson Road NW, Atlanta, GA 30318, Entrance 2)
Introduction: In the past year, the largest park in the City of Atlanta has been built in a low-income, predominantly black community in Atlanta, and Microsoft has announced its intentions to build a tech campus right by the park. As an under-resourced and historically marginalized community, Grove Park residents are highly vulnerable to gentrification and displacement as a result of these major infrastructure investments. For this event, we will take a tour of Westside Park and the surrounding community to learn more about what equitable and fair community development will require, including affordable housing, better transportation, and economic development, so that the people who live here are able to stay here and benefit from the revitalization of their community.
Details: This will be a community walking tour. The tour will start at Westside Park, 1660 Johnson Road NW, Atlanta, GA 30318, Entrance 2. The main points on the walking route will be the Westside Park Overlook, Grove Park’s Park, and Yeou-Rong’s home in the community. The tour will be about 2 miles of walking in total. If people would just like to attend the Westside Portion of the tour, it will be about half a mile of walking.
Speaker Bio: Yeou-Rong Jih is a Program Officer at The Kresge Foundation, which helps cities combat and adapt to climate change while advancing racial and economic equity. Before joining Kresge, You served as the Director of Urban Initiatives at Greenlink Analytics and the Senior Manager of Resilience Policy and Programs for the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Resilience to help cities and community-based organizations build more equitable climate and energy solutions through strong city-community partnerships. She holds a Master of Science in Research Psychology from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Science from Emory University in Neuroscience.
