About Us
Our Mission
We aim to support the Forest and its partners, to engage the communities, help identify resources, and expand services to meet the needs of families with wrap-around services holistically.
Our ultimate goal is to help to eliminate hunger and aid families to become self-sufficient in the Forest service areas.
Who We Are
Friends is a community-led organization and represents more than 57,000 residents in approximately 10,000 households annually in Southeast Atlanta.
We are an official Friends of the Park group under the Park Pride MOU agreement. As such, we have agreed to support and help with beautification of the Forest, equipment maintenance, capital projects and fundraising to help empower our communities impacted with a holistic approach. The Forest has garnered tremendous community, corporate and government support over the past five years.
Primary Goals
- To include every organization that is a part of the fabric that makes these communities safe and livable around the Forest.
- To help sustain life, health, and education. A place of serenity to remember our history.
- To provide intergenerational activities outdoors when weather permits and alternative space to continue during the off season.
- To enhance the Forest experience for visitors and residents alike, so that they will willingly be involved through giving and serving as volunteers.
Our History
In 2016, The Conservation Fund, The City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Resilience and the Department of Parks & Recreation partnered with residents from the Browns Mill neighborhood to create a new kind of public park. Just four miles south of Atlanta’s city center, the 7.1-acre property was once a small family farm that helped nourish the local community. Abandoned and neglected for many years, the farm’s history is still visible with several large pecan trees, blackberry brambles, and muscadine vines that now grow wild across the land. During the planning and development of the Atlanta Urban Food Forest (Forest), a commitment was made by the Mayor’s Office of Resiliency, The Conservation Fund, the community and other stakeholders to form a body that will provide oversight, leadership, and sustainability for the Forest. Friends is the identified entity that will continue to ensure sustainability of the Forest with a community-centered focus. Alston & Bird serves as the organization’s pro bono legal agent. Friends is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization governed by a strong, diverse, and committed Board of Directors and Advisory Board that will guide the organization through leadership, strategic planning, and implementation of our goals.
Our primary goal is to improve the health, safety, job opportunities, and sustainability of our community.
The range of health, education and wellness program Friends is proposing will engage key partnerships and the communities to create economically sustainable and healthy families through programs specifically designed to: