Category: Home

If you are a potential home seller and you’re wondering “Is it a good time to sell a house?”, there is no easy answer. Spring is regarded as the best…

Real estate investing has always been associated with traditional “offline” strategies. But now that we live in the age of technology, we are seeing more and more people who are…

Selling or buying investment property can be a very complex and expensive undertaking. To ensure that the real estate transaction is successful, you should consider hiring a residential real estate…

Philanthropists Patty Quillin and Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix, have donated $120 million to Morehouse College, Spelman College, and the United Negro College Fund for scholarships. Each college and the UNCF will receive $40 million.

In a press release Morehouse said its share of the donation will go to its Student Success Program to establish a fund that will allow at least 200 students to graduate debt free. The history-making contribution is the largest gift to Morehouse College in the institution’s l53-year history and has contributed to a record year in which the college will raise more than $105 million.

Spelman also said in a statement posted to Facebook that the gift was the largest it had ever received for scholarship funding. Over the next 10 years, 200 first-year students will be able to attend Spelman with a full four-year scholarship thanks to the donation. 

“We’ve supported these three extraordinary institutions for the last few years because we believe that investing in the education of black youth is one of the best ways to invest in America’s future,” said Quillin and Hastings in a media statement. “Both of us had the privilege of a great education and we want to help more students—in particular students of color—get the same start in life. HBCUs have a tremendous record, yet are disadvantaged when it comes to giving. Generally, white capital flows to predominantly white institutions, perpetuating capital isolation. We hope this additional $120 million donation will help more black students follow their dreams and also encourage more people to support these institutions – helping to reverse generations of inequity in our country.”

The post Morehouse and Spelman colleges get $40 million each for scholarships from Netflix CEO, wife appeared first on Atlanta INtown Paper.

Atlanta’s battered hotel industry is entering the first stages of a gradual recovery, as some hotels reopen and others see a slow return of guests.

Read more at the AJC.com

Yesterday, House Resolution 935, carried by Sen. Brandon Beach (R – Alpharetta), passed the Senate by a vote of 51-0. This measure aims to promote statewide freight and logistics infrastructure by recreating the Georgia Commission on Freight and Logistics.

“In order to ensure Georgia remains a top state in which to do business, state and local leaders must work to promote a comprehensive freight and logistics plan for Georgia,” said Sen. Beach. “The Georgia Commission on Freight and Logistics has made significant progress over the past year throughout our meetings all across the state. By working with industry experts, the Commission has made progress towards determining how we can best leverage our existing freight and logistics infrastructure and ways we can expand freight and logistics investment in Georgia. There is still work to be done and recreating the Commission will allow Commission members the opportunity to further study this industry expansion. I appreciate the support of my colleagues in the General Assembly for prioritizing Georgia’s ever-evolving economy through this innovative measure.”

The Georgia Commission on Freight and Logistics was created in 2019 as a result of the passage of House Resolution 37. Sen. Beach currently serves as Co-Chair of the Commission, along with Rep. Kevin Tanner (R – Dawson).

 

Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health will embark on a new partnership with the state of Georgia in increasing its public health resources to combat the COVID-19 crisis.

The Emory COVID-19 Response Collaborative (ECRC), established within Rollins, will provide ongoing, flexible and collaborative support to the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) in four major areas:

• Planning coordination

• Outbreak response and evaluation

• Training and deployment of public health professionals throughout the state

• Surveillance, research and monitoring

“As Georgia continues to re-open commerce, travel and social engagement, ensuring that the citizens of Georgia are kept safe from disease and death is a public/private responsibility,” says Kathleen E. Toomey, MD, MPH, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health. “To be successful, there must be ample and accessible COVID-19 testing, extraordinary community engagement and an ability to trace contacts of new COVID-19 cases in order to forestall resurgent outbreaks. Expanding academic partnerships among Georgia’s public health system, Rollins and other Georgia-based schools of public health will benefit us now and in the future.”

“Achieving adequate COVID-19 testing, community participation and contact tracing will require unprecedented investments in technologies, people power and communications campaigns,” says James W. Curran, MD, MPH, dean of the Rollins School of Public Health. “We are eager to support the state of Georgia in this comprehensive public health initiative to help ensure the health and safety of all Georgians.”

The ECRC will be led by Allison Chamberlain, PhD, current director of Rollins’ Center for Public Health Preparedness and Research (CPHPR), which has a nearly 20-year history of managing programs and research that focus on helping communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from infectious disease, terrorism and other public health threats. 

The ECRC’s four focus areas will include:

• Participating in state strategic and program planning and identifying areas for immediate focus for assistance from faculty, alumni and students. This effort will be led by Chamberlain.

• Identifying and supporting RSPH faculty, students and staff to work in the field alongside practice partners to investigate and stem COVID-19 outbreaks as they arise throughout Georgia.

• Preparing and placing public health professionals throughout Georgia through creation of the Rollins COVID-19 Epidemiology Fellows Program. Conceived as a way to accelerate the hiring of additional epidemiologists, the inaugural cohort will aim to place one fellow in each of Georgia’s 18 health districts, with additional fellows assigned at DPH, the ECRC or in districts with unique needs or larger populations.

• Identifying key areas where rapid implementation, evaluation and research are needed and provide support through projects or other sources of funding. This includes conducting the nation’s first randomized statewide COVID-19 survey, modeled after an NIH-approved national survey, of 1,200 households across Georgia to understand the prevalence of COVID-19. The study will be directed by RSPH faculty members Patrick Sullivan and Aaron Siegler, two of the nation’s most renowned HIV and survey researchers.

The ECRC will launch with support from a gift of $7.8 million from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation.

“Our mission is to support activities that put the talented academic community at Rollins in the service of our public health partners during the COVID-19 crisis,” says Chamberlain. “We hope our work will help solidify and expand academic-public health partnerships among Georgia’s public health system, the RSPH and other Georgia-based schools of public health that will endure well beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Mobile farmers markets are rolling again in metro Atlanta to continue serving fresh produce and delivering nutrition education to communities through curbside pickups and digital content.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agents and staff have modified the markets to reduce contact, loading mixed bags of produce like corn, onions, squash, potatoes, tomatoes and various fruit right into vehicles for citizens in Fulton and DeKalb counties to reach areas where fresh food can be hard to find or cost-prohibitive for some families.  

The Fulton Fresh mobile market runs from now until July 9 and again from July 14 to August 13. The new van, furnished by the county government, will make six stops a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays throughout the county.

The Fresh On DeK mobile farmers market will be held from now until September 18 and will make eight stops per week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Both markets are open to the public, but preregistration online is preferred to assist with contactless pickup. Onsite registration is available for Fulton Fresh for citizens who are unable to register online.

In addition to produce, the markets provide recipe cards and information about online Extension resources to educate consumers about healthy preparation methods and lifestyles.

“The organizations we partner with are always excited to see us,” said Laurie Murrah-Hanson, a 4-H agent in Fulton County. “In the past, people really enjoyed the food demonstrations, and we still wanted to offer similar resources.”

Fulton Fresh, which began in 2012, started a dedicated, grant-funded Kids Market program this year to disseminate smaller bags of produce with recipes and at-home science experiments for youth. Videos of farm tours will be released on social media weekly in conjunction with the mobile market.

UGA Extension staff have also partnered with the Fulton County Library System to provide digital resource lists for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

“I think stronger partnerships like this are going be a benefit that comes out of the current situation,” said Murrah-Hanson, who is coordinating the Kids Market.

Fresh on DeK, now in its sixth year of operation, has made updates to the market in sourcing and delivery by switching to a free pickup system rather than a walk-up, fee-based model.

“This year, we’re also partnering with a nonprofit called Global Growers to source culturally relevant food for our Clarkston community, which is one of the most diverse parts of the county,” Jamille Hawkins, a Family and Consumer Sciences agent and coordinator of the market.  

The mobile markets are an office-wide endeavor across Extension program areas, and support for the programs comes from county governments. Fresh on DeK was made possible with additional funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the DeKalb County Board of Health.

For more information about Fulton Fresh and to preregister, visit extension.uga.edu/county-offices/fulton/fulton-fresh and follow on Facebook at facebook.com/UGAExtensionFultonCounty.

Connect with Fresh on Dek by visiting extension.uga.edu/county-offices/dekalb/fresh-on-dek, following on Facebook at facebook.com/FreshonDeK or calling 404-298-4080.  

Marches, rallies, and demonstrations continue to happen daily in Atlanta as the demands for an end to racial injustice grow in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Rayshard Brooks. On Tuesday, June 16, a march were held in Downtown from Centennial Park to the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic District, while another demonstration was held outside the burned out Wendy’s where Brooks was shot and killed by police on June 12.

Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights will hold a rally, Take It Down – No More Monuments to White Supremacy, on the Decatur Square on Wednesday, June 17, at 6:30 p.m. The demand is to remove Confederate and Jim Crow-era monuments erected to preserve white supremacy located around the area of the DeKalb County courthouse. Encouraged by a court order from Judge Clarence Seeliger to remove the “Lost Cause” Confederate obelisk by June 26, the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights is holding the gathering to show support for the actions of the city of Decatur in filing the complaint and to urge DeKalb County to move ahead swiftly with the removal plans of a “nuisance” which is “manifestly injurious to the public health or safety.”

The reward has increased to $20,000 for information on two women suspected in the arson that destroyed the Wendy’s restaurant at 125 University Avenue during protests against the police shooting of Rayshard Brook on June 13. “We don’t want to allow peaceful voices and focus to be overshadowed by events such as this.” Atlanta Fire Chief Randall Slaughter said during at June 16 press conference. There are currently multiple suspects in the arson investigation, but there are only clear photos of two of the subjects, who both appear to be white females. Anyone with information is asked to call the Atlanta Fire Department at (404) 546-7000. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said during a press conference on June 15 that the Wendy’s was minority-owned and 40 people were out of job.

OneRace Movement will host March on Atlanta on Friday, June 19, starting at 9 a.m. in Centennial Olympic Park in Downtown. The march will head to the State Capitol then return to the park for music and special remarks. More details are available at oneracemovement.com/marchonatlanta.

A large group of Black Lives Matter protesters marched from Buckhead to Downtown and back June 14 to spotlight racism and police brutality. The “Walk for Justice” drew more than 300 people, according to organizer Victoria Williams, and traveled a route symbolizing the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, which triggered nationwide and local protests. “I organized an 8.46-mile walk for the 8.46 minutes the officer knelt on the neck of George Floyd,” Williams said in a text message. Read more and see photos at our sister publication, Reporter Newspapers.

The post Protest Update: Decatur rally against ‘Lost Cause’ monument; $20k reward for Wendy’s arsonists; more marches appeared first on Atlanta INtown Paper.