Zeist Foundation Report

Place-Based Philanthropy in Atlanta LL

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Highlights and Lessons from the Zeist Foundation’s 25 Years of Investments in the Edgewood Neighborhood

Dr. George Brumley, Jr. and Jean Brumley

One of my broader concerns is how do we as a society provide an educational system that can get the most of everyone’s intellect.

To paraphrase Warren Buffett, no city can call itself great without having an excellent public school system. Given what we understand about what is possible, we must do whatever is necessary to make our school systems effective.

The commitment at Whitefoord is our statement that the neighborhood school is very important and a critical opportunity for intervention.

Our newest initiative proposes to work directly with the Superintendent and assumes that the private sector’s freedom and flexibility may be able to bring together a number of forces for the overall good of the system. I believe strongly that these initiatives provide excellent opportunities to contribute to the improvement of the public-school system and the quality of life in our city.

— Dr. George Brumley, Jr.’s “Personal Reflections” at the Zeist Family Office Annual Meeting in 1999

Introduction When Dr. George Brumley, Jr. and Jean Brumley established the Zeist Foundation in 1989 they were intent on engaging their five children in philanthropy in Atlanta. After Dr. George Brumley, Jr. retired from Emory University School of Medicine as the Chair of the Department of Pediatrics in 1995, he was ready to serve “full-time” on philanthropic endeavors. Building on lessons from The Atlanta Project, an anti-poverty initiative launched in 1991 by President Jimmy Carter, Dr. Brumley adopted a “place-based” strategy and selected Atlanta’s distressed Edgewood neighborhood — a one-mile square area three miles from Emory in southeast Atlanta — as the focus of the Foundation’s effort to improve outcomes for underserved children and families.

At that time, the Edgewood neighborhood was home to approximately 4,500 residents and it was plagued by poverty, dilapidated housing, lowperforming schools, poor health outcomes, and drug-related crime. Most of the residents were African American and one-third were children.

The majority of residents were renters and nearly one-third lived below the poverty level.

Recognizing that many students in Edgewood’s elementary and middle schools had poor health outcomes, the Zeist Foundation began its work by drawing on Dr. Brumley’s medical expertise and his relationship with colleague Dr. Veda Johnson, an Atlanta native who attended Emory Medical School. They recognized the social determinants of health and worked together to create a schoolbased health center inside Whitefoord Elementary School in 1994. After growing and learning from the elementary model, a new school-based health center was developed nearby at Coan Middle School in 1998.

As it was making these initial investments in children’s access to quality healthcare, the Foundation engaged residents to determine their service needs and the programs they wanted to see in the community, launching a nonprofit organization — Whitefoord Community Program (now called Whitefoord, Inc.) — to manage these community-based efforts. Over time, these programs included NAEYC-accredited (National Association for the Education of Young Children) childcare services, medical services for children, dental care services for children and adults, adult education, afterschool and enrichment programs, and an Intel Computer Clubhouse for middle school youth.

From the beginning, the Zeist Foundation approached its place-based work by establishing public-private partnerships and acknowledging that philanthropic investments alone could not fully solve the systemic problems impacting the quality of life of Atlanta’s low-income families.

The Zeist Foundation’s work in Edgewood has been rooted in a commitment to work together with family and community to ensure that every child has what he or she needs to succeed in school, visualizing a community that cares for its children in the context of everything that impacts their lives, healthy children who are not hampered by the physical and emotional traumas of life, a school system that supports and maximizes the academic achievement of its students, functioning families equipped with the basic resources required to raise creative and productive children, and a community that is safe and nurturing for all who live within its boundaries.

— Excerpt from “George Brumley: A Catalyst for a Vision” by Dr. Veda Johnson, July 2003

As the Foundation deepened its investments in the Edgewood community, Dr. Brumley saw the detrimental impact that the deplorable housing conditions were having on children and families and began investigating opportunities to improve living conditions in the neighborhood. When he learned that a developer was planning to construct a major retail complex on the outskirts of the neighborhood, he realized that existing residents would be at risk of displacement from increased property values and higher rents. He recruited an Edgewood neighborhood leader, Garry Long, to help him improve housing conditions and maintain affordability under an intermediary organization called Mayson Avenue Cooperative (MAC). Mr. Long began his service with the Foundation on July 1, 2003, but a few weeks later, Dr. Brumley and 11 other family members died in a family tragedy.

The two surviving daughters, Nancy Brumley Robitaille and Marie Brumley Foster, along with Marie’s husband Brad Foster, assumed leadership of the Foundation and resumed their family’s philanthropic work in 2005. Knowing of their father’s desire to improve and preserve affordable housing in Edgewood, the board and new Executive Director Kappy deButts developed a working relationship with Garry Long and a new chapter began.

The Foundation’s place-based philanthropy in Edgewood started with its support of Georgia’s first school-based health center. Within the first decade, however, after listening and responding to community residents, the Foundation’s investments expanded into a more holistic

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family-focused strategy that included three major elements: ■■

Health — from school-based health centers to

community gardens ■■

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Education — from early learning programs to improving local public schools Housing — from a renovation vision to new and

improved affordable housing In 2005, the Zeist Foundation acquired the scattered-site Edgewood Housing Apartment properties through MAC. Over the next five years, the Foundation supported the difficult and deliberative work led by MAC as it redeveloped the property. This multi-faceted project required many steps, climbing up a steep learning curve, including: ■■

Applying for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits

on three occasions ■■

Visiting the East Baltimore community to

learn about The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s affordable housing and relocation strategies ■■

Building a 10-person Responsible Relocation team led by Zeist Foundation Associate Director Atiba Mbiwan and Garry Long to support the more than 500 residents as they moved

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Managing a demolition project of a 12-acre

scattered site and security patrols ■■

Funding the Edgewood Master Planning Process, resulting in the Edgewood Community

Revitalization Plan which was adopted by the City of Atlanta.

Dr. George Brumley, Jr. with student at Whitefoord Elementary School

A major strategic decision during this timeframe was the Foundation’s shift from a partnership with a nonprofit housing developer, Progressive Redevelopment Incorporated, to a for-profit housing developer, Columbia Residential. Not only did Columbia Residential have greater financial capacity, the company had already built two high-quality affordable housing developments in Edgewood — one for families and one for seniors — and was equipped to manage the development upon completion.

As the new affordable family housing — Retreat at Edgewood Townhomes — was developed in two phases from 2010–2012, the Zeist Foundation funded its longstanding nonprofit partner Families First to provide staff members who could orient the new townhome tenants to the Edgewood neighborhood and connect them to its assets — ​schools, community gardens, early learning programs, and more.

During this time, the Foundation also began to extend its reach beyond Edgewood’s neighborhood boundaries in several ways. In 2009, after 15 years of operating school-based health centers in two Edgewood schools, Dr. Veda Johnson approached the Foundation to propose expanding this model across the state of Georgia.

As the nation struggled to address access to health care, Dr. Johnson’s team scaled the school-based health center model over the next decade, helping to establish nearly 50 school-based health centers in Georgia’s urban, suburban, and rural areas.

The Foundation also broadened its education focus beyond Edgewood and started providing

support to other elementary schools that fed into Coan Middle School, later broadening to include all schools in the larger Maynard Jackson High School cluster. This expansion helped to align educational supports from birth through high school graduation and promoted practices that were later scaled district-wide.

During this time, the Edgewood neighborhood was also changing. The completion of the Edgewood Retail District on the neighborhood’s western border in 2005 transformed the area into a major intown retail hub, attracting more affluent shoppers and residents. Improvements in the neighborhood’s housing stock were also making homes less affordable for existing residents. These changes in Edgewood housing were part of a citywide and national trend, as the numbers of public housing, low-cost, and affordable housing units have fallen and increasing numbers of luxury units have been built.

Responding to the dramatic changes in the Edgewood neighborhood, the Zeist Foundation has evolved. It crafted a new strategic plan in 2017 to guide its continued commitment to support underserved children, youth, and families in Atlanta and across the state, drawing on what it has learned through its place-based philanthropy in the Edgewood neighborhood.

With 2019 marking 25 years since Dr. Brumley helped launch Georgia’s first school-based health center inside Whitefoord Elementary, the Foundation is reflecting on the past quarter century and its work with and in support of the community that has called Edgewood home.

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Dr. Charles Moore checks a student’s heart rate.

Report Contents

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Aligning Education Efforts from Birth to 18 Years

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Responsible Relocation and Redevelopment

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Lessons Learned from 25 Years of Place-Based Philanthropy

An Early Focus on Children’s Health

Dr. Veda Johnson and Dr. George Brumley, Jr. with Atlanta Public Schools’ leaders at the ribbon cutting for the Whitefoord Elementary School Health Center in 1994

An Early Focus on Children’s Health It seemed like a fairly routine health examination. A third-grade student came into the health center at Whitefoord Elementary School after having thrown up in his classroom. He didn’t feel nauseous and, even though he had just delivered a short speech in class, he didn’t think it was caused by nervousness. Based on her exam, the pediatric resident diagnosed him with an upset stomach and was ready to call his mother and suggest a bland diet for that evening, but first Dr. Veda Johnson, the center’s medical director, had to examine him.

“We do a lot to help boost children’s self-esteem and help them understand their value — in addition to providing healthcare services,” explains Dr. Johnson. “So, even though he was a really shy child and kept his head down, I kept encouraging him to look me in the eye as he told me how he felt.”

and pediatrician whose groundbreaking research helped improve survival rates for premature babies.

During the more than two decades the Edgewood centers were in operation, they established a model that Dr. Johnson has been helping schools and communities across Georgia replicate in an effort to increase children’s access to healthcare services. A grant from the Zeist Foundation to Emory University in 2009 enabled Dr. Johnson to rapidly scale this model, establishing 48 schoolbased health centers in 44 counties a decade later.

During those brief moments when Dr. Johnson was able to cajole him into looking at her, she noticed an unusual eye movement that led her to do a complete neurological exam and, afterwards, to order a CT scan at Grady Hospital. The scan revealed a large tumor growing in the child’s brain. He was quickly admitted to the hospital, underwent surgery to remove the tumor, and went on to a full recovery.

A Place-Based Approach to Healthcare and Community

This child was one of thousands who received healthcare services at the school-based health centers in Whitefoord Elementary and Coan Middle School, the two schools in Atlanta’s Edgewood neighborhood. First opened at Whitefoord in 1994 and at Coan in 1998, the centers were the brainchild of Dr. George Brumley, co-founder of The Zeist Foundation and a leading neonatologist

Having served as the chair of the pediatrics department at Emory University for 11 years following 19 years at the Duke University Medical Center, Dr. Brumley began planning for the next phase of his career in 1992. His vision entailed applying his medical expertise in a new way, utilizing the family foundation he and his wife Jean had launched in 1989 to meet the needs of

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Dental Assistant with student at Whitefoord Elementary School Health Center

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underserved children and families in Atlanta. He began by focusing on what he knew best — caring for children’s health — and conceived of an idea to break down some of the barriers that prevent children in low-income families from receiving adequate healthcare by taking the medical services to them in their neighborhood schools.

Building on lessons from The Atlanta Project (an anti-poverty effort launched by President Jimmy Carter), Dr. Brumley adopted a “placebased” approach and selected Whitefoord Elementary School in the underserved Edgewood neighborhood as the focal point for his efforts.

Whitefoord Elementary was a strategic choice, given its low student and school performance, the lack of access to resources in the community, and its proximity to Emory University and the resources Dr. Brumley and his former student, Dr. Veda Johnson, could leverage there.

The timing was fortuitous. In 1994, as Dr. Brumley was putting the pieces of his plan in place, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services established the “Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities” grant program, marking the first federal funding targeted specifically to school-based health centers. Dr. Johnson secured $275,000 in federal funds, adding to the $50,000 grant received in 1993 from the Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities.

With support from Emory University, Dr. Brumley and his public partner — Atlanta Public Schools — renovated space in Whitefoord Elementary and the medical staff welcomed their first student-patients in November of 1994. Four years later, they opened a second center to serve middle school students at nearby Coan Middle School. To oversee operations of the two centers and coordinate a wide range of resident-focused community services, Dr. Brumley and the Zeist Foundation also established the Whitefoord Community Program in 1995.

His teacher joked with me later, ‘Who diagnoses a tumor in a child who throws up once?’ I just made him look at me. That simple act helps children understand their value and worth and is just as important as the medicine. ­— Dr. Veda Johnson, Director, PARTNERS

“Ours was a very neutral platform,” explains Marie Brumley Foster, one of George and Jean Brumley’s daughters and a Zeist Foundation Director along with her sister Nancy Brumley Robitaille and her husband Brad Foster. “In the eyes of the residents who lived there, this was a service being provided to them, a service that parents wanted because they wanted their children to do well and be healthy. And, providing that service opened up the door for us to have other conversations later on around job training, parenting, etc.”

Dr. Brumley and Dr. Johnson referred to the Whitefoord Elementary center as the “Cadillac” version of school-based health centers because it was one of the most comprehensive of its type in the country, with Emory doctors and nurses providing a comprehensive array of services.

Using an interdisciplinary approach designed to help parents take responsibility for their children’s health, the centers diagnosed and treated acute illnesses and injuries, supported the management of chronic illnesses, and provided

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Ours was a very neutral platform. In the eyes of the residents who lived there, this was a service being provided to them, a service that parents wanted because they wanted their children to do well and be healthy. And, providing that service opened up the door for us to have other conversations later on around job training, parenting, etc.

— Marie Brumley Foster, Co-President, Zeist Foundation

preventative care and screening, mental health screenings and management, dental care, health education, and social services, as well as referrals to medical specialists and community agencies.

This robust set of services met a critical need in the school and community, serving both preschool and school-aged children and, beginning in 2002, extending services to parents as well. According to Dr. Johnson, many students suffered from serious health conditions, including asthma, diabetes, sickle cell anemia, AIDS and/or heart disease. The children were also affected by the community conditions around them, including high rates of HIV-infections, unhealthy housing, crime, and drug dealing.

“All of these traumatic events trumped the medical complexity,” explains Dr. Johnson. “Our work was expansive and wasn’t just for the medically needy children, but for all children. That’s why we included behavioral health and why Zeist also invested in the family resource center at the Whitefoord Community Program.”

The school-based health centers’ robust services were available year-round, including the summer months, weekends, and holiday breaks, and they came with a large price tag. By 2006, the two centers had a combined annual operating budget of $1.3 million or approximately $650,000 per center, much higher than the $275,000 budget for a typical school-based health center. They drew on a combination of public and private

funding for support with about half provided through a federal grant and one-third from the Zeist Foundation and other philanthropic funders.

Medicaid, PeachCare, and private insurance providers contributed approximately $190,000 while the centers also received in-kind support for space, lab services, and malpractice insurance.

Benefits to Children Edgewood’s school-based health centers were a significant community asset. During the 2005–2006 school year, they served nearly 1,300 patients — approximately 95 percent of the schools’ student body and their siblings — with more than 11,800 patient encounters. Demand was highest for the centers’ respiratory, emotional, and dental services.

The high demand for dental care suggests that the centers were meeting a need that often goes unmet for low-income children. Untreated dental problems contribute to school absences and lower grades1 with children in low-income households bearing the brunt. Since 2010, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) have received increased funding, enabling them to offer dental care — but the centers in Edgewood were leading the nation with its provision of oral health to students.

In 2006, many of the centers’ users had asthma, a chronic respiratory condition that contributes to student absenteeism and lower academic performance, especially when families lack access

1 https://www.colgate.com/en-us/oral-health/life-stages/childrens-oral-care/ada-08-poor-oral-health-can-​mean-​ missed-​school-​lower-grades

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ROSSVILLE SANDY SPRINGS

TUNNEL HILL

CHAMBLEE STONE MOUNTAIN

BLUE RIDGE CHATSWORTH ATLANTA

LAFAYETTE

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DECATUR

DOUGLASVILLE

FAIRMOUNT

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LITHONIA COLLEGE PARK

ATHENS

Comprehensive School-Based Health Centers in Georgia

CRAWFORDVILLE

as of March 2020

MILLEDGEVILLE

2

COLUMBUS

2

MACON

WRIGHTSVILLE

BUTLER PINEHURST

CUSSETA

SHELLMAN

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CORDELE

DAWSON

CLAXTON

2

5

SAVANNAH

ASHBURN ALBANY

DOUGLAS

THOMASVILLE

to healthcare services to manage the condition.

With regular access to school-based health services, the students with asthma had a relatively low number of emergency room visits related to asthma, suggesting that the preventative care they received enabled them to remain asymptomatic.

With increased access to healthcare services, student attendance at both schools improved.

“One of the greatest benefits of the health center was that it kept our kids in the schools,” explains Timmy Foster, principal of Whitefoord Elementary from 2011 until its closure in 2017. “When our students needed medical attention, we didn’t need to call their parents and ask them to leave their job to take their child to the doctor. It really boosted our student attendance and helped families.”

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One of the greatest benefits of the health center was that it kept our kids in the schools.

When our students needed medical attention, we didn’t need to call their parents and ask them to leave their job to take their child to the doctor. It really boosted our student attendance and helped families.”

— Timmy Foster, Whitefoord Elementary School Principal

Reduced Financial Costs Although the centers were primarily focused on improving child health outcomes, an evaluation of the Whitefoord center two years after it opened found that it also delivered significant cost savings to the state’s Medicaid program. Average inpatient expenses for Whitefoord students were about one-fourth those for students of a comparison school, while Medicaid charges for asthma-related services for Whitefoord students were less than half — ​ a savings of more than $2,000 per patient.

As enrollment at the schools fell in the early 2000’s, the Edgewood school-based centers began providing services to students at other nearby schools. When Coan Middle School was closed in 2014, the school-based health center was moved to the newly renovated King Middle School in the Summerhill neighborhood. After the APS Superintendent proposed closing Whitefoord Elementary in 2017, the Superintendent backtracked and changed the school name to the Whitefoord Early Learning Academy with a mission to serve 3 and 4 year-old children. The Whitefoord school-based health center, therefore, now has a younger population to serve.

Scaling Statewide To systematize scaling efforts, Dr. Johnson established PARTNERS for Equity in Child and Adolescent Health at Emory University in 2009 and the Zeist Foundation invested $3 million over five years to help the program replicate this school-based health center model across metro

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Atlanta and Georgia. Since that initial investment, the Zeist Foundation has provided an additional $2.3 million to support PARTNERS. PARTNERS leveraged the initial investment to secure $6 million in public and private matching funds. Working with Georgia Family Connection Partnership, Inc., PARTNERS distributed planning grants to communities across Georgia and provided technical assistance and support through workshops, monthly conference calls, site visits, and presentations to local groups to build public support for school-based healthcare.

To date, 46 counties throughout Georgia have received PARTNERS planning grants.

Sustainability has historically posed a challenge to school-based health centers, hindering the expansion of this approach. Typically, centers have been launched with grant funding but struggled to sustain operations after the grant ended because they were unable to bill for services or generate sufficient revenue through billings. PARTNERS helped communities conceive of and implement a sustainable model based on collaboration with a safety-net medical sponsor.

In Edgewood, Emory University had been the sponsor, but as Dr. Johnson replicated the model, she identified Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) as a strategic choice for the medical sponsor. With a mission of enhancing primary care services in underserved urban and rural communities, FQHCs are a critical component of the healthcare safety net and closely aligned with school-based health centers. In addition, they are able to get enhanced reimbursements from Medicaid and can secure additional federal funds

Nurse attending to student at the Lake Forrest Elementary School Health Center for expanded services, such as behavioral and oral health, meeting a critical need for students.

Throughout the planning process, PARTNERS helps pair communities with an FQHC and supports them in adhering to quality benchmarks to ensure they are effective in addressing the needs of students.

To measure the quality of school-based health centers in these new communities, the Healthcare Georgia Foundation conducted an evaluation of the centers in three expansion counties, representing urban, rural, and semi-rural regions.

All three exceeded benchmarks of enrollment and utilization, improved health outcomes related to obesity and asthma, and increased students’ “seat time” — meaning the students spent more time in the classroom learning. One school experienced a 44 percent increase in seat time in just one year.

Some school-based health centers are affecting community health, as well as student health.

When the Catoosa County center first opened, it limited services to students. Over the next three years, it steadily expanded offerings to siblings of students, teachers, and later the whole community, becoming one of the most effective centers in the state.

“The child was our focus when we started this work and it still is,” Dr. Johnson explains. “But in rural communities that lack access to healthcare for everyone, we see school-based health centers as a vehicle for serving the whole community.”

After establishing its first school-based health center in 2013, Albany/Dougherty County now boasts five schools with health centers, greatly expanding access to health services in this southwest Georgia community. In partnership

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The child was our focus when we started this work and it still is. But in rural communities that lack access to healthcare for everyone, we see school-based health centers as a vehicle for serving the whole community. ­— Dr. Veda Johnson, Director, PARTNERS

with Albany Area Primary Health Care, the local FQHC, the centers provide dental, vision, and mental health services to students. Leveraging funding from Vision One, one school opened

a full-service vision center that provides eye exams and glasses directly to students who need them. The only one of its kind in the southeast US, the vision center serves all students in the district.

With 48 school-based health centers now operating in Georgia, much progress had been made towards achieving the vision Dr. Brumley first outlined in 1992. Despite this rapid progress, 63 of Georgia’s 159 counties do not have a single pediatrician, a significant barrier for children in accessing healthcare services. PARTNERS is focusing its efforts on those communities.

“It has gone much faster than I expected,” reflects Dr. Johnson. “It’s only been six years since we started to focus on scaling. I had thought we would have 10 or 15 by now, not 48! It all goes back to our focus in the beginning: this is about the children and what children need to grow up to be happy, productive citizens. We wanted that in Edgewood and we want it in all other communities, many of which face a tremendous number of historical challenges.”

Health Lessons Learned ■■ ■■

Improving health outcomes requires providers to recognize the social determinants of health.

Increasing access to quality healthcare for children strengthens relationships and trust with residents and parents.

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Seek school leaders who recognize the value of a school-based health center, who work with

community partners, and who develop strong relationships with families.

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Federally Qualified Health Centers with mission-alignment are great medical partners because

they can provide services on a sliding scale and use Medicaid reimbursements to increase sustainability of school-based health centers and community-based family centers.

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Aligning Education Efforts from Birth to 18 Years An Early Focus on Early Learning Soon after investing in the launch of the school-based health center at Whitefoord Elementary School, the Foundation began working to ensure that children received early care and learning to prepare them for success in grade school. Dr. Brumley’s medical knowledge helped him see the importance of the early years for child development, and he was adamant that children needed support long before they enrolled in kindergarten.

In 1995, Dr. Brumley and Jean Brumley partnered with Families First and Save the Children to create Family Care Networks, a group of family and home-based childcare programs in the community.

The Networks connected the community-based childcare providers with trainings in child development and safety and helped some earn their Child Development Associate credential, paving the way to careers in the early learning field. Later that year, the Foundation created a new nonprofit organization, Whitefoord Community Program, to manage the school-based health center and other programs for children and families in the neighborhood. It also purchased a house in the Edgewood neighborhood to serve as the Whitefoord Community Program office.

“I told him that the house they bought had six termites holding it together,” remembers Dr. Veda Johnson laughing. “But he was committed to renovating it instead of tearing it down because he said it had a strong foundation. That was the message he wanted to convey to the

community — that you build on what is there instead of tearing down.”

After consulting with residents on the design of a center-based early learning program, the Foundation secured Georgia Pre-K funding (the state’s newly-established, lottery-generated pool of funds for education). The Whitefoord Child Development Program (CDP) opened in 1998, hiring several residents to provide care to the 20 children enrolled. They quickly realized that one year of early learning was insufficient to prepare children for success in elementary school and, with the benefit of Head Start funding, the CDP expanded the program the following year, serving children beginning in infancy.

Two decades later, Whitefoord CDP was serving approximately 130 children, ages 0–3 years while also operating Pre-K classes within the Georgia Pre-K Program and preparing young children to enter kindergarten at Whitefoord Elementary School, which was literally across the street.

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The afterschool program had a great impact on students. It provided them with structure and support with homework. And, the greatest benefit of the summer program was the exposure to area museums and the Zoo, experiences that build children’s imagination for writing and their comprehension for reading.

— Timmy Foster, Whitefoord Elementary School Principal

Sustaining the Gains in the Early Grades A major reason that Dr. Brumley selected Whitefoord Elementary School for his health education project was its dynamic leader, Dr. Betty Blassingame, who made sure her staff members were connected to the students in the building as well as the families and community assets in the Edgewood neighborhood. Principal Blassingame embraced a holistic approach to supporting children’s development and welcomed the Foundation’s support in meeting their needs.

When she noticed many students standing outside the school in the early morning and after school, she utilized Foundation funds to provide breakfast and afterschool enrichment. Until her death in 1999, Dr. Blassingame served as Principal at Whitefoord Elementary and she inspired her colleagues at Coan Middle School, located just three blocks away, to establish a school-based health center to serve their students.

Dr. Brumley utilized scientific research to convince funders to invest in early learning and improve neighborhoods

Throughout the terms of Dr. Blassingame’s two successors Principal Patricia Lavant (1999–2010) and Principal Timmy Foster (2011–2017), the Foundation continued to support afterschool and summer enrichment programs, as well as field trips for Whitefoord Elementary students and professional development for faculty and administrators.

After Atlanta Public Schools (APS) leadership closed Whitefoord Elementary in 2017 and created the Whitefoord Early Learning Academy for 3- and 4-year old children, the Foundation focused on helping Whitefoord, Inc. support children during the early years.

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Expanding from a Neighborhood Focus to a “Cluster Focus” After 16 years of thoughtful, community-driven investments in Edgewood, the Zeist Foundation recognized that development of affordable housing was a multi-year project, requiring longrange plans instead of an annual goal-setting process. The Foundation engaged a consultant, Jon Abercrombie, to interview Foundation board and staff members, and work with stakeholders in planning place-based investments over a fiveyear period (2011–2015). A focus on three critical areas — Housing, Education, and Health — emerged from this effort.

With the creation of the Edgewood Community Learning Garden (ECLG) in 2009, the Foundation entered a new field of health education. It experimented with several nonprofit organizations before selecting the Wylde Center to manage the new garden. Recognizing the benefits of this

health education approach, the Coan Middle School Principal created the Coan Edible Schoolyard the following year and the Emory Office of University Community Partnerships adopted the school, providing ongoing support. Consequently, the Foundation’s new Strategic Plan included this expansion into food and nutrition with support for activities at Coan Middle School and its feeder elementary schools — Whitefoord Elementary, Toomer Elementary, and Burgess-Peterson Academy.

Through its partnership with the Wylde Center, the Foundation constructed the Edgewood Community Learning Center, located adjacent to the garden, in 2016 — complete with chickens, apiaries, fruit trees, and community-harvestable garden beds — ​so that school field trips would have indoor space for storage, demonstrations, and health education.

During the Strategic Plan timeframe, the Foundation explored urban agriculture as well as arts and culture programming in Edgewood. It took

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Young people find “Space to Soar” in the Moving In The Spirit building at MARTA Edgewood Transit Station. a risk by supporting a start-up nonprofit called the Atlanta Music Project (AMP) which provided music education to underserved youth. For two years, AMP provided instruments and music lessons for students at Whitefoord Elementary and Coan Middle Schools. The Foundation’s grants helped the new organization with general operations and capacity building and, as word spread, students from other southeast Atlanta schools flocked to AMP to develop their musical talents using instruments or in a choral group.

The AMP pilot proved that quality arts experiences for young people were not available in Edgewood.

A few years later, Moving In the Spirit, another homegrown creative youth development organization, built their new home, Space to Soar, at the MARTA Edgewood Transit-Oriented Development, helping to fill that void. The Foundation provided the first gift to the capital campaign for this renowned dance organization’s planned new building where it serves children and youth in Edgewood, as well as young people from across the city after opening in spring of 2020.

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An Idea Whose Time Has Come — ​ Jackson Innovation Cluster By 2012, the Foundation recognized that its support of the Coan Middle School portion of the Maynard Jackson High School cluster was insufficient to ensure youth from Edgewood would graduate from high school. Embracing the guidance that foundations often deliver to the nonprofits they support — to collaborate with their peers — the Zeist Foundation and other educationfocused, place-based funders agreed to begin working together in support of the schools and students in the Jackson Cluster. In 2013, the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Atlanta Civic Site, United Way for Greater Atlanta, and the Zeist Foundation entered into a consulting contract with the NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools. Led by New York University Professor Pedro Noguera, the Center was tasked with exploring a 21st century education idea — Is there sufficient stakeholder interest in the development of a Jackson Innovation Cluster?

Since the Jackson Cluster had more established charter schools than any other APS cluster (Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School, Drew Charter School, and Wesley International Academy), the concept of an “Innovation Cluster” rested on the notion that traditional schools and charter schools could work together for the greater good. After six months of stakeholder engagement, including interviews and focus groups with the Superintendent, Atlanta School Board Members, principals, early learning center leaders, college and university staff, and a Visioning Summit with parents, teachers, students, and nonprofits, the Jackson Cluster community and allies gathered at Maynard Jackson High School in February 2014 to review with Professor Noguera the NYU report, affirming that a “Jackson Innovation Cluster” was an idea worth pursuing.

Horizons Atlanta teacher with student in the Horizons summer program

Over the next five years, several “education innovation” initiatives grew out of the Jackson Cluster collaboration, addressing early learning, new teacher development, student engagement, and leadership coaching.

Get Georgia Reading P–3 Project Launched in 2013 in response to the fact that twothirds of Georgia’s third graders were not reading on grade level, the Get Georgia Reading Campaign selected the Jackson Cluster and the Clarke County School District as demonstration sites for a project designed to build effective working relationships between early learning centers and elementary schools.

of discovery that yielded promising policies and practices that would increase alignment and cooperation between the early learning sector and Georgia school systems.

This demonstration project was co-funded by the Zeist Foundation and the Belk Foundation and led by Dr. Kristie Kauerz, one of the nation’s foremost experts in preschool to grade 3 (P–3) alignment. Over a two year period, Kauerz led educators, district leaders, and nonprofits from this urban-rural district (Athens/Clarke County) and urban cluster (APS Jackson) through a process

his innovative approaches helped influence

During the demonstration, Clarke County Superintendent Phil Lanoue was recognized as 2015 Georgia Superintendent of the Year and 2015 National Superintendent of the Year, and APS educators and the Foundation. In 2016, the

Foundation engaged Emory Community Building and Social Change Fellows in collecting promising practices and contact information for an “Early Learning Playbook” to support more than 30 early learning centers and the 7 elementary schools based within the Jackson Cluster.

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This was really exceptional. The charter school movement — nationwide — has become an alternative sub-system. The early Jackson Cluster conversations and the partnerships that emerged reminded us that charter schools were intended to be places where you test ideas that can be replicated to improve traditional schools.

— Atiba Mbiwan, Associate Director, Zeist Foundation

CREATE Teacher Residency In 2015, the Zeist Foundation provided matching funds, enabling Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School to secure a $3 million U.S. Department of Education “Investing in Innovation” grant which it used to launch CREATE (Collaboration and Reflection to Enhance Atlanta Teacher Effectiveness), a multi-year teacher residency project.

The Foundation’s grant was contingent upon the inclusion of the Cluster’s traditional public schools in the project and both elementary and middle schools participated, hosting teacher residents and strengthening teacher development opportunities.

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Over the next four years, the CREATE model flourished across and beyond the Jackson Cluster.

It has become a proof point in APS for collaboration between charter and traditional schools, as well as a best practice model for new teacher induction and support.

In 2019, this innovative work was highlighted when Tracey Pendley, a 4th grade teacher at BurgessPeterson Academy and a CREATE Cooperating Teacher/Mentor in the Jackson Cluster, was recognized as the “2020 Georgia Teacher of the Year.”

The key in this transaction was the work done by Betsy with a data strategist to design an actionable data reporting format that did not require additional analysis by the educators. The format allowed educators to focus on the interventions necessary. This meant we were producing a report that wouldn’t merely sit on a shelf, but could be used by the faculty, staff and leadership to support our students.

— Rubye Sullivan, Executive Director, Atlanta Public Schools Data and Information Group

Individual Student Plans After a decade of mediocre performance and revolving principal leaders at Coan Middle School, Dr. Betsy Bockman, a veteran leader at the high-performing Inman Middle School, was persuaded to serve as principal at Coan for a turnaround experiment.

With Foundation support, Principal Bockman worked with an education consultant to develop an “individual student plan” template that was completed by students with consultation from teachers, counselors, and family members.

The individual student plan was designed to provide middle school students with a “sense of agency,” encouraging them to care about their academic performance and providing them with the support they needed to succeed.

Teachers offered tutoring to all students rather than focusing only on those who were falling behind. Nonprofits were engaged to provide wraparound supports with PowerMyLearning providing computers to students. Parents and guardians were welcomed at the school, with school leaders viewing them as partners in supporting students’ success. The results proved that the hypothesis was correct. Most students achieved their “stretch goals” and exceeded their academic performance from the previous year. This unprecedented achievement brought scrutiny from the central office, but after examining the tools and methods, the Individual Student Plan template was adopted by other APS middle schools.

We felt it was important not to wait until the end of the year to measure our success. We needed to show both the teachers and students how they were making progress throughout the year to build their confidence, keep them engaged and keep them thinking, ‘Yes! I can do this!’

— Dr. Betsy Bockman, Principal, Coan Middle School

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Teachers in the CREATE Teacher Residency Program outside the MAC Edgewood Office

Leadership Development In the fall of 2012, NYU Professor Pedro Noguera facilitated a meeting of Jackson Cluster leaders at East Lake Golf Club. This marked the firstever convening of traditional and charter school leaders within APS. The meeting led Drew Charter School Principal Don Doran and Westminster School Center for Teaching Executive Director Robert Ryshke to pursue a Georgia Department of Education Dissemination Grant which they used to convene half of the Jackson Cluster school leaders in a Principal Collaboration Cohort. Two years later, this leadership development project had expanded to include all school leaders in the Jackson Cluster, providing a safe space for the leaders to share, grow, and learn together. By 2016, Maynard Jackson High School Principal Stephanie Johnson was recognized as Georgia Principal of the Year. Johnson had fully

embraced this collaboration between traditional and charter schools and her collaborative mindset, energetic personality, and commitment to

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equity made her the right person at the right time to lead this innovative APS cluster.

Beginning with the 2014–2015 school year, the Foundation made the strategic shift to begin supporting all schools within the Maynard Jackson High School cluster — ten traditional schools and three charter schools. It created a cluster fund of $50,000 and encouraged principals of traditional schools to use it for professional development and other needs. The Foundation also supported semi-annual professional learning days, which became cluster teacher assemblies, providing the opportunity to address common needs, such as math education.

Seeking to increase alignment of the health and education-related services they were funding, the Foundation hosted monthly meetings with all its grantees and other nonprofits operating within the Maynard Jackson Cluster.

Nonprofit Collaboration Monthly Foundation Convening Aligning Health and Education in a “Whole Child� Approach

afterschool

community service

afterschool

Discovery Center visits

summer program

digital learning

early learning/ school health summer STEAM camp

in school/after school arts parent support

teacher support

community garden

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Responding to School Closures in Edgewood Despite the significant student progress at Coan Middle School, the demonstrated benefits of the school-based health centers, the Foundation’s deep commitment to the Edgewood community and its neighborhood schools, and widespread opposition from neighborhood residents, the outgoing APS Superintendent Errol Davis recommended closing Coan in 2014 and merging it with King Middle School, almost four miles away in the Grant Park neighborhood. With the resulting merger, the school-based health center was relocated to King Middle School after it was renovated with new clinic space.

Three years later in January 2017, APS Superintendent Meria Carstarphen recommended closing Whitefoord Elementary School with the rationale that it was underenrolled. That March, the APS Board of Education approved the closing despite the fact that Whitefoord Elementary School had been in the top tier of elementary schools in the Jackson cluster for the five years preceding its closure. After Whitefoord merged with Toomer Elementary in the neighboring Kirkwood

neighborhood, the district worked with Whitefoord, Inc. to establish the Whitefoord Early Learning Academy (WELA) in the school building, housing six Pre-K classes and two toddler classes for 3-year-old children.

With the closing of both neighborhood schools — which had been at the heart of the Foundation’s education investments — the Foundation discontinued its direct funding support of Jackson Cluster schools and focused its funding on nonprofits serving neighborhood children, youth, families, and educators. In addition, through its annual grant to the nonprofit Whitefoord, Inc., the Foundation has provided support for WELA to ensure that low-income families can send their children to high-quality early learning programs in the Edgewood neighborhood.

As of December 2019, the Coan Middle School building is being used for APS meetings and film locations for TV and movie scenes. With a growing neighborhood and city, many families and educators in the Jackson Cluster have expressed hopes that Edgewood will once again have a school to serve its residents and students from surrounding neighborhoods.

Education Lessons Learned ■■

Strong partnerships with school leaders at multiple levels — including school board,

superintendent, principals, teachers, and parents — are critical.

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Supporting children from birth to graduation requires a holistic vision and investments that

address their social, emotional, physical, and academic needs within a feeder system.

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Individualized and intensive educational supports can help struggling learners advance, but schools must adapt to the changing conditions in the 21st century and reinvent teaching and learning.

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Retreat at Edgewood Townhomes

Responsible Relocation and Redevelopment Atlanta’s Edgewood Housing Apartment complex was a tough place to live in 2000. Originally built in the 1960s, the 175 rental units had fallen into disrepair with broken windows, busted door jams, roach infestations, and overgrown lots adding to the public safety challenges.

At the time, Edgewood Housing Apartments was home to just over 500 residents, of whom nearly 300 were children. The local gangs preyed upon these children, recruiting them to assist in their drug dealing because, as minors, they would receive lighter sentences if caught.

While working to improve health and education in the neighborhood from 1994 until 2003, Dr. Brumley realized the devasting impact that poor housing conditions were having on children and families and he knew it would have to be addressed sooner or later.

Although he did not live long enough to see this housing dream come true a decade later, the Zeist Foundation was able to collaborate with public and private partners to create the Retreat at Edgewood townhomes, an award-winning 140unit, mixed-income, scattered-site development that opened in 2011.

Crafting a Plan Soon after launching the neighborhood’s first school-based health center in 1994 and helping to create the Whitefoord Community Program the following year, Dr. Brumley and Dr. Veda Johnson,

the Whitefoord Center medical director, began discussing the need to stabilize and improve housing conditions. Those conversations took on an increased sense of urgency in early 2002 when a Florida-based developer, The Sembler Company, purchased a 40-acre plot on Moreland Avenue along the neighborhood’s western border and announced plans for a major retail district.

Dr. Brumley and Dr. Johnson knew that this transformative retail project would likely result in the displacement of longtime neighborhood residents. Dr. Brumley judiciously convened a task force of nonprofit developers, real estate agents, and attorneys to investigate the existing housing stock and opportunities for improving housing quality while preserving affordability.

In 2003, Dr. Brumley hired an Edgewood neighborhood leader, Garry Long, to manage the housing work and established the Mayson Avenue Cooperative (MAC) as the Zeist Foundation’s affordable housing intermediary. As a resident of Edgewood, Long was well-positioned to help the Foundation discern resident interests and needs while also communicating the Foundation’s commitment to support residents throughout the process.

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I was hired to engage the residents, talk to, and get to know them. That turned out to be a good use of time. When we finally got around to redevelopment and relocation, residents were comfortable with what was about to happen because of the relationships that had been built over the previous years — going all the way back to the work around healthcare and education. Zeist didn’t just find the community and decide to build housing — and that is unique.

— Garry Long, Director, Mayson Avenue Cooperative

Before he could finalize plans for this new component of a holistic place-based vision for Edgewood, Dr. Brumley and several other family members died in a tragic plane crash in the summer of 2003. In the wake of this tragedy,

I remember sitting around the table with a lot of people, talking about this. Who had dad been talking to? What did he sign on to do? We knew he had a real vision for this work, and we had to figure out who was involved in it and if this was something we could take on.

— Nancy Brumley Robitaille, Co-President, Zeist Foundation

the two surviving daughters, Nancy Brumley Robitaille and Marie Brumley Foster, and Nancy’s husband, Brad Foster, temporarily halted the Foundation’s operations before resuming their family’s work in Edgewood in early 2005.

As they were investigating the plans Dr. Brumley had been crafting, the Foundation directors

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learned that the out-of-state owner of Edgewood Housing Apartments was planning to sell the property. Since the apartment complex was a project-based Section 8 property, the proposed sale threatened the loss of subsidized housing in Edgewood and the displacement of a significant portion of neighborhood residents, including many children. The Foundation made a $7 million Program Related Investment (PRI) to cover the cost of the purchase and became the new owner of the apartment complex in March of 2005.

Stabilizing a Community The purchase meant that the Zeist Foundation, through MAC, was now the owner of dilapidated and unsafe apartment units where hundreds of young children lived in dangerous conditions.

Stabilizing the community and crafting a plan to redevelop the property immediately became a priority and the central focus of the Foundation.

MAC contracted with PRISM, a nonprofit property management firm, to manage the property and tasked the management team with addressing many of the issues in the complex. The property management team was led by Phyllis Coffey, and just days after she started the job, a HUD representative came out to inspect the property.

“The property was totally trashed,” Coffey remembers. “Trash everywhere. People on every corner selling drugs and a lot of repairs that needed to be done.”

While the inspector was on site, a fight broke out and a resident was shot in the head, sending the inspector and apartment staff fleeing for safety.

The residents had seen horrible things happen and wanted to see a change, but they were afraid to say anything to the police. They trusted me and would share information with me — ​ like about a shooting they heard was being planned. I was able to share such good information with the police that they cleaned up some of the crime and busted some of the drug dealers.

— Phyllis Coffey, property management team leader

PRISM Property Manager Phyllis Coffey talking with Edgewood residents and police Even before the shooting, Coffey understood the challenges her team faced and, drawing on support from MAC, they worked hard to bring order to the complex. They met with each household to develop an agreement, outlining what the resident would do to maintain the property and what the management team would do to support them and to address long-standing maintenance issues. The maintenance staff came out promptly to repair issues in the apartments — fixing or replacing subfloors, holes in the walls, and broken appliances — while Coffey gave residents schedules of what they should do on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis to help maintain their homes.

Despite these significant improvements, the Zeist Foundation knew that much more was needed to provide children and families with the safe and healthy housing they deserved. They envisioned a revitalized neighborhood that would provide pedestrian-friendly, and environmentallysustainable housing with family-friendly amenities designed to complement the foundationsupported programs in the community.

These efforts resulted in a dramatic change, one that the HUD inspector noticed immediately when he returned to inspect the property a year later. There was no trash on the ground and the

Initially, the Foundation proposed a phased redevelopment that would allow residents to continue to live in the neighborhood during and after the project. Federal policies and financing

houses were all clean. He noted that the property looked the best he had seen it in 10 years.

Responsible Relocation

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We had a lot of conversations at that point and my mantra became ‘Do No Harm.’ We wanted to improve housing conditions, but we did not want to make residents homeless, so our focus became what can we do that is responsible to help them get into a better place than they are currently. How can we make sure they get a new voucher and are able to keep that voucher over time?

— Marie Brumley Foster, Co-President, Zeist Foundation

options, however, thwarted that goal. Demolition of the structure would terminate the projectbased Section 8 contract associated with the property and no public financing mechanism existed that would allow for the redevelopment of the property in a way that would preserve the subsidies. Federal tax credits, however, could enable the Foundation to preserve a level of affordability in the new redevelopment.

As a Section 8 complex, the rents at Edgewood Housing Apartments had been based on the renters’ income. Low-Income Housing Tax Credits would support development of housing with rents based on Area Median Income — or AMI. Priced to be affordable for those earning 50 or 60 percent of AMI — $37,400 and $44,880, respectively, for a family of four in 2018 — the new units would be unaffordable for most former residents, 40 percent of whom were earning less than 30 percent of AMI when the property was redeveloped.

To inform their plans, Foundation leaders consulted with Atlanta place-based funders that had experience in housing redevelopment and relocation. In the 1990s, the CF/East Lake Foundation had converted a notoriously violent public-housing complex into a mixed-income apartment complex, embracing a holistic approach that also improved education, health, and recreation in the community. In the 21st century, the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Atlanta Civic Site partnered with the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) on a HOPE VI redevelopment of a public-housing complex in a set of neighborhoods south of downtown called Neighborhood Planning Unit-V to ensure that residents were

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not negatively impacted by the relocation and redevelopment process. More importantly, Atlanta Civic Site leaders suggested that a Zeist Foundation team travel to Baltimore to learn about the redevelopment and relocation project supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in the East Baltimore neighborhood. It was this learning journey that convinced Zeist Foundation leaders to replicate the “Responsible Relocation” strategy used in Baltimore and Atlanta as a part of its redevelopment of Edgewood Housing Apartments.

Early in 2007, MAC surveyed residents about their personal goals and needs associated with the relocation. Their responses, along with guidance from Atlanta place-based funders, helped MAC recruit resource partners to support residents throughout the process. In addition, MAC hired a team of six social workers to provide case management support to each of the households, helping them prepare for and complete their move.

Using a strengths-based approach, the social workers completed family assessments and action plans with each household and helped them access supports from the relocation partners. In addition, four former AHA staff members were hired to serve as housing relocation specialists.

Relocation began in May 2007, with the last families moving out of the complex in October of that year. During those six months, the relocation partners helped residents learn about budgeting and financial management, access mental health services and counseling, and understand neighbor and community etiquette. MAC provided transportation assistance in the form of MARTA cards as well as Hertz rental cars for the MAC

These place-based funders were amazing partners. They provided tremendous support, helping us navigate a very confusing and difficult community crisis. We weren’t experts in this area, so we knew we needed to find partners whose values aligned with ours and who could help us solve this problem. — Nancy Brumley Robitaille, Co-President, Zeist Foundation

Edgewood Responsible Relocation Partners Atlanta Housing Authority

Georgia Justice Project

Facilitated informational sessions and voucher briefings to help residents understand the process for applying for a housing choice voucher.

Assisted residents in clearing up criminal records that would prevent them from receiving a housing choice voucher. Services included expungement, getting felony charges reduced to a misdemeanor, and submitting documentation to show the resident was cleared of a criminal charge or to explain extenuating circumstances surrounding an arrest.

Care and Counseling Center of Georgia Delivered mental health services and pastoral counseling.

Good Neighbor Program Offered tips on neighbor and community etiquette.

The Center for Working Families, Inc. Provided job readiness training, employment coaching, computer classes, GED and literacy classes, and transitional work opportunities.

Consumer Credit Counseling Service Provided financial education and budgeting assistance.

Washington Mutual Bank Delivered financial literacy training and offered access to banking services through its Get Checking program

Whitefoord Community Program Provided GED classes, and mental health counseling in the community with on-site childcare.

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The Zeist Foundation put a lot of work into the relocation before it even began. They used their resources to put supports in place in anticipation of what might happen during relocation. They looked at the community and what residents wanted to do and created a plan not just for moving them out, but for helping them plan for what’s next. It wasn’t just about helping them get a voucher, but helping them keep it.

— Donna Henley, lead social worker on the relocation team

housing relocations specialists to take clients to visit new housing sites. In addition, a Southern Education Foundation Fellow helped families enroll school-age children in new schools while a Georgia Justice Project Intern assisted residents in clearing up criminal background issues. As a result of this comprehensive set of supports, every household received a housing choice voucher, enabling them to secure a new housing unit at a cost not to exceed 30 percent of their income.

As it had been during the Casey Foundation’s relocation effort, the Georgia Justice Project proved to be an indispensable partner for the Zeist Foundation, expunging records and getting felony charges reduced to misdemeanors so that all residents could receive a voucher. These respective expungement pilot projects were proof points for the Georgia Justice Project that a fullscale expungement campaign should be waged across Atlanta and Georgia. A decade later that public policy campaign is in full effect with the support of Georgia’s state and local elected officials.

Supervisor Donna Henley and two of her social workers who had supported families during relocation continued to provide case management support to the relocated families for a full year after they had moved to new housing in metro Atlanta. In that time, all relocated residents were able to retain their voucher.

In the summer of 2008, a team of Emory Community Building and Social Change Fellows conducted interviews with the former residents to evaluate the “Responsible Relocation” effort managed by MAC. The feedback and responses were favorable with no charges of displacement,

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media venting, or legal action. A decade later, in 2018, Zeist Foundation leaders shared this responsible relocation approach with nonprofit service provider Buckhead Christian Ministry, enabling it to support low-income residents who were evicted as a result of the redevelopment of the Darlington Apartments.

Providing a “Retreat” in Edgewood for Low-Income Families As families moved out, demolition and redevelopment of the complex began. Having initially planned to preserve the Section 8 subsidies, the Zeist Foundation eventually realized that no federal financing programs would provide that level of subsidy. Instead, the Foundation and its nonprofit development partner Progressive Redevelopment, Inc. (PRI) applied for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. After its initial application for federal tax credits was denied, the Foundation decided to phase out its partnership with PRI in order to work with Columbia Residential, a private, for-profit developer with more capacity.

Columbia Residential had already developed two projects in the Edgewood neighborhood and had cultivated a strong relationship with Organized Neighbors of Edgewood (ONE), the neighborhood organization. In addition, it had extensive experience in housing development, including affordable housing. Together, the partners worked to replace the dilapidated units in Edgewood Housing Apartments with high-quality, attractive homes that were affordable to low-income families, making Dr. Brumley’s vision a reality.

Market + Main — ​ Master Plan

Columbia Senior Residences at Edgewood

Spoke Apartments

Edgewood Court Apartments

Retreat at Edgewood Townhomes

Columbia CitiHomes

Edgewood’s Affordable Housing Developments

Demolition of Edgewood Housing Apartments in 2008

Before beginning construction of the new units, the Zeist Foundation leadership engaged Edgewood residents, nonprofits, businesses, and schools in a master planning process that would guide the redevelopment of the neighborhood over the next 20 years. A boutique local firm, Market & Main, was hired to lead this process. In this planning process, the Edgewood community affirmed the need for workforce housing and the resulting Edgewood Master Plan was adopted by the City of Atlanta.

The partnership with Columbia Residential secured two rounds of federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits from the Georgia Housing Finance Authority — in 2009 and 2011 — to support the construction of the 140-unit townhome-style development that became known as the Retreat at Edgewood. This mixed-income complex includes 44 units that are affordable to those earning 50 percent AMI, 94 units affordable to those earning 60 percent AMI, and 2 units priced at market rate.

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Measures of Success Relocation as a Launch Pad to Success Aliyah,* a single mother living in Edgewood

Susan* had made mistakes and

Housing Apartments, took full advantage

struggled when she was younger,

of the employment supports offered during

but she was committed to ensuring that her

relocation. Utilizing the MARTA cards and childcare

children would not have to go through what

provided through Whitefoord Community Program,

she had experienced. Her resiliency and natural

she enrolled in a job-training program. Upon

leadership skills had helped her become a leader in

graduation from that class, she secured a transitional

the Edgewood community, inspiring those around

work position as a preschool educator in a Sheltering

her to find success as well. Even before relocation, she

Arms early learning center. With support from her

took full advantage of the programs offered in the

case manager, she moved into a new complex

community while working multiple jobs to support her

and enrolled in school, eventually earning her

family. She viewed the relocation as an opportunity

Associate Degree.

to move her family into a safer community and she

The partners took great care to ensure that the new townhomes reflected the look and feel of the broader community — unlike the monotonous, militaristic barracks style of Edgewood Housing Apartments. With varying rooflines, differentiating façade styles, and a variety of window configurations, Retreat at Edgewood townhomes blend into the neighborhood’s streetscape. Many of the units also face out onto the street with front porches and stoops designed to encourage conversation amongst neighbors.

well as in-unit laundry machines. Other familyfriendly amenities include a community room, resident library, playground, swing set, fitness center, computer center, rain garden, and multiple barbecue grills and pavilions across the development. These thoughtful, communityfocused design features attracted recognition and awards from Urban Land Institute–Atlanta and Atlanta Urban Design Commission.

With the goal of making the apartments attractive to families with young children who could benefit from the investments the foundation was making in the neighborhood schools and programs, the development includes many 3-bedroom units as

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Charting a Brighter Future for Her Children

After seeing the benefits of supportive services during the relocation, the Zeist Foundation funded Families First to provide family support services to new residents. As a result, two young professional social workers were hired and based at Retreat at Edgewood. The team of social workers collaborated for two years until the new residents were settled. At that time, Families First

was one of the first to receive her voucher and move

her noncompliant. Despite not taking proper care of

out. She became a Licensed Practical Nurse and was

herself, she was devoted to her pre-teen daughter.

studying to become a Registered Nurse while her

Laura always made sure Jada was in school and

eldest child graduated from college.

rarely missed a parent-teacher conference or school performance. Unfortunately, Laura died before they

Finding a Way Out of Tragedy Laura* and her daughter Jada* were among the last to leave Edgewood Housing Apartments, largely because of Laura’s many health issues. In her late 40’s, Laura had a long history of drug use, prostitution, mental illness, uncontrolled diabetes, and other health problems.

During the six-month relocation process, she spent more than 20 days in Grady Hospital, which deemed

scaled down, tasking one social worker to serve the Retreat at Edgewood families and the other to support families with children living at Edgewood Court Apartments, a large subsidized housing development in the neighborhood. These human and social capital investments complemented the Foundation’s investments in high quality affordable housing.

The location of the Retreat at Edgewood townhomes is an asset for its residents as well, providing easy access to a wealth of transportation, retail, and recreation amenities.

Residents can easily walk to the Edgewood– Candler Park MARTA rail station as well as the restaurants, shops, and grocery store in the Edgewood Retail District. In addition, Coan Park boasts public tennis and basketball courts, a

could move out of the complex, leaving Jada alone.

The social workers helped Jada connect and move in with Laura’s estranged adult children who lived in South Georgia. MAC continued to support Jada over the subsequent months, providing financial assistance during the holidays and working to ensure that Laura’s housing choice voucher transferred to the relative who took custody of Jada. * All names have been changed to protect the families’ privacy.

bike path, and a “Boundless” playground that is accessible for wheelchair-bound individuals.

Preserving Affordability in Edgewood and Beyond Building on the model established through its partnership with the Zeist Foundation in Edgewood, Columbia Residential and its affiliated entity Columbia Ventures have continued to promote affordable housing both in Edgewood and throughout Atlanta. Utilizing Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, Lease Purchase Bond Transactions, and other financing strategies, they have helped develop more than 200 additional units of affordable housing in Edgewood, including many in the transit-oriented, mixed-use

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Before Zeist, I didn’t see foundations as a resource to facilitate affordable housing.

The concept of PRI’s (Program Related Investments) as a tool for foundations to invest their money in worthy projects had been around for a while, but I never thought about that as a vehicle that could support affordable housing. That realization has led us to other opportunities.

— Noel Khalil, Chairman and CEO, Columbia Residential

development on the site of the Edgewood–Candler Park MARTA station.

While the large majority of new affordable housing in Edgewood is priced at 50, 60, or 80 percent AMI, Columbia Residential partnered with Johnathan Rose Properties to redevelop Edgewood Court Apartments into the new Amani Place Apartments in a manner that preserves the complex’s project-based Section 8 status. This will ensure that rents will not exceed 30 percent of a resident’s income.

These and other efforts to preserve housing affordability in Edgewood have ensured that working class families can continue to call this rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood home and can benefit from access to its growing list of retail and recreation amenities.

Rising housing costs are an issue across Atlanta — ​ where there has been a loss of more than 5,000

low-cost housing units since 2010 — and Columbia is working with philanthropic partners to preserve affordable housing in other parts of the city as well. In 2018, an affordable housing development in Southside’s Capitol View neighborhood came on the market. Community members were concerned that, because of its proximity to the Atlanta Beltline Corridor, the 120unit complex might be converted into high-cost luxury housing. Led by Enterprise Community Partners, local funders pledged millions so that Columbia could acquire the building and rehab it into modern, affordable housing.

In many ways, the work of place-based funders operating on the east side of Atlanta, including the Zeist Foundation’s work in Edgewood, blazed a trail for other philanthropic organizations to follow in seeking to preserve affordable housing in the City of Atlanta as it grows by leaps and bounds in the 21st century.

Housing/Relocation Lessons Learned ■■

Build relationships and trust with residents before focusing on housing redevelopment.

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Significant public investment is required to preserve affordability for very low-income families.

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Wraparound supportive services help families maintain some sense of stability before, during,

and after relocation.

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Market forces and gentrification pose immense challenges in seeking to preserve affordability.

Public-private partnerships are critical to the development of equitable housing solutions.

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Monthly meeting of Jackson Cluster nonprofit leaders at MAC office

Lessons Learned from 25 Years of Place-Based Philanthropy For 25 years, the Zeist Foundation has employed a place-based approach in Atlanta’s Edgewood neighborhood — ​ a one-mile square area three miles from Emory University in southeast Atlanta — seeking to improve outcomes for the underserved children and families who live in this promising neighborhood. Dr. George and Mrs. Jean Brumley felt that it was their civic duty to share their gifts working in partnership with the broader community and they wanted to impart this important lesson to their children. experiences in affordable housing redevelopment and responsible relocation and sharing the Zeist Foundation’s expertise in promoting student and community health and early learning. Forming a place-based funders’ group, the Atlanta partners collaborated to secure public funding and to align some of their private funding to support their collective efforts and to make the case for policy and practice changes around relocation and affordable housing.

Over the years, the Brumley family and the Zeist Foundation have invested countless hours and significant funds working in partnership with residents, churches, and community-based organizations to engage the community and address the systemic and structural barriers that have impeded residents’ progress for generations.

This thoughtful and intensive effort has generated noteworthy results for the children and families who benefitted from the Foundation’s investments in healthcare, housing, and education. It has also generated many lessons that can inform the field of place-based philanthropy, including the importance of relationships, patience, data, a holistic approach, and a long-term commitment.

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Look for opportunities to learn from and collaborate with your philanthropic peers.

The Zeist Foundation leaned on and provided support to the other place-based funders in Atlanta, drawing on the other funders’

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Recognize that market forces are difficult to control, yet seek strategies that mitigate the effects of gentrification and promote equity.

The Zeist Foundation invested more than $30 million between 1994 and 2019 to make

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Dr. Brumley’s thinking about this work was, ‘I care about people and it is up to me to use my gifts to make things better for those around me.’ That was the message he wanted to impart to his children and grandchildren, that they need to use what they have to help those around them, that is where true joy comes from.

— Dr. Veda Johnson, Director, PARTNERS

the Edgewood neighborhood a place where children and their families experience a beloved community. The improvements generated by those investments and the increased demand for in-town Atlanta housing attracted other investors, making Edgewood a more desirable — and expensive — place to live. The Foundation has sought public-private partnerships, such as the Transit Oriented Development at the Edgewood–Candler Park MARTA Station, to counter the market forces and this mixed-use approach has promoted a more integrated neighborhood.

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When the Zeist Foundation began its work in Edgewood, it engaged residents to identify the local leaders, needs, resources, and partnerships that could inform its efforts and investments.

It first asked residents what services they would value and then sought to respond to that demand. By increasing residents’ access to quality healthcare for their children, the Foundation was able to build trust with residents early on. Hiring Edgewood residents to work at Whitefoord Community Program in the early years and then hiring Garry Long to lead Mayson Avenue Cooperative in 2003 helped to sustain relationships and deepen the Foundation’s understanding of community issues. As the Foundation embarked upon housing redevelopment, it again turned to residents and Edgewood stakeholders, asking them to define the long-range vision for the community through a master planning process.

Remember that partnership — with residents and public and private stakeholders — is at the heart of this work.

Place-based philanthropy requires a deep commitment to relationship building, including relationships with community residents, community-based organizations and service providers, city council members, school board members, superintendents, principals, and other stakeholders.

Build strong relationships with residents and let them define the work.

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Use data as a constant guide to inform investments and identify needs and opportunities.

Data analysis on health, housing, and education led Dr. Brumley to choose Edgewood as the focus neighborhood in 1994. Data continued to inform the Zeist Foundation’s investments in healthcare access, early learning, school

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Even when you are trying to be responsible and do good, the market can take over.

Once gentrification took over in Edgewood, we had no control over it anymore. We were trying to mitigate the effects on Whitefoord Elementary, the childcare program, the housing, and the children and families being displaced and moving. — Nancy Brumley Robitaille, Co-President, Zeist Foundation

Children on the playground at Whitefoord Elementary School

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These issues cannot be solved overnight. You have to take it one obstacle at a time.

It is a long road. You have to be able to stay in it for the long haul because people depend on you.

— Kappy deButts, Executive Director, Zeist Foundation

and student support, housing, and community development throughout its quarter-century of place-based work. For example, the Foundation was one of the first funders to contract with Neighborhood Nexus to develop a data template for a neighborhood.

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Understand that there are no quick-fixes or easy solutions and “revolutionary patience” is required.

■■

Build on the strengths of the children and families and their support systems.

To improve outcomes for low-income children, it is important to adopt a holistic, childcentered approach that supports their parents or guardians and addresses their early years, educational opportunities, access to healthcare, and housing and community conditions.

Although the Zeist Foundation utilized a holistic approach, in retrospect, Foundation leaders and partners believe that it could have invested more in helping families develop their capacities to help them overcome the challenges of generational poverty.

Children and families living in distressed communities face problems rooted in generations of disenfranchisement and systemic inequities. Achieving large-scale, systemslevel changes to help families overcome those challenges requires “revolutionary patience” and a long-term commitment. To sustain that commitment, it is important to identify and celebrate short-term goals that can keep all partners engaged.

Writing: Torian + Whitley Consulting. Design: Jennifer Dyer Graphic Design. Printing: Mt. Royal Printing & Communications.

Artwork © front cover Jack Shields. p. 11 HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM. 123RF: p. 19 slalomp; p. 21, p. 30, inside back cover baldyrgan; p. 21 m_woodhouse; p. 30, inside back cover laracold. Map data: p. 29 © 2020 Google.

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The best word to describe the Zeist Foundation is holistic. There are foundations that focus on education or on housing, but that don’t connect those dots. The Zeist Foundation looked at where children lived, the types of homes they were coming from, their social and health wellbeing, and their education. That is unique.

— Timmy Foster, Principal, Whitefoord Elementary School

Edgewood: Then (2000) and Now (2015) Source: Neighborhood Nexus

Population

Race

4,456

4,344

2000

2015

2000

91%

2015

51% African American

Under Age 18

38% White

Other

Family Households

34% 2000

5%

65% 14%

2000

48% 2015

2015

Education Less Than High School Diploma

42%

2000

9%

11% 2000

2015

Median Household Income

$53,104 2000

$25,016

44%

2015

Owner-Occupied Units 2015

Bachelor’s Degree or Higher

2000

38%

2015

46%

Created by Alena from the Noun Project

25 Years of Place-Based Investments in the Edgewood Neighborhood 1994

School-Based Health Center opens at Whitefoord Elementary School in partnership with Emory School of Medicine.

1995

Families First and Save the Children engage residents in needs assessment and asset mapping.

1996

Whitefoord Community Program established to manage health centers and early learning programs.

1998

Whitefoord Child Development Program opens to serve children from birth to age 4.

1999

School-Based Health Center opens at Coan Middle School.

2003

Mayson Avenue Collaborative established and Community Liaison hired.

2005 2007

2009

2011

2012

Retreat at Edgewood Townhomes Phase II (40 units of affordable housing) completed by Columbia Residential.

2013

Jackson Innovation Cluster research by NYU Professor Pedro Noguera’s team.

2014

Responsible Relocation of residents from Edgewood Housing Apartments.

2015

2016

Edgewood Community Learning Garden expands to include a Learning Center in partnership with the Wylde Center.

2017

Demolition of Edgewood Housing Apartments.

School-Based Health Center expansion across the state of Georgia begins.

Edgewood Community Learning Garden created in partnership with Southeastern Horticultural Society.

Multi-year Strategic Plan for Foundation developed.

Retreat at Edgewood Townhomes Phase I (100 units of affordable housing) completed

by Columbia Residential.

APS closes Coan Middle School.

Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School secures $3M federal innovation grant to develop teacher residency project (CREATE) to support traditional and charter schools in the Jackson Innovation Cluster.

New Foundation Executive Director hired.

Acquired Edgewood Housing Apartments — ​ project-based Section 8 housing.

Jackson Innovation Cluster collaboration between schools and nonprofits commences.

2018

2019

APS closes Whitefoord Elementary School and creates Whitefoord Early Learning Academy in partnership with Whitefoord, Inc. MARTA Edgewood station Transit-Oriented Development breaks ground for apartments that include 15 to 20 percent workforce housing units.

Zeist Foundation implements new strategic plan that continues support for children, youth and families.

Moving In The Spirit breaks ground for new home at MARTA Edgewood Transit-Oriented Development.

Whitefoord, Inc. hires new CEO. Atlanta Police Foundation acquires the “Red Store” in Edgewood.

The Zeist Foundation, Inc. ■ 3715 Northside Parkway NW Building 300, Suite 195-B, Atlanta, GA 30327 ■ (404) 949-3176 ■ zeistfoundation.org