Athens LandLand Trust for Conservation & Community 685 N. Pope Street • Athens, Georgia 30601 www.athenslandtrust.org 706.613.0122 Newsletter Spring 2017 • Volume 20 • Issue 1 ALT is Stronger Thanks to Our Volunteers! Iowa State University students volunteering Volunteer David Court performs weekly at the Employees from Hughes Subaru of Athens at at Williams Farm. West Broad Farmers Market. Williams Farm. The last week in April marks National Volunteer Week, a time to spotlight the integral role volunteers play in supporting organizations in their communities. Every day, ALT is better able to serve those in need in our community thanks to dedicated, hardworking, and passionate volunteers from Athens and beyond. Over the past year, volunteers have contributed more than 3,000 hours in support of ALT’s programs! Since last fall,Trinity Accounting Group, Athens Church, students with UGA IMPACT, ServeUGA and the Department of Horticulture, and students from Coile Middle School were among the groups that helped out at Williams Farm, the West Broad Farmers Market and Garden, Five Acre Woods, and at ALT’s special events. This spring, volunteers came from near and far to Williams Farm: we hosted teams from Hughes Subaru of Athens, as well as 43 students and advisors from the Iowa State University chapter of Students Today Leaders Forever, who completed service projects in six cities across the country as part of their Spring Break Pay It Forward Tour. These groups helped clear privet, spread mulch and compost, painted the facilities in the farm’s pavilion, dug irrigation trenches, and more. To all of our volunteers we say: Thank you for your service! We can do what we do only with your help! Athens-Clarke County’s MLK Day 2017 at the West Broad Garden On Monday, January 16th, ALT participated in the 15th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. Nearly 1,000 people in and around Athens joined in, including more than 150 at the West Broad Market Garden. This event has grown in scope and size over the years, emboldened by President Obama’s mandate to make Martin Luther King Day a “day on, not a day off,” and through an awareness of the importance of individuals in championing change within the community. After all of the hard work, ALT hosted a celebration with entertainment, speeches, and performances from several members of the community, including Zeke Turner, Maxim Debonair, Mia, West Broad Farmers Market vendor and new ALT employee, Musa Hasan, and members of the Young Urban Farmers. It was a warm, sunny day, perfect for celebrating the legacy of Dr. King through service, fellowship, and a commitment to bettering our community. Volunteers of all ages lending a hand at the West Broad Market Garden. Athens Land Trust Board of Directors Upcoming Events and Announcements President, Lara Mathes Willa Fambrough West Broad Farmers Market Vice President, Kirrena Beth Gavrilles Gallagher Charley Hill Saturdays through December 16th Treasurer, Nancy Rosetta Kelley 9 AM - 1 PM Stangle Eric Orbock Secretary, Dan Lorentz Ed Taylor Spring Multi-farm CSA Darren Ash Donna Thurman Gloria Bizzle Sarah Sutherland Get weekly shares of Jared Bybee fresh, local, Certified Naturally Grown Our Board meets on the third produce and support Monday of each month at 5:30 PM small farmers in our Register now at in the ALT office; meetings are region! Visit our www.athenslandtrust.org open to the public. website to reserve your share! July 10th - 21st (M-F) Staff $160 per child Executive Director, Heather Benham Homebuyer Education A two-week camp at ALT’s Williams Director of Operations, Lorinda Crane & Credit Seminars Farm for rising 4th - 8th graders. Conservation Director, Krisztian Varsa Full scholarships available by Conservation Coordinator, Dyan Holt Farmer Outreach Coordinator, Christina Hylton May 20th 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM application. Farmland Protection Specialist, Deb Sheppard June 24th 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM Housing Director, David Ogunsanya Housing Coordinator and VISTA Supervisor, Harvest Moon 2016 Kelsey Thompson Clear sunny skies gave way to a Housing Counselor, Angel McCoy beautiful moonlit night for the 9th Neighborhood Revitalization Coordinator, Austin Harrison Annual Harvest Moon Dinner on VISTA Housing Assistant, Kamilah Roberts September 17th at the home of ALT Outreach and Development Coordinator, Board member Charley Hill and Erin O’Brien his wife, Julie. Guests sipped herb- VISTA Development Assistant, Amanda Innes VISTA PR Coordinator, Jen Reid infused cocktails, and enjoyed Community Agriculture Program Director, a farm-fresh four-course meal Stephanie Simmons prepared by Chef Mimi Maumus FoodCorps Service Members, of home.made catering, featuring Bexx Merck and Kana Miller produce grown on ALT’s two Farm Business Specialist, Musa Hasan Young Urban Farmers Program Coordinator, farms. Thanks to the generosity Shop, Friends of Boulevard Woods, Connie Roberts of the sponsors and attendees, Supporters of Public Education Young Urban Farmers Program Assistant, the dinner raised over $12,000 to Matters Georgia, Terrapin Beer Jamon Holt support ALT’s programs. We would Co., and WUGA. Special thanks, West Broad Market Garden Manager, Rebecca Ennis West Broad Farmers Market Manager, Sallay Jabbie like to thank our Event Coordinator also, to Independent Baking Co., VISTA Market Assistant, Adam Wilson Tony Eubanks, hardworking Jittery Joe’s, and WaterMan Spring Williams Farm Manager, Seth Nivens volunteers from ServeUGA, and our Water for their support. We hope VISTA Volunteer Coordinator, Dave Chamberlin sponsors: Always Always Flowers, to see you at the 10th anniversary Project Oversight, George Wright Aurum Studios, Bel Jean Copy of Harvest Moon this October 685 North Pope Street & Print Center, Carson Advisory, 7th -- mark your calendars for an Athens, Georgia 30601-2331 Epting Events, Five Points Bottle unforgettable night! 706.613.0122 • 706.613.0143 fax www.athenslandtrust.org Athens Land Trust is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization Follow us on Facebook whose mission is to conserve, empower and sustain communities @athenslandtrust through responsible and visionary land use. 2 • The Athens Land Trust Newsletter • Spring 2017 Athens Land Trust First-Time Homeowners, Long-term Relationships Anthony Phillips and his family had been lifelong renters and long-term residents of the West Broad neighborhood when they decided to pursue the opportunity of home ownership. After admiring one of the neighborhood’s historic homes that ALT had recently rehabilitated, Phillips, a native Athenian and UGA employee, began a lease purchase agreement that allowed him to complete homebuyer education, financial counseling and planning, and finally realize home ownership in January of this year. Stephen and Sara Fogle have also worked with ALT over the past few years, and officially became first- Above: Anthony Phillips (center) time homeowners in November 2016. The couple, local is joined by ALT small business owners and entrepreneurs, had been Executive Director, Heather Benham, lease purchasers since 2013, and have now officially and ALT Affordable settled into their own East Athens home with their dogs. Housing Program Homeownership makes neighborhoods stronger and Director, David Ogunsanya, as he helps families build wealth. With homeownership rates in closes on his new Athens-Clarke County at 38% compared to 62% statewide, home. ALT is proud to be able to work with individuals and families Left: Stephen and Sara at every step of the homebuying process, and to do our Fogle pose with an part to help them achieve the goal of homeownership. artist’s rendering of their new home. Congratulations to the Phillips and the Fogles! Thanks to our Partners who Support the Affordable Housing Program Thank you to Athens-Clarke County, Bank We are grateful for our local partners who lent their of America, the Consumer Action Travel expertise to our recent homebuyer Scholarship, Enterprise Community Partners, education classes! Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Grounded Solutions Network, Oconee State Mitchell Amato (O’Kelley and Sorohan) Bank and the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation Anne Carter (Law Office of Anne D. Carter) for their recent support of ALT’s Affordable Stella Collins and David Hadden (Coldwell Banker) Housing Program! These grants and donations, Shavon Echols & Melissa McCall (Greater Athens Properties) including vital Community Development Block Charlie Fleming (First American Bank & Trust) Grant funds from Athens-Clarke County, enable Dexter Haynes (Weichert Realty) ALT to continue to develop permanently Alec Hodson (Quarterman, Hodson and Morang) affordable single-family homes and provide John Laster (The Laster Law Firm) free homebuyer education, financial literacy, Mike Paulk (Brand Mortgage) individual housing counseling and fair housing Ron Ross and Vicky Samuel (Element Funding) services, including more than 300 client Matt Shirley (Fairway Independent Mortgage) services in 2016! Funding made available for these affordable housing projects by Athens-Clarke County Department of Housing and Community Development HOME and CDBG Programs of the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County, an Equal Opportunity Employer. Spring 2017 • 3 Athens Land Trust Athens Hosts Shirley Sherrod, Community Land Trust and Civil Rights Pioneer On March 4th, the Athens-Area Black History Committee (AABHC) hosted the Fifth Annual Black History Bowl Celebration at the historic Morton Theatre, with special guests DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, and farmers’