Atlanta has weathered a lot over the past 120 years. On our best days, we’ve been united in celebrating Olympic-sized victories for our region. On our best days, we’ve jointly envisioned a city reunited by a 22-mile emerald necklace. On our best days, we’ve collectively welcomed the world to get a taste of the culture that influences everything.
Even at our lowest points as a region, we have found ways to unite. In the face of our faults, we have removed human-made barriers that blocked the road to housing equity. Atlantans have cleaned polluted rivers. United, we’ve clung to the arc of the moral universe, willing it toward the justice the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed for us. Many of us continue to unite daily to restore access to food, education and health care in places where those basic rights have been stripped away by policies etched in our grimmest moments.
Credit: AISLINN RAIN WREN
Credit: AISLINN RAIN WREN
In fact, it was during a low point for our city that the seed for United Way of Greater Atlanta was planted. It was 1905 and the temperatures had plummeted as an ice storm was making its way through Georgia. With the city frozen and fearful, divided by an icy reality, one man decided to act. He set out to help his neighbors, one doorstep delivery at a time. The lone knocks of Joseph Logan combined into what became movement and, later, a nonprofit. Associated Charities became a uniting force for philanthropy, and that spirit of advocacy and action continues 120 years later as the United Way of Greater Atlanta.
Over 120 years, our organization has weathered many divisive issues and eras. Today, my inbox regularly contains emails speaking to the amplified tensions that often await us at family dinner tables this time of year. One thing I can say with certainty as we begin a new year, is that united is the way forward. United Way has long been the place to find the collective will that’s required to make lasting change. It provides a table where people can put aside their differences and individual interests to tackle our shared concerns.
An excerpt from The Atlanta Constitution in 1909 speaks to that long-standing role. First Presbyterian Pastor Walter Lee Lingle was quoted saying, “The truth is, if we will open our eyes we will see more on every side than we can do. We will be simply overwhelmed. If we want to overtake this work, we must go at it in a systematic and rational way. The Associated Charities helps us in our endeavors … It searches out the cause of him we know not.”
Since Logan’s days, we’ve been presented with example after example of one ordinary citizen who identified a need and believed a collective effort had the power to address that issue.
It was an Atlanta corporation’s donation of telephones in the late 1990s that started 211, now a nationwide helpline connecting families with critical resources.
It was two community champions who launched our African American Partnership in 2000, which annually unites more than 1,000 members to improve educational and career outcomes.
It was a small group of early career leaders who came together to start our Young Professional Leaders group which raises money to remove educational barriers for our community’s littlest learners. And it was the foresight and passion of women like Johnnetta B. Cole, Ann Stallard and Anne Kaiser that established the Women’s Leadership initiative in 1999. These remarkable leaders saw the potential of uniting women to drive transformative change through collective giving and advocacy. Today, Women United builds on their vision, empowering women across Greater Atlanta to address critical issues such as education, health and economic stability.
I continue to see that pioneering thinking throughout our region. I was recently inspired by a trip to Fulton County Schools’ Innovation Academy, where students were carving out time to address the issue of food scarcity. Together, they were devoting a week to understanding the challenges and identifying solutions. As I shared the many ways our organization is working to understand and address this pressing need through our Child Well-Being Index, I was blown away by the sophisticated questions the students presented and their determination to see change.
This city, once known as Terminus, has been the starting place for so many united movements that promise to carry us to a more equitable, opportunity-filled future. When I was 8 years old, my mother told me, “Whatever you decide to do in the world, make sure you’re helping somebody.” Like Joseph Logan, that desire to serve has become my North Star even in the darkest times and it’s the message that lights my path as we embark on our 120th year of serving Greater Atlanta.
We’ve achieved so much together over the past 120 years, but there’s still so much to do. The challenges we face require us to unite and act with the same spirit of generosity that began with Logan’s doorstep deliveries.
Community support is essential to ensure we can continue this work for the next 120 years. Together, we can build a Greater Atlanta where every family thrives and every child has the opportunity to succeed.
Join us to keep the movement alive. United, we can create lasting change.
Milton J. Little Jr. is president and chief executive officer of United Way of Greater Atlanta.
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