Tag: Athens

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UGA student’s focus on food aims to break generational cycles of poverty

Sydney Rainwater, Covering Poverty

(Photo/Samantha Hurley, Covering Poverty)

Aliyah Williams’ ambition to end food insecurity is motivated by personal experience.

The University of Georgia student spent most of her childhood moving back and forth between Bridgeton, New Jersey and Lawrenceville, Georgia, with her three siblings and their single mom. Williams said her mom struggled to put food on the table, often working two or sometimes three jobs.

“Everything I do is for her,” Williams said.

Williams, now a senior pursuing bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice and psychology with a minor in sociology, said she strives to make her mom proud by helping families like hers as one of the first AmeriCorps Community Food Fellows at UGA. 

The fellows program is new for 2023. The cohort of 20 UGA students has committed to completing 900 hours of community service each from September 2023 to July 2024, for a staggering total of 18,000 hours. The students volunteer at organizations of their choice, primarily in the Athens area, ranging from food banks in Northeast Georgia to student-led advocacy organizations to helping in Clarke Central High School’s garden. 

Williams works most closely with Campus Kitchen UGA, a student-led organization working to find and carry out sustainable solutions to alleviate hunger and food waste in the Athens area. Campus Kitchen partners with local organizations to serve over 1,000 meals to individuals and families in need. Williams served as an AmeriCorps VISTA summer associate with Campus Kitchen during summer 2023.

Williams said working with Campus Kitchen in various capacities — collecting food, preparing meals, delivering meals and doing administrative work —  allowed her to see the whole process,  “the minute the food comes in to the minute it goes out.”

While Williams’ primary goal is to help eliminate food insecurity in her community, it’s more than that. The work she does not only provides those in need with access to meals, but also helps address deeper systemic issues.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 26.6% of Athens-Clarke County individuals live in poverty. Children in Athens households not making a living wage have only about a 39% chance of earning a living wage in their lifetime, regardless of racial background, according to a 2019 report by the Network for Southern Economic Mobility. In addition, the Network reports 57.4% of Black households and 63.5% of Hispanic households in Athens-Clarke County do not make a living wage, which leaves these children at much higher risk of falling into intergenerational poverty. 

“Generational cycles are very, very hard to break,” Williams said.

Her father was in and out of jail when a second income could have made the difference in her and her siblings’ lives, said Williams, who is now 22.

The volunteers she works with don’t always realize the extent of their impact, which can “literally change somebody’s life.” But the more Williams volunteered, the more she said she understood the positive impression she was making on her community.

The effect Campus Kitchen and other organizations have on residents, she said, is what “I wish my mom had.”

How to Help:

  • Volunteer with organizations like Campus Kitchen or your local food bank (feedinggeorgia.org/find-your-food-bank).
  • Support organizations by engaging with their social media accounts:
    • Follow Campus Kitchen UGA on Instagram (@campuskitchenuga).
    • Donate to Campus Kitchen UGA by going to gail.uga.edu and then selecting “make a gift,” then searching for Campus Kitchen.
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Georgia Bulldogs win back-to-back National Championships

Sydney Rainwater

The Georgia Bulldogs Football team beat the Texas Christian Horned Frogs 65-7 on Monday night, making the Dawgs the 2022 College Football Playoff National Champions for the second year in a row. The championship game was played at a neutral location— SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Georgia was in the lead the entire game, resulting in a margin of victory of 58 points, the greatest in a College Football Playoff game.

“I thought they had a chance,” said Zeke Palermo, a third-year UGA student studying sports media. He continued, “I was proven wrong about TCU and Georgia. During the game, I thought TCU was better than they were.” 

He added that the championship game was “pretty one-sided for really all but five minutes.”

Palermo and his roommates were decked out in Georgia gear ready to watch the game from their apartment in Athens.When the UGA victory was secured, they “danced and laughed and had a good time,” together.

Palermo described the experience of witnessing his home team win two CFP National Championship titles as “really cool,” citing his appreciation for football and for sports history. 

“It’s one of those things like, I was there,” Palermo said after watching the Georgia Bulldogs beat Texas Christian University 65-7 on Monday night in the National Championship game. “It was, for fact, historic.”

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Mayor Kelly Girtz says he’s ‘positive’ Georgia Square Mall redevelopment will move forward

Sydney Rainwater

Mayor Kelly Girtz listens to a student’s question regarding the Georgia Square Mall at a news conference Friday morning. The mall’s redevelopment plan is expected to be approved on March 7. (Photo/Sydney Rainwater)

Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz presented with confidence and positivity regarding the Georgia Square Mall Redevelopment plan’s approval despite that the vote has been delayed twice already. 

The developer, the Leaven Group, will have to reapply if the project is not approved at the Commissioners’ meeting on March 7.

The mayor said Friday in a news conference that its disapproval would create “a dramatic difficulty,” which he said he feels would be unnecessary. 

The goal of the proposed $400-plus million plan is to revitalize the disheveled Georgia Square Mall on Atlanta Highway, creating new retail space, greenspace and multi-use trails, a new public transit station and around 1,200 residential units — 10% of which would be permanently affordable. 

“I don’t want to have my name attached to a gravel pit on Atlanta Highway,” Girtz said at the news conference.

There are many parties involved with this project. Both the physical zoning plan and the community benefits agreement must be agreed upon by the remaining retailers, The Leaven Group, the Athens-Clarke County Government and the Clarke County School District, who is a partner to the ACC Government 

Belk, the only remaining anchor store at the Georgia Square Mall, will stay whether the redevelopment is approved or not as they have a multi-decade lease as well as “the right of refusal for any redevelopment of the property around them,” the mayor said.

Girtz explained his reasoning for proposing to postpone the vote Friday saying there is tension surrounding the phasing of the plan. He said the parties need to arrange a schedule that would allow the developers flexibility but also optimize the public benefit by making elements like the biking trails and transit station available to the public as soon as possible, even if the rest of the project is still in progress.

Commissioner Jesse Houle said at the Commissioners’ meeting on Feb. 21 they feel optimistic about the community benefits agreement, but that, “until we see that finalized document, we obviously need more time.”

$189 million of this $400-plus million project will be funded by the tax revenue generated by the redevelopment over the first 30 years of its operation because it’s on one of the six Athens-Clarke County Tax Allocation Districts (TAD).  

Girtz said the redevelopment is all about “creating a better version, a stronger version and a healthier version of Athens.”

Why I Wrote the Story:

The Georgia Square Mall redevelopment is an important story because it’s taken so long so get approved, and it‘s expensive. This story taught me how to understand complex issues quickly, and how to write about them in a way a reader would understand. I was also excited to write this story because it relates so heavily to city and county government, which was the beat I covered this semester.

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Keeping Athens safe and equitable for all: Planners like Shirelle Hallum are making our city a better place

Sydney Rainwater

Shirelle Hallum, Vision Zero Specialist (center), laughs with her colleagues, Stephen Bailey, Daniel Sizemore and Jason Jones (left to right). They visited Commerce Boulevard to evaluate its safety—or lack thereof. (Photo/Sydney Rainwater)

Shirelle Hallum stands in a neon safety vest, squinting through her big round sunglasses across Commerce Boulevard as a truck zips by. She’s ready to lead and ready to work — her boots on, sleeves rolled up and wispy brown hair pulled back in a velvet purple scrunchie.

The team of planners and engineers walk the cracked sidewalks lined by weeds, red Georgia clay and gravel on the visit organized by Hallum in her role with the Athens-Clarke County Department of Transportation and Public Works. It’s 75 degrees in the late morning in mid-April, and she hopes they will work together to find a solution that accommodates everyone. 

Hallum and Jason Jones, an engineer with the DOT, evaluate Commerce Boulevard. They discuss ways to fix it. (Photo/Sydney Rainwater)

Traffic safety is a high-profile issue in Athens-Clarke County, a community of nearly 40,000 college students, retirees and families alike. There were 352 car accidents involving pedestrians in Athens-Clarke County from 2016 to 2021, resulting in 19 deaths, according to Georgia’s Department of Transportation database. 

Hallum is committed to making the county safer for drivers and pedestrians and aims to have zero traffic-related deaths in Athens-Clarke County as the county’s first Vision Zero Specialist. Vision Zero is a strategy used across the U.S. to prioritize transportation and public safety policy, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

That vision includes Commerce Boulevard.

The street isn’t home to much, except Athens Skate Inn and a new Athens Sports Arena. Hallum said she’s worried about children crossing the extra-wide intersection between the skating rink and the sports arena this summer.

Daniel Sizemore, Bike and Pedestrian Safety Coordinator, talks to the team. They stand across the street from Athens Sports Arena. (Photo/Sydney Rainwater)

Though her position was just created last September, Hallum says she works closely with all her coworkers, and that even though they had never met her when she applied, “the role was just crafted for me.” 

Hallum’s husband, Chris, says he thinks she is brilliant and that she’s “never been happier in a job.”

Hallum’s role as Vision Zero Specialist is not without its challenges, though. 

“I come from an advocacy role; but we’re not allowed to advocate,” she says. “We’re not allowed to push our agendas on mayor and commission. We do what they tell us to do, and that’s it.”

Hallum tells ACC DOT Director, Stephen Bailey, her ideas for the future of the street. He listens with quiet authority. (Photo/Sydney Rainwater)

Hallum has a bachelor’s and master’s in public health and is finishing her doctorate in philosophy this spring, but she had to start somewhere.

She taught biology at a Title 1 high school in east Austin, Texas, just a mile away from a beautiful west Austin greenway. None of her students had ever been there because it wasn’t safe for them to walk.

Hallum says she felt a responsibility to, “find a way to change the system.”

Hallum moved from Austin to Atlanta to get her master’s at Emory University. Since then, Hallum has researched safety, equity and public works for many top research universities.

Now, Hallum and her coworkers analyze the built environment and “retrofit old roads to meet new needs.”

Prince Avenue is an example of their success in this. The DOT gave Prince Avenue a “road diet” — going from four to three traffic lanes and adding Athens’ first protected bike lanes despite predictions saying such adjustments would slow traffic too much. This made the street more accommodating to the commercial area’s needs, and it didn’t slow down traffic more than 20 seconds, Hallum said.

Hallum’s role in projects like these is largely in the early stages. She does research and runs analyses to identify possible solutions, then helps write concepts and initial design plans and helps engage and inform the public about the project.

Hallum walks down Commerce Boulevard. Bailey is just ahead. (Photo/Sydney Rainwater)

The hum of a car passes the group in a dusty whirl.

Hallum’s dedication to her work is rooted in care for her loved ones — her husband, her two young children and her late mother.

Hallum witnessed her mom, Shelly Haugh, who had Lou Gehrig’s disease and was a wheelchair-user, face additional obstacles because of the unaccommodating built environment. 

Hallum says the unfit environment kept her mom from connecting with people and “kept her from living towards the end,” because so many of her favorite activities— going on walks with family or getting coffee at a local shop with friends— were no longer easily accessible to her.

As Haugh’s condition worsened, Hallum spent many weekends making the nearly six-hour drive back and forth from Athens to Raleigh, North Carolina, where her parents lived, to help out around the house, just to drive back to Athens for the work week. Haugh died in 2019.

Hallum steps into Commerce Boulevard to cross the street. Her smile is ear-to-ear as usual. (Photo/Sydney Rainwater)

Accommodations are already in the works for Commerce Boulevard, Hallum says. That’s one step closer to a safer Athens, for everyone.

“This work is so deeply personal to me because I’m creating spaces where other people can, like, be free,” Hallum says. “And they can be themselves and they can connect.”

Why I Wrote the Story:

I wrote this story to explore sensory writing and extended interviews. I covered the city and county government beat this semester, so I knew I wanted to feature the Department of Transportation and Public Works. I chose Shirelle Hallum because of her unique background, newness to her role and her personal love for the work she does. This assignment taught me to reach out with boldness! And to not shy away from hard conversations.