November 1, 2021

Mr./Mrs./Ms. _____________
Southern Company Charitable Foundation Inc.
241 Ralph McGill Boulevard NE
BIN 10095
Atlanta, Georgia 30308

Dear ________,

Enclosed you will find the Atlanta History Center’s proposal for review by the trustees of the
Southern Company Charitable Foundation Inc. The Atlanta History Center has implemented
digital initiative programs to connect to wider audiences and expand further storytelling due to
the events of Covid-19. We hope that we can count on the Southern Company’s support for our
digital expansion. We request the amount of $150,000 for program support of digital
storytelling projects as outlined in this proposal for the AHC’s calendar year of 2022.

The Atlanta History Center has provided guests and the Atlanta community with resources to
connect past and present to envision a greater future. These new projects aim to engage with the
Atlanta community to tell understated stories of our city. The utilization of digital projects to be
hosted online further connects broader audiences, specifically those who are unable to view and
partake in AHC programming in-person. Our project, Our Home: ATL, intends to highlight and
initiate a conversation of Atlanta’s neighborhoods and zoning laws in conjunction with the
AHC’s goals to represent the demographics of metro Atlanta and “connect people, culture, and
history” in coordination with the AHC’s vision.

You will find the Atlanta History Center’s executive proposal summary, an assessment of
community need, the project objectives and description, future project evaluation, sustainability
assessment, and project budget plan in this letter.

We hope that you find this proposal a continuation of historical stewardship and a future
educational necessity to enhance the knowledge of Atlanta citizens. Please consider supporting
our organization to continue to connect people to our past and diverse culture as a metropolitan
home. If you would like further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any
questions.

Best regards,

________________
November 1, 2021
Executive Summary

The Atlanta History Center is requesting $150,000 for digital programming support for the 2022
calendar year to further the continuation of historical storytelling to a wider audience. Our
current digital initiatives include several online blogs and web stories, such as The 10th
Paralympic Games and Their Place in Disability History, Atlanta’s Stonewall: The Lonesome
Cowboys Raid at Ansley Mall, and The South Never Plays Itself. Our digital storytelling succeeds
by following the Atlanta History Center’s strategic objectives, including representing all
demographics of Atlanta, expanding community engagement, and using history to inform on
significant local, and national issues.

Atlanta’s diverse neighborhoods provide homes to over 500,000 individuals, each encompassing
various backgrounds, cultures, and diverse stories. Our neighborhoods create the environment in
which we thrive, and the AHC’s digital storytelling initiatives aim to voice Atlanta’s citizens and
the connection to their neighborhoods. Our upcoming project, Our Home: ATL, will demonstrate
historical urban context to three of Atlanta’s neighborhoods: Reynoldstown, East Atlanta, and
West End through three short documentary videos. It will include a series of oral histories and
community engagement to discuss suburbanization, zoning, and racial segregation from a yearly
range of 1920 to the present day. This project will provide historical context for Atlanta’s urban
planning efforts. Funding from the Southern Company Charitable Foundation will enable the
Atlanta History Center to focus on our main objectives for growth:

1. Establish impactful relationships with multiple neighborhoods and organizations

that may directly inform programming digitally, as well as increase interest to
African American and Latino communities;

2. Expand partnerships that transform the perception of the Atlanta History Center
and to show up where we are not expected; and

3. Operationalize repositioning by implementing content production resulting in

recognition of the Atlanta History Center.

The Southern Company Charitable Foundation and the AHC have partnered together in the past
to provide Atlanta citizens with historical context to our city. This funding request allows for the
Southern Company to further assist the AHC’s future organizational endeavors. The AHC aligns
with the Southern Company’s funding requirements in various ways:

1. The AHC’s digital initiative programming falls under historical activities and education;

1
 2. The AHC is a non-profit organization in Georgia, which is one of the Southern
Company’s geographic focuses; and

3. Funding for the AHC’s digital programming initiatives will allow our organization to
reach students and individuals in varying socioeconomic statuses.

Introduction

The Atlanta History Center is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that was founded in 1926 as the
Atlanta Historical Society. The name was changed to the Atlanta History Center in 1990 and
services the Atlanta community with assistance from foundations, corporate partners, and private
donors. The AHC strives to provide accessible programming for all citizens, but our work cannot
be accomplished without the assistance and partnerships with organizations such as the Southern
Company Charitable Foundation.

Community Needs Assessment

History, unfortunately, is not accessible to everyone. The use of digital programming at the
Atlanta History Center allows access to academic, research-based historical stories to a wider
public audience. Our goals with digital programming aim to connect to the greater Atlanta
outside of K-12 education and other university systems to break the stigma that historical
education discontinues after graduation.

Our digital stories focus on a wide base of unheard, untold stories. These stories entail our
organization to connect with our diverse community of Atlanta to connect with voices that have
yet to be amplified. With our goal to “show up where we are not expected,” the AHC reaches a
wider audience digitally — to amplify voices, represent all aspects of our community, and
present history honestly, realistically, and empathetically.

Digital storytelling focuses on a younger audience, primarily those within the millennial and
Gen-Z demographics; thus, we hope to connect to these audiences through our stories of the city
they inhabit. Audiences are made aware of Atlanta’s traditional, well-known stories: home of the
Braves, the Civil Rights Movement, Jim Crow South. However, by focusing on the lives of
ordinary people in our city through oral histories and community engagement, we can present a
deeper, more colorful look into our city.

The principal objective of this project is to connect individuals to their city through a historical
lens with the utilization of our digital tools. Through the AHC’s digital documentary project, Our
Home: ATL, digital patrons can tether their homes to a historical past by acknowledging
Atlanta’s complicated and diverse history through our familiar streets. This project will be an

2
essential addition to the Atlanta History Center’s digital initiatives and strategic planning goals,
thus enhancing visitor interest, increasing the AHC’s commitment to widening the generational
gap of visitors, strengthening the AHC’s role as a stakeholder in the community, and allowing
history to be accessible to everyone.

Program Objectives

By addressing the necessity to reach wider audiences, the Atlanta History Center’s use of a
digital documentary series requires a strong foundation of following the strategic plan, alongside
the AHC’s mission statement and vision. Our Home: ATL will include initiatives within the
strategic plan: inclusivity, community, service, relevance, growth, and performance. The funding
from this grant will enable a deeper connection and utilization of our strategic plan, in turn,
allowing further exploration of our historical past and interconnection to our beloved
neighborhoods.

1. The goal of the short documentary series, Our Home: ATL, will instill a wider sense of
interconnectedness in individuals with their neighborhoods. Atlanta’s neighborhoods are
an amalgamation of political, cultural, and socioeconomic histories, and the use of oral
histories featuring individuals with attachment to the community, in conjunction with
media, narration, and footage of each location, will allow virtual patrons the opportunity
to envision Atlanta with greater fortitude. Voices will be heard and uplifted in celebration
of our connection to our diverse Atlanta neighborhoods. The neighborhoods we represent
will have a deeper meaning, and the AHC hopes to provide Atlanta citizens with
resources to continue uplifting and hearing the voices of our communities.

2. Our Home: ATL will provide audiences with relevant programming to connect with
further research uses for university students or community members by acknowledging
the importance of interconnectedness. The use of oral histories can be stored for future
researchers of Atlanta when focusing on Atlanta’s suburban past while also uplifting the
voices of ordinary individuals of our city. Gathering the necessary sources of Atlanta’s
past minimizes the socioeconomic gap of those who cannot attend in-person
programming at the AHC Buckhead location.

Program Description

Our Home: ATL will introduce a variety of stories through the lens of our neighborhoods. Each
neighborhood (Reynoldstown, East Atlanta, and West End) will be highlighted through its own
short documentary video, which aims to be fifteen minutes in length, and will conclude the series

3
at forty-five minutes total. What were the roads like, and why was infrastructure built in that
manner? What stories can be told of these neighborhoods? What is the history, and what makes
these neighborhoods our home? How have zoning and transportation laws impacted our city?
How about gentrification? How do we look into the history of our commercial centers? We tend
to forget that the neighborhoods and suburbs in which we live provide us with a wealth of
information. Our homes are not just houses; the roads are not just roads — they are built to
define our environment, and within that environment, we create memories.

Using oral interviews from community board members will create the narrative — the backbone
— of our documentary series. These interviews will entail various pinpoints in history: memories
of suburbanization, segregation, the creation of landmarks, celebrations, relationships, etc. These
videos may include photos of then versus now to compare and contrast the environment and put
modern day gentrification into perspective.

Our Home: ATL will highlight the bond one has to their neighborhood — and most importantly
— their city. The goals of the Atlanta History Center intertwine with this project in that the
connection to community and organization creates a more inclusive environment, albeit digitally.
Some factors to consider include: who shall tell these stories, who and where do they represent,
and who will assist in making this project?

Suggested points of focus and collaboration, all defined around the fight against interstates and
zoning issues:

1. West End’s story of the construction of Interstate 20, which initiated “white flight” and
further progressed racial segregation of the area. We can discuss what it means to be a
suburb, and the connection one has to West End today by interviewing local, prominent
business owners, and community leaders and members.
2. The East Atlanta neighborhood remains one of the most culturally diverse neighborhoods
within the perimeter. However, East Atlanta’s property values and reputation suffered
throughout the 1980s as a result of fear and racial prejudice tailing the Civil Rights era of
the 1960s. Today, Atlanta’s population is seeing a resurgence in the neighborhood with
the commercial businesses within East Atlanta Village, and younger generations renting
homes in the area. How does East Atlanta’s history and today’s gentrification correlate
with one another?
3. Many younger generations within Atlanta think of gentrification when thinking of the
Reynoldstown neighborhood. Reynoldstown has changed considerably since the 1990s
with the remodeling of businesses along Memorial Drive, the construction of new
grocery stores, restaurants, and other businesses. Yet, the CSX railroad Hulsey Yard
forms a border along the exterior of Reynoldstown, providing an issue to Atlanta’s urban

4
 planners. What is the history behind homes near Hulsey Yard, along with zoning issues as
the Beltline stretches into Reynoldstown?

Partnerships

Partnerships will be interchangeable depending on the topic and specific neighborhoods.

However, we aim to connect with neighborhood groups such as the Historic West End,
Community Masjid, West End Family Life & Community Center, The Busy Bee Cafe, the East
Atlanta Community Association, East Atlanta Business Association, Reynoldstown
Neighborhood Association, Park Grounds Coffee, and Home Grown.

Future Project Evaluation

How will we assess the success of our project? Evaluations are key in measuring our efforts. This
project will be measured in comparison to the Atlanta History Center’s other quantifiable data,
based on past performances and community feedback. To further evaluate the success of this
project, we will look at the structure of the AHC’s strategic plan.

1. Inclusivity
a. Assessing digital diversity engagement through generational gaps and zip codes
with the use of surveys
b. Identifying essential community voices to conduct oral history interviews
c. Establishing impactful relationships with neighborhood associations, local
businesses, and historical organizations of each neighborhood
2. Community
a. Collaborating with local business owners within documentaries to increase
awareness and initiate future partnerships
b. Pinpoint key locations to expand AHC’s reach
3. Service
a. Provide surveys to collaborated individuals to determine success
4. Relevance
a. Increase attendance and continue partnerships with incorporated local businesses
b. Increase digital presence through digital initiative projects
c. Continue to market these untold stories through social media
5. Growth
a. Monitor digital engagement post-publishing of documentary series
b. Observe shares of content on social media and configure new ways to target
digital growth
6. Performance

5
 a. Recruit contracted film crew, interns, and volunteers to assist with digital
initiatives based on past work performance, interests, and who best represent the
diverse Atlanta demographic

Sustainability Assessment

The growth of the AHC digital initiative programs will continue to be supported through
appropriate donor sponsorships. Furthermore, the AHC will grow and nurture its donor base to
push the importance of digital outreach programs and historical storytelling. Audience reach will
continue to lengthen with the assistance of donor programs and digital initiatives.

Project Budget
Calendar Year 2022

Film Production Total $120,000 ($40K for the three, 15 minute

We will contract a film company to gather all documentaries)
necessary footage
Hiring a contracted film company

Post Production $12,000

Film and Oral History Editing

Community Engagement $3,000

Supporting local businesses

Marketing $2,000
AHC staff digital marketing

Staffing and Interns $13,000

Utilization of AHC’s own staffing for research
and writing
AHC’s Digital Storytelling staff
AHC’s Marketing — Community outreach
staff

Total $150,000

6
Conclusion

The Atlanta History Center is requesting a $150,000 funding opportunity from the Southern
Company Charitable Foundation, Inc. As a potential recipient of this opportunity, the Atlanta
History Center will continue to serve and steward Atlanta’s historical past. In combination with
digital initiative programming and historical storytelling, we aim to attract wider audiences by
educating citizens on the journey through Atlanta’s metropolitan history. Our Home: ATL seeks
to reckon the complicated urban history through discussing stories surrounding suburbanization,
segregation, zoning, and what it means to call this city our home. We hope that you find our story
an appropriate outlet to fasten our community into a tighter unit. Thank you for your
consideration.