Equity, Inclusion and the Atlanta Beltline: Meet Nonet Sykes

Join me as I sit down with Nonet Sykes, the Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer at Atlanta Beltline Inc., who reveals the many changes brought about by the Atlanta Beltline project. Nonet describes how the Beltline, beyond its identity as a walking and biking path, is striving to reconnect 45 previously segregated neighborhoods and foster racial and economic equity.

Nonet delves deep into how the Beltline is not just shaping the city's skyline but also promoting job creation, driving economic development, and safeguarding affordable housing. We tap into the often ignored social determinants of health and how projects like Atlanta Beltline are transforming transportation, housing, healthcare, and food access.

Rounding off our conversation, we look into Atlanta Beltline's commitment to transparency and accountability. Nonet gives us a glimpse into how the Beltline is implementing equity in their practice and policies. Be it their equity audit, their legacy resident retention program, or even their initiatives in affordable housing, the Beltline's approach is holistic and future-focused. Hear the vision for the Beltline's future and the invaluable lessons Nonet gathered along the way.

Guest Information and Links:

Nonet Sykes, Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer, Atlanta BeltLine Inc.

nsykes@atlbeltline.org

www.linkedin.com/in/nonet-sykes-8796a413

https://beltline.org

Nonet's Bio

The first to hold this position, Nonet leads the development and implementation of the Atlanta BeltLine’s comprehensive equity and inclusion vision, strategy, and action plan. As a member of the Executive Team, Nonet leads an organization-wide effort to operationalize the BeltLine’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, and implement strategies that stabilize communities, increase housing affordability, spur job creation, and ensure economic opportunity.

Nonet was previously director of racial equity and inclusion at the Annie E. Casey Foundation where she led the organization’s equity and inclusion strategies and invested resources to identify, implement, and promote the most effective approaches to increase equitable opportunities and outcomes for children, families, and communities of color. Nonet’s 20 plus years of experience spans the areas of racial equity and inclusion, community and economic development, strategic leadership, nonprofit capacity building, and change management.

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Transcript

Ann Price: 0:03

Hi everybody, thanks for joining me on today's episode of Community Possibilities. You know we hear a lot about equity and inclusion these days. So many organizations are hiring equity and inclusion officers and personally I think that is a great thing. I wanted to speak to someone who could really tell us what that looks like for real. What does that look like when we really think about thoughtfully and operationalize equity and inclusion? So Nonet Sykes is joining me today. She is a member of the executive team of the Atlanta Beltline and she leads their organization-wide effort to operationalize the Beltline's commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and to implement strategies that stabilize communities, increase housing affordability, spur job creation and ensure economic opportunity. Prior to joining the Beltline, nanette was previously the director of racial equity and inclusion at the Annie E Casey Foundation, where she led the organization's equity and inclusion strategies and invested resources to identify, implement and promote the most effective approaches to increase equitable opportunities for children and families and communities of color. So she has 20 plus years of experience in this work. She's been doing this work for a long time. She's a certified professional diversity coach. She has so much experience, so we're going to dig deep into what that really means like to operationalize this work, to get very serious about what that means and what it means for the Beltline.

Ann Price: 1:54

If any of you have been to Atlanta, hopefully you've visited the Beltline. It has really changed the heart of the community in Atlanta, so let's dive into the episode and learn from Nanette. Hi, everybody, welcome back to Community Possibilities. I am so happy to have Nanette Sykes from the Atlanta Beltline on the podcast. Welcome, nanette, thank you, I am happy to be here. Well, nanette, you and I were connected through a mutual colleague and I'm so excited to talk to you about the Atlanta Beltline. It has done so much for the Atlanta Metro community. But before we dig into that, why don't you introduce yourself to the audience?

Nonet Sykes: 2:41

You're happy to so again, I am Sykes. I'm the Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer with the Atlanta Beltline Inc. I have been with the organization since April of 2018, after having spent almost geez 17 years at the Annie E Casey Foundation, which was headquartered in Baltimore, which is where I was born and raised. So you know, it's where I got my start in this community development space and it's where I spent a lot of my career really trying to move an advanced place-based community change. So, you know, happy to be here with you.

Ann Price: 3:18

Awesome. Yeah, Annie E Casey is definitely known for their place-based work. We're going to get into that, I hope in a little bit. Wow, that's a big change from Baltimore to Atlanta. What brought you here?

Nonet Sykes: 3:30

So my husband's job is what brought us here. He is in education administration, and so he had an opportunity to become an area superintendent with Fulton County Schools, and so he came down in 2016, ahead of us, fell in love with the city and encouraged us to pick up and relocate, so we moved here in 2017.

Ann Price: 3:53

So been with about one and not long after I got here, just a few months later, Well, he has a tough job, and if only he could have predicted what was going on up here years later he might have made a different choice. But I'm glad you're here.

Nonet Sykes: 4:11

Yeah, it's been quite the experience and quite the transition, very different from life in Baltimore and up north. It's a different culture in the South but it's one that I've seen to have sort of gotten used to in the recent months.

Ann Price: 4:28

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. So I've got to ask you why this work. Well, you could do anything in the world. Why this work?

Nonet Sykes: 4:39

So you know, a lot of people ask me that and I just have to say that you know it's from a very young age.

Nonet Sykes: 4:46

My parents just grounded us in a deep commitment to community and, you know, instilled in us the importance of always advocating for change, and so I've always felt compelled to just do work that makes a difference in the lives of others, especially in disinvested communities. And you know, again, much of my career was sort of in place-based community change and you get to see that kind of disinvestment real time up close. And you know, while I was at Casey doing a lot of the work that we were doing across you know, at the time when I joined Casey we were focused on a Making Connections initiative. We were looking at 22 cities across the country. Some of those cities were just really struggling and it came, it became clear to me, I would say, that we live in a nation where there are racialized systems and discriminatory systems that seem to disadvantage some and advantage others. And so it just felt like my purpose has always been to really help leaders and organizations implement effective strategies to really try to advance racial and economic equity.

Ann Price: 6:06

Well, I appreciate that background. That's so helpful. Let's talk about the Atlanta Beltline, shall we? Because this ties right into what you are talking about and your life's purpose really. So our audience is national and international. So for those folks who have no clue what we're talking about right now the Atlanta Beltline can you give us a little bit of background, tell people kind of what it is and maybe describe it a little bit for them?

Nonet Sykes: 6:34

I'm happy to. And so the Beltline we like to say is the largest, most comprehensive redevelopment project right now in the United States. At its most simplest explanation, it is a Rails to Trails project. It is taking about 22 miles of abandoned railroad corridor and repurposing it into walking and biking trails. We're building affordable housing, we're advancing job creation and economic development, and those 22 miles are actually connecting 45 different neighborhoods that have been segregated and separated by railroad and highways for generations, and so we're actually remitting together the city of Atlanta through this circular walking path and biking path.

Ann Price: 7:26

Yeah, and for those of you who don't know, I wish, I wish we could do pictures along with the podcast. Maybe we can put some in the show notes, because it really is pretty fabulous what has done for the communities who are surrounding the Beltline. So let's talk about that community piece, that community engagement. How were community members engaged in this work? How were they included as the project was being envisioned? And maybe even now, today?

Nonet Sykes: 7:57

Yeah, so community has always been core and central to the Beltline. In fact, there was a group of community members that advocated strongly for this project to take shape, and so community engagement is central to our organization. We have a team of fabulous staff whose sole job is to engage the community. They conduct public outreach, and community is involved in every facet of the project, from planning and designing to implementing our project. We engage them quarterly.

Nonet Sykes: 8:33

I don't know that many people know that we have what we are legislatively mandated to host public meetings every quarter to make to help the community stay abreast of the progress that we're making on the project, and so we call those, of course, quarterly briefings, and so they are held.

Nonet Sykes: 8:54

Initially, they were held in person at various locations around the Beltline corridor when we were going through the pandemic.

Nonet Sykes: 9:02

Of course, we had to transition to virtual meetings, and what we found is that our meeting participation actually increased significantly when we went virtual, because it allowed people to continue about their day, you know, picking the kids up from school, preparing dinner, helping with homework and still being able to tune into our meetings virtually and here are the updates that we wanted to make about the progress on the project but and also allowed them to ask questions along the way, and so community is always able to share their opinion and give us feedback again on design in the project.

Nonet Sykes: 9:48

And you know we keep all of the notes from every public meeting that we have and all of that information is held on our website, belt lineorg. And if, for some reason, questions are asked and we don't have time to answer them during our public meetings, we still transcribe all of the questions, provide all of the answers and leave all of that information on the website for folks to go through at a later date if they need to. And so we just want to make sure that folks we're being transparent and folks have access to all of the progress we're making with the project.

Ann Price: 10:27

Mm. Hmm, you know it's. It's interesting when you talk about you've seen participation go up during the pandemic when you switched to virtual meetings. Because I hear a lot, you know, I work a lot with community coalitions, community based nonprofits, and they all say the same thing that switching to virtual has really helped. Of course, you know, in our rural communities, because I work a lot in rural areas, you know access to the internet is is not always what it, what it could, should be right. So there is that some people don't have technology there. There's, there's that issue. But you know, just kind of in general, people seem to be a little bit more able to just like hop on their computer and participate. So so that you do these quarterly briefings I think you call them community Great.

Ann Price: 11:17

Briefing quarterly briefings and so people provide feedback. What happens with that? You said that you know the notes are on the website. Let's say they they're not happy with a plan. How is that? How is that feedback kind of you know, considered?

Nonet Sykes: 11:34

Well, they make us very aware when they're not happy with a plan, and we have plenty of opportunity to go back to the drawing board and most times I just focus a little bit on the quarterly briefings.

Nonet Sykes: 11:46

But we also engage the community around each project. So each trail segment that's designed and under construction, we host a series of meetings pertaining to that project. If it's a redevelopment project, we host what's called stakeholder advisory groups, so the neighborhood planning units, the community association, the adjacent businesses. We get those folks together and we meet with them over a series of weeks and months, however long it takes to have their input and designing and implementing the project, and so they give us feedback firsthand. I was just saying that we keep it Information on our website for folks to go back and access it. But we engage community every step along the way and so they tell us firsthand in the moment what they think about design plans. We host surett, we host all sorts of forums and formats so that we can get seek their input and make sure that their voice is heard and that their desires and wants and needs are baked into the next steps of the project Right.

Ann Price: 12:52

So it's definitely not Atlanta Beltline staff coming in or developers coming in and saying here is what's happening in your community. They're really engaged at every part of the process.

Nonet Sykes: 13:04

Absolutely yeah, and we don't move forward with a project until we've already had conversations with the community.

Ann Price: 13:11

That's beautiful. So what is the so what here? So what are? How is Atlanta benefited from this, this redesign, this revisioning? You know, I love how you phrase that knitting those 45, I think you said very disparate communities. How does that help, especially for people who are maybe haven't been to Atlanta and really are trying to kind of picture what this looks like. How is it? Yeah, what are some of the positive outcomes you've seen?

Nonet Sykes: 13:40

So I have seen that it has become a destination. Right, it was this blighted, abandoned railroad corridor that really has become a place for folks to live, work, play, recreate. It's a place where folks can find job and recreation opportunities. They can go grocery shopping, they can find a doctor's office. There's tons of restaurants and retail opportunities along the Beltline corridor. It's a place where you can access free fitness if you like. We have tons of free fitness programs and events.

Nonet Sykes: 14:18

We have public art. We have art on the Atlanta Beltline which offers sculptures and murals and we like to say it's the largest public outdoor exhibit in the South. And so we have affordable housing, we have affordable commercial spaces, and so it really is a project where we want it to be a destination and we have our equity vision, which is really about making sure that all Atlantans, whether you are a long-term resident, a new resident, a business owner, that everyone can benefit and prosper from all of the economic growth and activity that is associated with the Beltline. And so it's about affordable housing, it's commercial affordability, it's economic development. We provide support to the small businesses along the corridor, and so it really is a place where, again, folks can live, can work and recreate.

Ann Price: 15:24

Yeah, and for those of you who are not from the Atlanta area and I've been in this area since about 1984-ish and just when you said there are grocery stores, what Right? I remember there was not a thing. Grocery stores was. That was not a thing. And so the picture that you're painting for me is really, when we talk about social determinants of health, it really is that place-based environment where you're touching everybody, all the things right Transportation and housing and health care and access to food, and all of the things that were not there prior.

Nonet Sykes: 16:08

That's exactly right. Many of the communities on the south side you know Atlanta, you know South of I-20 had not seen any kind of investment for generations and so many of these communities were food deserts, had no grocery stores, had no real retail options. And so to see those communities today, it's like night and day the tons of development that's happening, the fact that we have grocery stores, that we have doctors' offices, that we have retail districts and restaurants, places where folks can eat Again, outdoor fitness, we have music events on the Beltline corridor. It really has become a destination. Our east side trail you know we tout that there we get in excess of two million visitors annually to the Beltline and so it really has become an attraction for many people. But it also is a place where a lot of folks also live out their daily lives.

Ann Price: 17:07

Yeah, that is very true. It definitely has become the spot to visit as well, as you know, kind of creating nicer spaces for those folks who kind of live there. So you mentioned the equity piece and you've been doing this work for a long time probably, I would say. Am I correct in saying before it became a thing? You've been in this space for a while, first at Annie Casey and now at the Beltline, so let's dig into a little bit more about what that work looks like at the Atlanta Beltline. So the tough one this is really tough and I don't even know kind of how to ask it other than to ask it how do you operation, operationalize equity and inclusion policies? What does that look like? I'm an evaluator, so I gotta ask how do you define that? How do you measure that?

Nonet Sykes: 18:04

Yeah, so that is the tough work, and so that means that we are constantly identifying policies and practices, both internally meaning looking within our organization, trying to figure out where are their systems and policies and practices that are serving as barriers for how we can advance equity in our work. And we're doing that work also externally, looking in our external, facing work and communities facing work. And so, internally, some of what we have been doing to operationalize it is recently we conducted an equity audit, for example, of our disadvantaged business enterprises, and so we wanted to see how we were partnering with and spending our money with DBEs. Are those businesses who are considered minority business enterprises or who are also small businesses? The Belt Line has generated, of the $700 million we've invested, it has generated about a $1 billion return on our investment, and we want to make sure that small businesses and minority business enterprises are also benefiting from that investment. And so we conducted an audit to see how we were doing and having just preliminary estimates shared with me this week that we're making considerable progress. We're only looking at just last year's numbers, but, given the data that I've seen, we're making progress. So that's just one example of how you operationalize equity.

Nonet Sykes: 19:39

We're looking at our procurement policies and practices to make sure that it's not overly cumbersome and complicated for a small business or a minority business so they actually submit a bid to one of our requests for proposals. And we're also looking at things like how much time does it take to pay out small businesses and minority business enterprises? They typically are smaller, they can't front the capital and the cash and they live kind of paycheck to paycheck. So we want to make sure that we're taking, you know, 90 to 120 days to pay them for services that they've rendered, and so we're really trying to cut that time down to no more than 30 days. And so those are the ways that we're looking internally for how we can operationalize our equity policies and practices.

Nonet Sykes: 20:31

We're also trying to make sure that we have a diverse and inclusive staff that is reflective of the communities we serve, and so we're constantly looking at our improvement in our hiring numbers. And externally, we operationalize it by making sure that we have affordable housing. That we are reaching and, you know, making progress toward our goal of 5600 units of affordable housing. We're also focused on commercial affordability because, as you can imagine, the property values are increasing exponentially and with that increased values comes increased property taxes and so making sure we have programs, for example, like our legacy resident retention program, which helps to pay any increases in property taxes for our qualifying residents through the end of 2030. And so that's just a few examples for how we're trying to operationalize equity, and it's, you know, complex and complicated, and the kind of change that we're trying to advance certainly takes time, but we feel like we're making considerable progress.

Ann Price: 21:37

Yeah, and I'm glad you brought up the legacy program because I definitely wanted to talk to you about the, the return, the legacy retention program. I think that's just so important, especially if you drive. Well, really, if you drive around any city, you see sometimes what happens. You know, I guess, the term we call it gentrification I don't know if you like that term or if that's an accurate term. I you know, I don't really know, but you certainly see it in progress, absolutely yeah, even in the small areas, and I just did a series of like 14 focus groups in our kind of the Northwest corridor of the state, and one of the one of the several things that we're brought up by these community leaders was access to housing.

Ann Price: 22:22

It's a problem everywhere, not just, you know, in Atlanta. So how, how, what, what will that work look like in the future? You've talked about how it works now and and and that that gap, and you know, but there's support, it sounds like between now and 2030. Is I if you could just maybe describe a little bit about what that work will look like in the future?

Nonet Sykes: 22:47

Yeah, so that's some of the policy work that we are doing and have to continue to do is really to think about how do we advocate for additional resources beyond 2030. We know that people's needs will continue well past 2030. So we're trying to figure that out now. We don't have an answer yet beyond 2030, but we do have the resources from funders and some of our philanthropic partners at least through 2030. Some of the other strategies we're utilizing is around land acquisition.

Nonet Sykes: 23:22

We're trying to purchase as much land as we can now so that we can begin to develop permanent, affordable housing. So we believe that those who control the dirt control the affordability. So we have tripled our land holdings in the last two to three years with the goal of building more affordable housing. One of the other strategies we're using really is about trying to deepen the affordability and lengthen the affordability period. So we're trying to use our resources strategically so that we can go way lower than 80 percent of an AMI or American median income. So we're trying to get close to the 40 and 50 and 60 percent of AMI. We're also trying to go beyond the standard 15 to 20 year period of affordability to really thinking about 99 year ground leases, where we perhaps still own the land, and lease it out so that we can maintain that period of affordability for longer periods of time. So that's just a few of the strategies, but a policy change would be needed in order for us to think beyond 2030 for our legacy resident program.

Ann Price: 24:43

Yeah, Right, I mean it's the good and the tough news about all this beautiful development is a lot of people want to live there now.

Nonet Sykes: 24:53

Yeah, that's. What we've seen is that initially no one wanted the Belt Line and now it's everybody's favorite project and so many people are moving back into the city. Now the rates are going up dramatically and folks who have been there all their lives are being pushed out because they can't afford to stay. So things like the Legacy Resident Retention Program help long-term residents be able to stay in place if they choose to stay. But we just need to expand the kinds of programs we have available to be able to help more and more people.

Ann Price: 25:26

Right, yeah, I love that so much. So let's talk about what community-based organizations or other communities can learn from the experience of the Atlanta Belt Line. What advice would you give those community leaders? Because every community, every small town if you drive around Georgia has an area that looks blighted, or the downtown area has kind of withered really. So I'm sure there's takeaways for everybody.

Nonet Sykes: 25:58

Yeah, I mean there are, and what I would say is think about baking in equity and equity strategies and equitable development from the beginning. I will tell you, I think that was one of the missed opportunities of the Belt Line project. Its vision was always to become an equitable, inclusive and sustainable Belt Line project right that could serve as a catalyst for the City of Atlanta and others. The challenge was, though, they did not have someone in my role at the beginning to really shepherd this equity component along. You really do need to have somebody whose sole focus is to make sure they understand what the equity vision is and how to identify strategies that can help you achieve the vision and then keep that project and that work moving forward, and so my suggestion, or framework, if you will, would be to one identify somebody whose chief role it is to pay attention to advancing equity all along the way.

Nonet Sykes: 27:00

But, more important than that, you've got to have a vision right. You've got to understand you know what kind of change you want to see for your community or for your project, and really then, once you've got the vision clear, think about the data that you can use to understand either the conditions that exist or the disparities that exist and then identify strategies to close those disparity gaps and, of course, use that data to measure your progress along the way. So it's kind of a cookie cutter approach if you think about, you know, caba vision. Get some strategies, measure your impact.

Ann Price: 27:45

And that focus on equity from the beginning is what I would say that's key and of course, I love the and keep your eye on the data. Right Gets back to like operationalizing. What do we want our community to look like? And you know, having folks, you know, being part of that visioning process is just really so important Because they can say you know, a thriving, equitable community in our town would look like you know, and then fill in all of the blanks. I love that so much so I got to ask you what do you love most about your job and what is what's a challenge?

Nonet Sykes: 28:26

So I think I love most that it's always something exciting going on. I'm not. I'm so involved in every piece of the work, both internally and externally, that it never gets boring. You know, one day we're focused on trying to figure out a new approach to expand small business support along the corridor and make sure that they got some new commercial affordability strategies in place. The next day we're talking about housing. Another day we're trying to think about how do we maximize community voice and community participation, and so it's always. It's always exciting and evolving. What I will say what can be challenging is the flip side of that, is like I'm stretched across many different pieces of the work there. Everybody else seems to focus on just housing or just economic development or just arts and culture, and I have to have my hands in all of it. It's exciting, but it can also be quite exhausting at the same time.

Ann Price: 29:31

Girl, I can relate. There are many days I'm like, oh my goodness, I wish I had just picked you know a niche and stuck to it. But when you're doing community work it's so complex.

Nonet Sykes: 29:46

And the exciting part of it. It is complex and I don't think we would have it any other way, Right? I mean, I think that's how you, you know, you're having an impact and your work is making a difference, because you can see all the various pieces of it, right, yeah?

Ann Price: 30:00

And you definitely can see it all over the Atlanta Beltline for sure that the impact that that work has had on the city and on the community and the people around and the people that live there and I love that you're keeping the people who have always lived there, you know front and center that's so important. What else would you like to tell us about your work or the work you do?

Nonet Sykes: 30:25

So there's a couple things I know I wanted to mention and I slipped my mind earlier, but you were talking about how do we operationalize it, and so we have. You know, data is key. As I mentioned earlier, we have some equity tools that we use to help us with our work, and so one of the tools is a demographic explorer tool, and it really helps us to understand the demographic changes and patterns and trends that are happening. You talked about gentrification earlier, and these tools can help show us that, in addition to mapping out some of the demographic changes that are happening, it really helps us again understand where there are disparity gaps, and so we use the tool to create what we call our equity priority areas, and so those are the areas where we know we need to pay particular attention because they are probably more vulnerable to gentrification and displacement, and those are those same areas that we are targeting for investment and resources so that we can help to close those disparity gaps. So that's one tool.

Nonet Sykes: 31:27

The other tool is our investment explorer tool, and that really helps to map where we've invested dollars and resources around the Beltline corridor, across all of our programmatic areas. So if it's affordable housing, economic development, arts and culture, design and construction. Someone can click on a map and see. They can click on housing, for example, and see where we've invested our housing dollars all around the 22 mile loop. Or they can go to a quadrant of the Beltline and see all of those investments and how we've invested it there. And those tools really are again just to increase transparency and with the community and to hold ourselves accountable right, because we are using taxpayer dollars to build out this project and so the taxpayer has the right to know how we're using their funding to build out this project, and so we just want to maximize accountability and also want to make sure that we are investing our limited resources in those communities that need them the most.

Ann Price: 32:30

And you mentioned. Those tools are available on the website.

Nonet Sykes: 32:34

They are available on our website. So if they go to beltlineorg and click on tools, they can find them there, or click on equity, and all of our equity efforts will also pop up.

Ann Price: 32:44

And you know, what occurs to me is that you know the folks in other cities or other communities who might want to do something. So even if it's on a small scale could model that process, even if it's not as complex as you know creating this. You know this seamless connection between 45 communities. It doesn't have to be that complex.

Nonet Sykes: 33:10

It does not have to be that complex and we probably will recommend that it not be. But if they ever want to some lessons learned or some strategies, they can feel free to check out our efforts on the website, on our beltlineorg website. We have organizations reach out to us all the time to come see our project firsthand and to hear lessons learned, and we're happy to share it because we don't think folks need to make some of the same mistakes that we've made along the way Right and you know those.

Ann Price: 33:39

That happens right. It's all learning, it's all learning.

Nonet Sykes: 33:43

It's all learning, and we're part of a group called the High Line Network and you know there's the High Line Project in New York, but there are hundreds of other projects, similar rails to trails, kinds of projects across the country, and we are in constant conversation and communication with them, and so this is just an opportunity for us to learn from one another right to share information and best practices and next practices.

Ann Price: 34:07

Yeah, I love that so much. So, uh, wow, it's um pretty hot here in Atlanta this week and we're almost, we're almost to the oh my gosh. We're halfway through the 2023. When you, when you think about next steps for you, as you kind of, as we round out 2023 and thinking about 2024, what's next for you in your work?

Nonet Sykes: 34:30

Wow, um, you know, I I just think I'm incredibly proud of the project and the progress that we're making for the Belt Line. You know I get caught up in the day to day that I don't really think about what's next, but I will tell you that again, we're probably 56% of the way towards our affordable housing goal. By the end of next year we will have come 80% of the Belt Line will either be complete or under construction, and so I'm just enjoying my time at the Belt Line right now and I am planning to remain part of the leadership that hopefully can take this project to the finish line in 2030.

Ann Price: 35:10

Yeah, and I gotta say I gotta invite all of our listeners out there, whether you're from the Metro Atlanta area, the Georgia area or the country, you gotta come and see because it really is something really special.

Nonet Sykes: 35:23

It is. It's an amazing project and I'm I'm so proud to be a part of it Well.

Ann Price: 35:29

Nannette, thank you so much for joining me today. I gotta ask you the question I asked all my guests, though, before I let you go what community possibilities do you see when you look to the future? What community possibilities do you see?

Nonet Sykes: 35:42

I see a vibrant, thriving and diverse Belt Line community that has something for everyone. I really do believe that in my heart, that we are working our way towards becoming the vision that we saw, which was this inclusive, equitable and sustainable project that will just bring everybody together, no matter your race, your income, your ability. There's something for you on the Atlanta Belt Line.

Ann Price: 36:13

I love that and I wish that for all our communities. So thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate the conversation.

Nonet Sykes: 36:22

Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure.

Ann Price: 36:26

Hi everybody. Thanks so much for joining me on today's episode of Community Possibilities. I hope you enjoyed this conversation. If you would be so kind, would you please like and share this episode. Tell somebody you care about, somebody who does community work, about the podcast. That would help so much. Also wanted to let you know that we have revamped the resources page on our website. So if you go to communityevaluationsolutionscom, go to our resource page you're going to find a whole new look and a new tool the nonprofit evaluation capacity self assessment, designed to help your organization make informed decisions and take action to build a stronger program evaluation for your nonprofit. Coming soon is a coalition capacity self assessment, so be sure and look out for that. Thanks, everybody, and I'll see you next time.