Event Coverage Story
Locals share and discuss ideas to improve the community at the Envision Athens Wellbeing Event
Madison Balk
The audience gathers at the Classic Center’s Oconee River Room in the Foundry Street Building for the Envision Athens Wellbeing Event on Oct. 20. (Photo/Madison Balk)
Envision Athens hosted a well-being event on Oct. 20 at the Classic Center to present the 2022 Good Neighbor Awards, as well as present data findings to the audience and gather their feedback on what needs to change in the community.
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Envision Athens is a 20-year community and economic development plan for Athens, overseen by a board of directors of about 40 Athens citizens. In May of 2018, a committee of 23 people (who would later become part of the board of directors) from Clarke County School District, Athens-Clarke County Unified Government and other local institutions formed to design the implementation process of Envision Athens.
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This 20-year plan includes projects to improve Athens as a whole, and “improving the quality of life for Athens residents,” according to an event volunteer who works for the organization. Examples of these projects include a transportation safety program, establishing venues for fresh food, developing a behavioral health crisis response team and more. Project selection is done by a partnership of Envision Athens and the Athens Wellbeing Project, which collects data on the well-being of local citizens.
Good Neighbor Awards
Sally Kimel-Sheppard, the executive director of the nonprofit, spoke at the event and presented the Good Neighbor Award winners. This annual event encourages the people of Athens to nominate those in the community who, “are pushing for the mission of Envision Athens, which is for us to have a place of compassion, unity, equity and kindness,” Sheppard said. Categories include Create Athens (arts and culture), Healthy Athens (mental health and substance use disorder), Abundance Athens (food insecurity) and Educate Athens (workforce development).
Drew Bowen, winner of the Healthy Athens award, has helped countless people through substance abuse recovery. He is a sponsor, leads AA meetings weekly and has paid entry fees for people in need of residential programs.
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The winners of the Create Athens award were Bob and Melody Croft, who have made paintings representing inclusion as well as incorporating litter into some of their artwork.
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Susan Fontaine, creator of Love Craft Athens, provides job training and artistic opportunities for people with disabilities, won the Educate Athens award.
The winner of Abundance Athens, Lauren Towe, leads Concrete Jungle Athens, which organizes volunteers to harvest thousands of pounds of fresh fruit for families in need.
The winners of the 2022 Good Neighbor Awards smile for photos taken by Envision Athens, reporters and members of the audience at the Envision Athens Wellbeing Event at the Classic Center on Oct. 20. The photo taken by Envision Athens will be on a billboard coming soon. (Photo/Madison Balk)
Athens Wellbeing Project Presentation
The second part of the event was a presentation about the Athens Wellbeing Project by Grace Bagwell Adams from the dean’s office at the University of Georgia’s College of Public Health.
Bagwell Adams presented data findings from AWP data collection, census data and focus group discussions. Stats included: 10% of Athens residents have been threatened with eviction in the last 12 months and the percentage of medically uninsured Athens residents
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Audience members were given a sheet of paper containing focus group data and were told to discuss what they thought was missing. “We're not here to talk about the problems. We're here to focus now on the solutions and the role that envision Athens can play in moving forward,” Bagwell Adams said.
AWP and Envision Athens will incorporate the audience’s thoughts in an action plan it will pitch to its Board of Directors in November.
This slide of the AWP presentation shows the domain categories of their research and data findings. Mayor Girtz is seated in the front row spotted at the bottom left of the photo. (Photo/Madison Balk)
Why I Wrote the Story
This event was very unique to write about because it was almost like three events in one. Through the Good Neighbor Awards, I got to learn about the locals of Athens and the good deeds that they do. I learned a great deal about statistics of the people of Athens through the AWP presentation that definitely left an impression on myself. And finally, the table conversation at the end gave me an opportunity to meet and discuss the issues with people that I otherwise may have never met. This assignment taught me how to attend an event and efficiently turn it into a news story.