Benefitting Underserved Communities

The City of Atlanta is home to populations vulnerable to environmental injustice with racial disparities in access to greenspace, as well as both racial and linguistic disparities in proximity to pollution. Besides greater exposures to environmental pollution, environmental injustice has manifested as a lack of minority inclusion in environmental projects and decision-making. As the region as a whole becomes increasingly more diverse, it is critical to address the existing and historical inequalities. Today, these communities identified along the River corridor are the ones with the least access to the River and existing green spaces. The Chattahoochee River Greenway’s Public Engagement Strategy and Stakeholder Plan places emphasis on equity and inclusion by prioritizing communication with communities that have been harmed by environmental injustices and have been identified as “Environmental Justice Target Areas” using the Atlanta Regional Commission’s 2017 Environmental Justice Model.

By engaging with historically underserved communities early and often, by creating safe access to the greenway, and by providing additional programmatic elements where they are the most needed, the Chattahoochee River Greenway will provide co-benefits to the most underserved residents. The Greenway study should identify areas where environmental justice issues can be actively addressed – for example, the identification of contaminated sites where remediation can occur, or zones of the River where ecological restoration opportunities can overlap with a need for public access to the River. Tributaries offer great potential in connecting communities to high-quality open space, and should be investigated as potential corridors between high density development areas and the Greenway. Proctor Creek is one example of a tributary connection underway that will link an underserved community with the River.