Honoring everyday heroes

One definition of a hero is a person who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage or strength [Wikipedia]. A hero is also defined as someone who has done something brave, new, or good, and who is therefore greatly admired by a lot of people [Collinsdictionary]. And one of the great blessings in working at the Community Foundation is the opportunity to work with everyday heroes. During Black History Month when we honor legacies and acts of heroism, we want to honor a few leaders in the community who are making history, making a difference and making an impact every day. 

The metro Atlanta area is rich with community champions, leaders and change agents who are working daily to create equity for families, our communities and education. So during a time when we honor national heroes, iconic luminaries and the historic lineage of Black history – our history – please join us as we illuminate current black leaders below that are making history as everyday heroes. Present day change agents, we salute you!

Venessa Abram
Venessa has worked diligently for the past three years to bring awareness to mental illness, suicide prevention and bullying through educational workshops that will stop the stigma attached to mental illness and promote healing through Self-Discovery: Pain, Positioning & Purpose, Inc. (SDPPP/SDp3). SDPPP/SDp3 is a suicide prevention, intervention, postvention and recovery program that provides multiple peer to peer approaches to increase wellness, resiliency and protective factors among those at risk for or impacted by suicide. Through SDPPP/SDp3, Venessa wants to create paths to intervention that encourages individuals, families, and communities to learn the warning signs and get help when help is needed. She is leveraging SDPPP/SDp3 to prevent suicide and foster recovery through advocacy seminars, evidence-based prevention training and workshops, and private coaching and mentoring, and a coordination of community-based resources and referrals. And as a result SDPPP/SDp3 has created a significant impact for over 13,000 people who were impacted or concerned about suicide.

Kimberly Dukes
Kimberly Dukes is an unrelenting advocate of parents “disrupting inequities in education” through her organization Atlanta Thrive. After discovering that the Atlanta Public Schools she sent her kids to for more than 10 years were failing, she began to advocate on behalf of her children and others in the school to improve the district’s turnaround strategy so that students receive a quality education. Atlanta Thrive is an advocacy group for parents by parents. The Fellowship program educates parents about failing schools through grassroots movement building strategies, such as door-knocking and canvassing, to hold decision-makers accountable. With 100 planned graduates in 2021, Dukes is organizing and mobilizing a movement demanding a future where underserved Black and Brown kids in Atlanta have the resources they need to reach their full potential.

Dr. Bambie Hayes-Brown
Dr. Bambie Hayes-Brown, serves as executive director of Georgia Advancing Communities Together, Inc. (Georgia ACT), a statewide affordable housing and community development nonprofit membership agency and has more than two decades of experience in rural and urban community and economic development. Prior to Georgia ACT, she led the Crisp Area Habitat for Humanity and at the DeKalb County Housing Authority, which assisted thousands of families with purchasing their first home and transitioned homeless veterans and victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita into permanent housing. At Georgia ACT, Hayes-Brown builds, supports and informs a statewide network of organizations, professionals and individuals advancing equitable housing and community development. In addition to providing technical assistance to members and partners, Georgia ACT engages in policy and advocacy on the local, state and federal level. Under her leadership, Georgia ACT conducted voter registration and mobilization activities, “Our Homes, Our Votes 2020,” leading up to the 2020 general election and January runoffs. Early numbers estimate Georgia ACT reached 10,000+ people throughout Metro Atlanta, middle Georgia and rural Georgia.

Richard Hicks
Richard Hicks is the president and CEO of InspirEDU Atlanta (formerly PowerMyLearning Greater Atlanta). He’s a transformational leader who has been dedicated to educational equity in BIPOC communities and changing lives through education and technology for over 14 years. By 2005, there was a growing acknowledgement that the digital divide was a detrimental reality. And Richard has been on the forefront since 2007 as an agent for multi-generational change in digital literacy, a disrupter to the digital divide and a luminary fighting for equitable educational opportunities for underserved communities, charter schools, students with disabilities and very young students in under resourced early learning centers. Richard is a transformational leader because he believes, “There is no better teacher than the past. When you learn the lessons that the past offers, it makes a big difference for a productive today and meaningful tomorrow.” He can’t change the digital divide and educational inequities of the past, but he knew that InspireEDU could make an impactful difference in mitigating the digital learning inequities of today and tomorrow.

Sr’lis Powell
Sr’lis Powell has transformed a lifetime of sacrifices and relentless drive for a better life for her children into Parents Prosper, a nonprofit organization that supports parents, while they support their children. The organization works with parent’s in Atlanta Public Schools Washington Cluster to help them overcome barriers, from financial to food insecurity, on their path to becoming self-sufficient. Sr’lis has intimate knowledge of the series of sacrifices that parents make for their children, experiencing single parenthood herself, as well as working as a parent liaison at Michael R. Hollis Innovation Academy before founding Parents Prosper. The organization’s signature program works to alleviate barriers, set S.M.A.R.T. goals and offer one-on-one support sessions. She continues to dedicate her work to alleviating inequity in education and income on Atlanta’s Westside.

Pictured: Richard Hicks, president and CEO of InspirEDU Atlanta