Emory CBSC

2025 CBSC Fellows

The 2025 Community Building and Social Change Fellows Program (CBSC) has concluded. Our eleven fellows matched with community-based projects located in communities in the City of Atlanta, City of Decatur, East Point, and DeKalb County. Fellows worked with four community focused partners including the City of Decatur addressing affordable housing, New American Pathways documenting the impact of youth programming, Partnership for Southern Equity building local capacity in sustainability efforts and We Love Buford Highway maximizing the impact of grant funds supporting minority owned small businesses. Fellows and their partners crafted plans together and implemented them in the ten-week summer field practicum from late May through July.

Our 2025 CBSC Fellows are: Leilah Burgher, Sam Chernoff, Zoe Grotjan, Nicholas Huang, Rohan Mitra, Aixmar Parra, Anissa Patel, Thomas Pharr, Nayana Sah, Sloane Shabelman, and Grayson Stone.

2025 cbsc projects

Fellows Rohan and Aixmar worked with We Love Buford Highway to conduct an immigrant-owned business needs assessment, in which they worked to understand the challenges that immigrant business owners are currently facing. They delivered recommendations about programs and resources that can be used by business owners to best support their needs. We are also working on developing lasting engagement strategies with the community, including developing a youth volunteer program for high school students.

Fellows Grayson, Anissa, and Leilah are worked with the Partnership for Southern Equity to support its Just Communities Pilot Program, specifically in the neighborhoods of East Washington (East Point), Hunter Hills, and Peoplestown to aid the implementation of community-based climate resilience initiatives.

This summer at New American Pathways, fellows Zoe Grotjan, Nayana Sah, and Sloane Shabelman conducted an evaluation of the Bright Futures program. The Bright Futures program is an afterschool and summer program facilitated by New American Pathways to help improve the lives of refugee and immigrant children in areas such as academic achievement, understanding the American school system, and community belonging. The New American Pathways team specifically looked at the long-term outcome of participating (3+ years) in the Bright Futures program and conducted interviews and data analysis to quantify and understand the direct impact of the program, especially in relation to Bright Future's goals stated above. 

Fellows Nicholas, Samuel, and Thomas sought to address the issue of heirs property in the City of Decatur. Heirs property occurs when homes and property are passed on without proper legal documentation, resulting in split titles, unclear ownership, and other potential legal issues. They conducted an assessment of Decatur residents to determine the prevalence of households that may experience heirs property-related issues, developed educational materials to increase awareness, and established partnerships with legal professionals who are willing to assist with legal services such as will creation, title clearing, and estate planning. 

2024 cbsc Fellows

The CBSC worked with four meaningful community-based initiatives in 2024. Our partners were each embedded in their neighborhoods creating systems that lead to community-empowered change. The City of Decatur’s Climate Resilience Plan, Focused Community Strategies, Partnership for Southern Equity and We Love Buford Highway engaged with the CBSC Fellows Program on efforts that grew their impact in Atlanta’s diverse communities. 

The 2024 class of CBSC Fellows includes eleven strong students who brought great energy and ideas to their projects. The 2024 CBSC Fellows are: 

Rachel Alpert-Wisnia, Political Science and Anthropology Double Major on the Pre-law track, May 2026, Sandy Askins, Political Science and Art History Double Major, May 2026., Katie Clark, Quantitative Sciences, Political Science track. Junior, May 2025, Robert Golin, Political Science Major, May 2026 , Isabelle Kronick, Political Science and Psychology Double Major, May 2026, Nica Leung, Political Science and Anthropology Double Major, May 2026., Sarah Longa, Human Health, May 2026, Madeleine Pelli, Philosophy, Politics, and Law Major, May 2026., Khushi Niyyar, Quantitative Sciences Major with a concentration in Political Science, May 2026, Sophie Schocket, Political Science Major, May 2025, Dyson Stallworth, Double Major in Philosophy, Politics and Law (PPL) and English, May 2025

Read here for more about the 2024 CBSC Fellows and their project teams.

2024 CBSC Projects

With the City of Decatur, a team of fellows created the foundation for youth-engagement on local sustainability efforts. Focused Community Strategies was partnered with fellows in their expansion of the Flourishing Neighborhood Index process of raising resident voices in several Atlanta communities. With the Partnership for Southern Equity, a team of fellows supported the pilot Just Communities program, supporting community-based leaders in the first cohort of communities. We Love Buford Highway invited the CBSC to partner with them building on past strong CBSC work to shape a stakeholder engagement program that created a system where ambassadors raise awareness among the small business communities. 

The 2024 Fellows worked with these amazing efforts to craft a shared workplan for the ten-week CBSC field practicum that ran from mid-May through July 2024.

2023 CBSC TEAM SELECTED AND WORKING TOWARD A STRONG PROGRAMMATIC YEAR

Our 2023 CBSC Fellows - Benjamin Cho, Danielle Davis, Grace Fraser, Yulia Gu, Sarah Kim, Skylar McGlockton, Hannah Nelson, Elisabet Ortiz, Grace Regnier and Sophia Yang - completed the Spring 2023 CBSC course and skill-building lab where they built their research skills and co-developed with partners a plan for the Summer 2023 implementation term. The 2023 cohort worked with the City of Decatur supporting their Climate Resilience Plan, We Love Buford Highway on connections to launch an accessible small business support system and Whitefoord, Inc. on better understanding the early education and health needs of the Edgewood area communities. 

We are thrilled to have worked with such a strong group of leaders in these students and valuable partners. These projects presented a variety of learning opportunities across issues, partner organizational structure and community settings.

CBSC wraps up a strong 2022 program year

Our fantastic class of 2022 CBSC Fellows completed their full year of work with the program. The focus of the spring term was to learn skills in the CBSC course and lab while co-creating a workplan with their partners. This plan served as the roadmap for the full time summer practicum, a ten week full time field-based implementation experience beginning late May 2022. Each fellow and team adapted to real world circumstances and kept the partners’ end goals in mind as they worked to deliver relevant and substantial outcomes. 

The CBSC was excited to work in partnership with We Love Buford Highway and the Cross Keys Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative (CKSNI) supporting small businesses and documenting priorities for the Buford Highway communities. A team of three fellows executed a multi-prong strategy aimed at providing a full picture of the needs and challenges of small businesses along Buford Highway. The four components of their work included the creation of an up to date comprehensive business directory, identifying the experiences of small businesses via surveys and in person conversations and providing recommendations grounded in these current conditions. Comments from the thirty-nine attendees for their final presentation of work included noting that the CBSC “supports work important to advance community efforts” and “where their project leads is where we (the community) can continue”. 

Continuing our long-standing connection with the Edgewood community, our second team of 2022 fellows worked with a coalition of local entities to document resident visions for a reopened public school in the community. In partnership with The Zeist Foundation, the Mayson Avenue Cooperative and Neighborhood Planning Unit-O, the CBSC work is helping to understand what the neighborhood, including families with future middle school students, want out of a reopened community school. The team engaged over 400 community residents, with over 400 survey responses and 14 in depth focus group participants. Their final presentation included engaged community leaders, Atlanta Public School Board Members and other key community stakeholders. Feedback from this group included - “I applaud this effort, incredibly impressive”, “reinforces the need for continued engagement throughout the process”, “hoping to take the learning and lessons from here into the engagement process”

2021 CBSC FELLOWS IN THE FIELD WITH EDGEWOOD AND CLARKSTON PARTNERS

Seven 2021 CBSC Fellows began implementing co-developed community building projects in the Clarkston and Edgewood communities in late March. Operating in a hybrid model, fellows were able to safely participate in community-based activities advancing the work of our partners.

Three fellows, Elizabeth Beling, Jamie Constantine and Helena Zeleke, are developed a leadership program for Clarkston resident farmers. Their work helped to realize an effort by the Global Growers Network to not only expand the capacity of small farmers of color, many new Americans, but also to establish a network of farmer educators to share skills among the community.

A team of four fellows, Mikail Albritton, Matthew Joesoep, Clare McCarthy and Cara Waite, worked with a coalition of Edgewood based organizations to partner with residents on their programs. Mayson Avenue Cooperative of the Zeist Foundation, Moving in the Spirit and the Wylde Center Edgewood Learning Garden worked with our team with plans to use the information gathered by the CBSC team to plan for future activities in the community.

2020 CBSC Projects

The Coalition for a Diverse DeKalb Stakeholder Visioning CBSC Fellows, Elizabeth Greene, Rebecca Jackson, and Gracie Morris, worked with the Coalition for a Diverse DeKalb to establish initial stakeholder visions for the area surrounding the Kensington Marta Station. This area is already experiencing new development as it contains large parcels of underdeveloped or underutilized land, as well as single family neighborhoods and commercial properties. The hope for this collaboration with the CBSC is that the data gathered will lay the groundwork for larger scale planning including but not limited to a Transit Oriented Development plan or Livable Cities Initiative planning grant. The coalition believes that having some initial priorities laid out and stakeholders prepped to engage will create an environment in which community members are at the forefront of leadership in the future of this area.

DeKalb County Recreation, Parks and Cultural Affairs, Porter Sanford III Performing Arts Center Diversity Plan Three CBSC Fellows, Natalie Frazier, Lauren Mahoney, and Kassie Sarkar, collaborated with the DeKalb County Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Affairs Department in 2020 with a focus of diversifying programming to better match the communities of DeKalb County. The Porter Sanford Arts Center is a gem of a center located in South DeKalb. Its events are regularly sold out and draw local residents to key events. Using best practice models and information gained from key local engagement, the fellows launched a community art contest and virtual exhibit for DeKalb County residents called, “Diversity Stories.” In their final work plan, the fellows made recommendations to the center for implementation strategies of diversity and inclusion programming based on their experiences. This work plan is being incorporated by the Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Affairs Department to steer a pilot effort throughout the department and possibly well beyond in order to more broadly promote the values of diversity and inclusion across the county.

Cross Keys Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative, Baseline Housing Study for Buford Highway The CBSC has been engaged in the Buford Highway communities for many years, co-launching an effort that led to the Cross Keys Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative (CKSNI). CKSNI is working off of a Quality of Life Plan developed through this initiative, built on hundreds of community inputs to identify the local priorities and key strategies that will work toward them.

One of the most pressing needs the Buford Highway communities are experiencing is the lack and loss of affordable housing. Previous fellow teams have laid excellent groundwork for the 2020 project, having collected qualitative data and done deep dives into particular census tracts to emphasize the importance the housing challenges are to local residents. In 2020, CBSC Fellows Faith Kim, Zoe Moskowitz, and Gabe Samuels worked with a housing task force of CKSNI including local leaders like the Center for Pan Asian Community Services, the Latin American Association, Los Vecinos de Buford Highway, elected officials from at least one city in the area, local faith leaders and residents. This project established a baseline count of the affordable rental units, both multi-family and single family, in a set geography around Buford Highway. The data will be used to identify the targets for retaining affordability in these units and to push particular policies that will supplement what exists on the private market now.

Covid-19 related changes to the program: With the COVID-19 pandemic, the CBSC 2020 Summer term moved to an all remote format. It provided a weekly discussion series with guest experts including program, academic and organizational leaders with CBSC alumni working in the issue of focus. Issues applicable in global contexts were included in the series in collaboration with staff at the Office of Global Strategies. The projects adjusted to accommodate for the online format.

2019 CBSC Fellows

The CBSC excited to have worked with a great group of nine fellows for the 2019 Program. The 2019 Fellows are: Yoni Benzacar, Jenny Braverman, Theo Davis, Whitney Forbis, Mimi Madhaven, Julie Park, Ross Tizes, Grace Walters and Afshin Valani. This class of fellows brought a wide range of experiences and interests to the program.

Two teams of fellows worked collaboratively with the Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health Improvement (ARCHI) and the Georgia Conservancy.

ARCHI worked with the CBSC on projects supporting the launch of a program in DeKalb aimed at improving the well-being of several communities. Tentatively called the Youth Prosperity Collaborative, this effort collected real-time data in a set of communities that will be reviewed and responded to via local service providers and community-led interventions. This is in a way building on past CBSC work with the DeKalb Sustainable Neighborhoods Initiative as some of the areas engaged have functioning DSNI Steering Committees that partnered with the program in this work.

CBSC Fellows participated in the Georgia Conservancy’s work with the Covington Housing Authority in its housing plan creation. Working with their Sustainability Team, the fellows were active in community engagement and assessments work. Their project created a community input process and implemented key strategies to gather a representative picture of community attitudes, priorities, opinions and visions for housing in Newton County and its municipalities.

2018 CBSC Fellows

The 2017-18 Program Year was a successful one in many ways. The core Community Building and Social Change Fellows Program partnered with two important efforts in building community. In addition to our core year-long fellows program, CBSC staff and fellows engaged in valuable efforts with long-standing partners. Please read more about the work of the CBSC programs in our 2017-18 Annual Report.

Our six 2018 CBSC Fellows' work is now completed! Teams matched with our two great collaborative partners - the Cross Keys Sustainable Neighborhood Initiative's Affordable Housing Group(CPACS) and the Partners in Action for Healthy Living (PAHL) Youth Farm Program. 

The 2018 CBSC Fellows are: Samantha Flaugher - Hannah Fleischmann - Julia Glickman Charley Mann - Owen Mattocks - David Nifong

This year, three CBSC Fellows worked to establish baseline data related to affordable housing properties along the Buford Highway Corridor. This included analysis of available data surrounding these key properties, impact documentation for residents already displaced by loss of units and those fearful of displacement. The end product will help the CKSNI Housing Group demonstrate the social, economic and educational changes created for both very local communities and individual residents. 

Working with the Partners in Action for Healthy Living and their Youth Farm Program, three CBSC Fellows worked to help establish the program including planning for the implementation of an evaluation plan and assisting in the leadership curriculum for participants. 

2017 CBSC Fellows

We Love BUHi

Fellows: Monica Reifkohl (17C), KT Grace (16Ox,18C) and Dillon Wu (19C)

This CBSC team worked with We Love BuHi--a nonprofit which works to "strengthen the unique multicultural fabric of Atlanta's famed Buford Highway Corridor." The Fellows' primary task was to survey over 100 businesses along Buford Highway, to gauge their interest and alignment with the mission of We Love BuHi. 

Pittsburgh neighborhood, atlanta

Fellows: Maya Bornsetin (19C), Merissa Cope (17C) and Caroline Nwanze (18C)

This team of Fellows worked alongside the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Atlanta Civic Site to update a vacant housing map for the Pittsburgh Neighborhood--one of the six neighborhoods in Atlanta's Neighborhood Planning Unit V (NPU-V). Additionally, the Fellows worked with the Pittsburgh Community Improvement Association to help plan and promote their summer block gathering. 

whitefoord elementary school closure, edgewood neighborhood

Fellows: Kaya Ruffin (18C), and Emily Feigelman (16Ox, 18C)

Kaya and Emily worked alongside community partners in Atlanta's Edgewood neighborhood to document the community response to the closure of Whitefoord Elementary School. The Fellows conducted research on similar school closures and presented their final report to representatives of the Atlanta Public School System.