This week we had the honor of meeting with the Director Of Development at The East Lake Foundation to learn a bit more about how Brilliant! could partner with them. We learned so much about the amazing history of The East Lake Foundation and their very exciting future!

A quick overview of how The East Lake Foundation came to be: in summary the community of East Lake was once a vacation spot in the early 1900's and slowly descended into a phase of violent crime and drugs by the 1970's. The East Lake community had gained the nickname "Little Vietnam", for good reason as the crime rate grew to 12x higher than the national average. East Lake was a place everyone was retreating from, however Tom Cousins ran head first into the issue based on his belief that this community could be revitalized. Cousins then created a major revitalization project which would transform the entire community.

Within this revitalization project, The East Lake Foundation was created in 1995. Upon just celebrating their 20 year anniversary , Brittany was able to share the amazing impact they have had thus far! The East Lake foundation believes in a holistic approach to redevelopment, focusing on purpose built communities. Communities built on Mixed income housing, cradle to college education, and community wellness. Through this approach they have a wide array of strategic programs throughout the community.

As a result of this, violent crimes have been reduced by 95%, graduation rate near 90% (compared to less than 30% in 1995), ALL eligible adults are working or in job training (compared the the EMPLOYMENT rate of 13.5%).

The East Lake Foundation is incredible, and we are proud to announce we will be working with them this quarter. We are looking forward to see how they continue to break the cycle of inter-generational poverty through holistic re-development over the next 20 + years!

J.Rich Atlanta Team and Brittany from the East Lake Foundation on the East Lake Golf Course