Georgia Works, a nonprofit that pairs housing with transitional work for men, has wrapped up a $14 million capital campaign to turn the Odd Fellows building on Auburn Avenue into its new home base. Renovation of the 1912 landmark is underway, and the organization is targeting a March 2025 finish.
The campaign was aided by a $1.25 million Eastside Tax Allocation District grant, which Invest Atlanta's board approved in December. "From a movie house to storefronts, the history of the Odd Fellows building has been one of empowerment," said Dr. Eloisa Klementich, who leads Invest Atlanta.
How the money came together
According to president and CEO Darlene Schultz, the starting money was a $5 million state grant through the Georgia Investment in Housing program, a grant made possible when Gov. Brian Kemp put federal CARES Act money to use. To apply, her team needed a building in hand. They looked at sites in Lakewood Heights, Castleberry Hill and along Fulton Industrial Boulevard, but ran into neighborhood pushback. The Odd Fellows property already carried affordable housing zoning, and the neighborhood planning unit, NPU-M, agreed to waive a city ordinance so Georgia Works could operate within 2,000 feet of O'Hearn House, another supportive housing facility.
After buying the building in early 2023, the nonprofit set out to raise $9 million more for the renovation. "We could not do this without Eastside TAD funds or the Atlanta Emerging Markets New Market tax credits and Truist Bank," Schultz said. Many large Atlanta-based foundations contributed as well.
Where the work stands
Crews have finished demolishing the interior, which Schultz said turned up no big surprises. Attention has since moved to the exterior, with the facade along Bell Street and the windows being refurbished. Rebuilding the inside will pick back up once that phase is done. Until the move, Georgia Works continues to lease the second floor of Gateway Center, a former jail that has been converted.
The new headquarters will hold the organization's programs, housing division and corporate offices. "We will have the capacity for 160 participants and graduates to live in the building, plus the staff and four retail storefronts," Schultz said.
What the program does
Georgia Works serves men coming out of unsheltered homelessness or returning home after incarceration. For a nominal fee, participants get room and board for as long as a year while they hold transitional jobs and stay off drugs and alcohol. Case management, workforce training, GED classes, and wellness and life skills instruction are part of the package, along with help obtaining a driver's license and setting up banking. Six to eight months in, graduates receive help finding a job and gain access to low-cost transitional housing.
Across the program's first 10 years, upward of 1,100 men have graduated with a job, and 80 percent have kept both their apartments and their jobs afterward. Steve McGoy, a program graduate who is now director of operations, described the shift from beneficiary to someone helping grow the program as a reflection of its impact.
Storefronts still open
None of the four street-level retail spaces has a tenant yet. "Nobody's locked in yet," Schultz said. For the two Auburn Avenue fronts, she would like a cafeteria-style meat-and-three and would offer favorable lease terms to an operator willing to discount meals for program participants. The larger corner space is pictured as a bodega selling nonperishables, because the Sweet Auburn Market sits directly opposite. Her team plans to ask neighbors for input and hopes every retail tenant will consider hiring participants.
Schultz called the move transformative and said she hopes it will build community between the program and its graduates. Her next goal is a Georgia Works for women, possibly down the street.
Original reporting by Clare S. Richie for Rough Draft Atlanta.
