Mission
The mission of the Cabbagetown Initiative Community Development Corporation, Inc. is to enhance the quality of life in the Cabbagetown community by empowering neighbors to act collectively for community development.
The Cabbagetown Initiative 501c3 Community Development Corporation (“CI”) was established in 1999 to facilitate the transfer of an abandoned Atlanta Public Schools site to the Department of Parks & Recreation, raising money through private donations, public support, and a generous grant from the Arthur M Blank Foundation. With the completion of Cabbagetown Park in 2005, CI assumed certain maintenance duties under a Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Atlanta, and eventually assisted with negotiations to purchase the property at 177 Estoria Street SE, previously Cornelia Moore Sheltering Arms Daycare, converting it into the Cabbagetown Community Center.
Since 2003, CI has organized and presented the all-volunteer Chomp & Stomp Chili Cook-Off & Old Time Blue Grass Festival, a fundraising event that has grown into a Class C Outdoor Festival (~20,000 people) and features over 100 different chili cookers (including 20+ restaurants).
chompandstomp.com
On March 14th, 2008, an EF3 storm system damaged or destroyed several homes in Cabbagetown and the Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts. CI subsequently created the Tornado Relief Fund that raised and redistributed donations and grant money to neighborhood applicants.
By 2012, CI had assumed responsibility for maintaining several public spaces across the community, including greenspace and Esther Peachy Lefevre Park. CI’s partnership with CSX Transportation had grown from assuming responsibility for maintenance and graffiti management along the Wylie Street Wall, to the creation of the Wallkeeper’s Committee. After initial landscaping and sidewalk repairs, CI partnered with the Living Walls Conference for murals by Trek Matthews (Carroll & Tennelle) and La Pandilla (Wylie & Powell).
The Cabbagetown Community Garden (162 Berean Ave SE, 30316) was completed in Summer 2010. The first of its kind in Atlanta that was built on city property but not a park, legislation helped realized this effort with the assistance of Park Pride. The Garden has over 24 raised beds, 2 bee colonies, composting stalls, a small shed, and common areas featuring stone benches and a fire pit.
cabbagetown.com/garden
In 2018, CI worked with Councilmember Natalyn Mosby Archibong (District 5) to dedicate the Joyce Brookshire Memorial Amphitheatre in Cabbagetown Park, honoring one of community’s original singer-songwriters as the neighborhood launched the Cabbagetown Concert Series on the hillside stage.
facebook.com/ctownpark
Learn more about Cabbagetown:
- “Contesting the New South Order”, Clifford Kuhn
- “The Dead Shall Rise”, Steve Oney
- “Fiddlin’ Georgia Crazy”, Gene Wiggins
- “Benjamin Smoke”, Cohen/Sillen
- “Don’t Get Captured”, Run the Jewels (RTJ3, 2016)
- “Cabbagetown Ballad”, Joyce Brookshire
(Whatever Became of Me, 2000) - “When the Fire Broke Out”, Abigail Covington,
Oxford American (Winter 2015)
