Sweet Auburn Works

Corporate office in Atlanta, GA

Address

228 Auburn Ave NE, Atlanta, GA, 30303

Phone

(470) 240-4909

Website

sweetauburnworks.com

About Sweet Auburn Works

Sweet Auburn Works, Inc. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving, promoting, and revitalizing the commercial and cultural legacy of the Sweet Auburn Historic District in Atlanta, Georgia. The organization builds a pathway to leadership in local revitalization efforts by launching community-based, volunteer-driven initiatives that empower residents and investors to collaborate on sustainable neighborhood development. Its work is organized around several core areas: promotion, which focuses on highlighting authentic community assets through image development campaigns and events designed to attract shoppers, visitors, and new residents; design, which targets infrastructure and building improvements that lay the groundwork for physical transformation of the district; and economic restructuring, which works to redefine Sweet Auburn's niche in the broader marketplace and strengthen the competitiveness of existing businesses. One of the organization's current initiatives is Reconnecting Sweet Auburn, an effort aimed at repairing the harm caused in the 1960s when construction of Interstates 75 and 85 (the Downtown Connector) tore through the neighborhood. Sweet Auburn Works has also unveiled the SPARK Innovation Lab, focused on reimagining retail in the heart of the historic district. The organization publishes a development map and metrics tracking its progress, and offers ways for the public to get involved and support its mission. Sweet Auburn is home to the National Park Service's Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, Georgia State University, and numerous historic businesses, churches, and institutions central to Atlanta's African American history.

Sweet Auburn is one of the most historically significant Black communities in Atlanta. The district was home to the Rucker Building, the first Black-owned office building in the city, constructed in 1904 by businessman and politician Henry A. Rucker, as well as the Brown Boy Bottling Company, the nation's first Black-owned soft drink firm. It was the birthplace of the National Medical Association in 1895, home to Big Bethel AME Church, and the founding site of Citizens Trust Bank, the first African American-owned bank to become an FDIC member. WERD Atlanta, the first radio station owned and operated by African Americans, began broadcasting from Sweet Auburn in 1949, and the Atlanta Daily World, the first successful Black-owned daily newspaper in America, was founded there in 1928. Morris Brown College, the first Georgia institution of higher learning organized by and for African Americans, and the Gate City Colored School, the city's first public school for African Americans, both trace their roots to the neighborhood. Sweet Auburn Works was formed to protect and build on this legacy, working to reverse decades of decline, including the disruption caused by the construction of the Downtown Connector through the heart of the district in the 1960s.

Services

• community revitalization
• neighborhood promotion campaigns
• business district development

Photos