How To Build An Atlanta That Works For Everybody With Nathaniel Smith

Atlanta calls itself the Black Mecca. But ask who actually owns the city, who gets pushed out when the money moves, and who benefits from all this growth, and the answer gets complicated.

Nathaniel Smith has spent his life on that question. He's the Founder and Chief Equity Officer of the Partnership for Southern Equity, and he grew up in Kirkwood watching the Olympics, gentrification, and the crack era reshape the neighborhoods he loved.

He started with one $500 check and built a 16-year movement. In this episode, Brandon Butler sits down with Nathaniel to break down what equity really means, why the Beltline put people in position to fund their own displacement, and how Atlanta built its Black wealth in the first place.

They get into tax allocation districts, why organized people matter as much as organized money, and why he believes Atlanta is the place that has to get it right. This one is for anybody who loves this city and wants to see it work for everybody in it.

So goes Atlanta, so goes the South. So goes the South, so goes the nation.

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