Sen. Ossoff announces $500,000 grant to support small businesses in Atlanta’s historic Sweet Auburn neighborhood
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia) announced Monday a $500,000 federal grant to support small businesses and entrepreneurs in Downtown Atlanta’s historic Sweet Auburn neighborhood.
The funding, approved as part of last year’s Congressional appropriations bill, was awarded to Sweet Auburn Works. The nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and revitalizing Sweet Auburn, a historic Black community, will use the funding to provide business training, mentorship and startup programs for entrepreneurs participating in its SPARK Innovation Lab.
“This [grant] is about making sure that entrepreneurs and small business owners, many of whom have been surviving and providing essential services here in the community for decades, can participate fully in the economic growth of Metro Atlanta,” Ossoff said at a press conference at the Odd Fellows Building on Auburn Avenue.
Auburn Avenue, an approximately two-mile stretch of road in the Old Fourth Ward, was a hub for thriving Black businesses, entertainment venues, and churches before the civil rights movement.
The neighborhood’s concentration of Black wealth and commerce earned it the nickname “Sweet Auburn” by John Wesley Dobbs, a civic leader, and the neighborhood’s unofficial mayor.
KeAunna Seabrum, 39, has participated in the training and mentoring at SPARK Innovation Lab for a year and recently opened her business, London’s Closet Boutique, in the Odd Fellows Building.
“This is my community,” she said. “I’ve always heard about Auburn Avenue and I wanted to be part of that history as well.”
The construction of the Downtown Connector in the early 1960s split Auburn Avenue, contributing to the neighborhood’s decline. In recent years, the Atlanta BeltLine and Ponce City Market spurred rapid economic development in the Old Fourth Ward. Auburn Avenue has not benefited from much of that success, however, and many boarded-up buildings line the street.
Ossoff said the funding and the resources it will provide would allow Sweet Auburn businesses to take advantage of Atlanta’s economic success “rather than being displaced by it, or driven out by it.”
“This is one of the nation’s most treasured historic corridors,” Ossoff said.
“I want to ensure that this community thrives, that this community participates in our city’s economic development, and participates on its own terms,” Ossoff said. “The small business owners and entrepreneurs who are rooted right here in the Sweet Auburn community deserve a seat at the table as the city continues to grow.”
