The Building for Equity and Sustainability VIP is seeking new members and you could be one of them! We are currently working on a project in partnership with the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance to construct an outdoor classroom and aid in placekeeping, a practice aiming to maintain the social fabric of the area, in the West End. The team is broken into two sub-teams, with the outdoor classroom project currently in the second stage of design, with current iterations awaiting review by WAWA Staff before we make final edits to the designs before we begin the construction process. Our work aims to have Afro-Futurist design elements incorporated into the structure and overall outdoor space of the Outdoor Activity Center that WAWA stewards. For this aspect of the project, we are seeking architecture, civil engineering, environmental engineering, and building construction majors as y’all’s skills are highly desired for the construction and finalizing designs of the classroom. The second project is focused on placekeeping of the space, and we are currently coding and editing interviews with community members and WAWA staff. This segment of the project is currently more qualitative research based since it is focused on community stories and history, though we are also working on integrating the interviews in an interactive way onto the WAWA website. For this reason, we are seeking literature, media, and communication majors and those interested in storytelling and qualitative research. Overall, we want people who have a desire to work with communities and who are dedicated to making a more equitable and sustainable Atlanta, hoping they can apply their knowledge from courses to real-life projects and we are open to any major.  

As a member of this team, I’ve had an amazing experience connecting with community members and WAWA staff over the course of a year. This has helped me gain a better understanding of what I want my career to look like and how community engagement works as well. As a public policy major, community engagement is mentioned sometimes but is rarely expanded on as a topic. However, it’s an incredibly important aspect of policy work and urban planning, another field that I’m interested in. Being in this VIP has allowed me to not only learn more about what the process looks like but also apply what I’m learning to implement a project that the community desires. This project is an incredibly fulfilling experience and has been my favorite thing about my time here at Georgia Tech, and I hope more people can come and see what it’s like for themselves. 

JOIN THE PROJECT – HELP US GET TO “BUILD” THIS SPRING! 

• Students – learn more about the project and join the VIP!  
• All – join the Design & Build team! Working with a professional builder and architect, we hope to complete designs and do the build by the end of Spring Semester. We need more help! We are looking for students, student groups, staff, and faculty who want to help out. Interested in learning more? Contact Noemi Carrillo at ncarrillo6@gatech.edu. Together, we can make this happen! Thanks!