Community Garden Clean-up
Spring Showers Bring Flowers!
Our neighbors joined forces with SNDC for a community Garden Clean-up at 440 Connally Street. Neighbors braved the wet spring weather to help weed, prune, and tidy the garden plots for future planting.
Thanks to all our volunteers and our neighbor Katie Cooper for taking amazing photos during the clean-up!
Winterfest 2023
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies!
Our 2nd Annual Winterfest on December 16, 2023 was a great success! Neighbors joined us for dance performances from Neighborhood Ballet and holiday songs from the Maynard Jackson High School Choir and Glee Club. We also had excellent entries for both our gingerbread house competition and ugly holiday sweater contests.
The tree lighting weather was a little drizzly, but made it sparkle even more! View more Winterfest photos here.
Summerhill-o-ween
A very spooky day on Georgia Avenue!
The ONS community engagement committee hosted another fantastic event to celebrate Halloween with trick or treating along Georgia Ave on Saturday, October 28, 2023.
Our local shops and restaurants handed out candy to trick or treaters along with hosting pumpkin carving activities. Thanks again to all our community partners and volunteers for supporting this event.
View more photos here and get your costume ready to join us next year!
Summer Unity Festival
SNDC Summerhill Reunion
ONS hosted a back-to-school celebration and pep rally during the SNDC Unity Festival in July.
This family-friendly event was a fun afternoon that included student performances (band, ballet, and cheerleading) along with giving neighbors an opportunity to meet and mingle.
We hope to see you next year!
Welcome Publix!
Summerhill Gains a Grocery Store!
On June 21, 2023 we welcomed Publix to the neighborhood and look forward to the continued growth in our area.
“As a twenty-two year resident of Summerhill, I know my neighbors are as excited as I am for the new Publix to open in our neighborhood. Many of us lived years without any grocery stores within miles of our homes. Especially for our residents without access to transportation, the Publix will be a way for folks to conveniently access quality food in the type of safe, clean, and inviting store Summerhill and our neighboring communities deserve. And when the MARTA RAPID BRT is complete, this location will provide easy access to the entire south downtown Hank Aaron corridor.“ John Helton, ONS President.
Summerhill is Growing!
New Retail in Summerhill
ONS is excited to welcome new businesses to Summerhill. Below are the new tenants coming soon to our neighborhood.
Summerhill Station
Publix – Opening June 21, 2023
Piedmont Urgent Care
Piedmont Primary Care
Rusty Taco
Tropical Smoothie Cafe
AT&T Store
And more!!
755 Hank Aaron
Georgia Ave
Southern National – opening June 29
*Image from Carter USA
Phoenix Park Clean-up
Summerhill has the BEST Neighbors!!
The ONS Community Engagement Committee coordinated a neighborhood clean-up of the Phoenix Park II playground and the surrounding parks and streets in April 2023.
It was a great morning of meeting new neighbors and making our community a little better!
Join us for our next clean-up on October 14, 2023.
MARTA Bringing Bus Rapid Transit To Summerhill
MARTA is moving forward with their planned Summerhill Bus Rapid Transit project. Service is expected to begin in 2025.
The route will link Summerhill with MARTA’s Five Points Station and buses will have lanes designated exclusively for their use (in most areas) with less frequent stops than traditional buses.
Visit MARTA for project details and updates.
ONS, 2021 Year in Review
Where we started:
2021 brought with it a new ONS President and Vice-President. The three person ONS board went down to a two member board in February of 2021.
What we accomplished in 2021:
Staffed a full-fledge 5-person Board (New Secretary, Treasurer and Zoning Chair) and created two adhoc committees (Communications and Finance) to welcome additional neighbors to the ONS team
Completed a final draft of the revised ONS bylaws after pulling in neighborhood feedback through two ONS Bylaws workshops
Designed and completed a brand new ONS website, and revamped and staffed multiple communication streams (newsletter, social media channels)
Neighborhood Projects Completed in 2021:
Completed the Phoenix III Park Amphitheater and installed the shade sail at Heritage Park to wrap up a multi-year, multi-site park initiative
Submitted and secured a $99,999 grant from the Stadium Trust Fund, with 100% matching support from the Atlanta Police Foundation (total of $199,998), to install 16 security cameras throughout the Summerhill neighborhood
Worked with Councilmember Carla Smith to:
Pass an amendment to Summerhill’s neighborhood zoning that reduces the 20-foot minimum home width to 15-feet which would allow developers and property owners the space needed to maintain the 5-foot minimum distance between new housing structures and neighboring property lines
Secure $40,000 to procure a Rapid Reflective Flashing Beacon or blinking pedestrian light for the crosswalk at Georgia Avenue and Reed Street
Celebrate, as a community, the unveiling of a long-awaited neighborhood grocery store and Publix super market groundbreaking
A group of residents, leaders and business owners at the unveiling of a Summerhill Parks Improvement project.
Where we’re going in 2022
Continue to build community
More community events to bring neighbors and local stakeholders together (building off of our July 2021 gathering and District 1 forum)
Improve residential parking
Working with the City of Atlanta and Atlanta DOT to conduct a neighborhood wide assessment of residential parking; have gotten the process started with Councilmember Carla Smith and Sheryl Bennett and will continue with Councilmember-elect Jason Winston
Strengthen local partnerships
Increase standing communication and collaboration with local partners including: Summerhill Neighborhood Development Corporation, Carter, Georgia State University, Martin Street Plaza, City of Atlanta, commercial partners along Georgia Avenue, etc.
Increase neighborhood solidarity
Welcome events and materials for new neighbors
Promoting house signs; sold out of existing house signs
8th Annual Community Forum
Please save the date for the 8th Annual Community Forum on October 23, 2021 from 9:00am to 1:00pm. We anticipate additional event details after the October NPU V meeting.
ForeverFamily 5k
It all begins with an idea.
ForeverFamily, a nonprofit run by a local Summerhill resident, would like to invite you to participate in their annual 5K4KIDS race/walk. The event will take place in Grant Park on September 25 at 8:45 am. Go to this link to register and get more information.
Foreverfamily helps children who have an incarcerated parent. Primarily, they take kids every month to visit their parents at prisons across GA (2-3 hours outside of Atlanta). The kids they serve are low-income, and many would not be able to see their parents without the service they provide. Right now the kids haven't been able to visit in person for over a year. To bridge the gap, they have been paying for kids to have frequent video visits with their parents, emails, phone calls, and stationary. You may be familiar with the fact that prices for these services inside the prison are very expensive. So this year, they are specifically raising money to continue providing these virtual services to families until we are able to resume in-person visitation. For families who need it, we also provide tablets and internet service.
Once a year, we ask the community to join us in supporting these children and families through our 5K4KIDS race/walk . People can run/walk the 5K4Kids wherever they live. See you there!
If you are unable to make it, but want to sponsor a family, check out this video on how to do that!