Canopy Atlanta

New reporting on a City of Riverdale Mayor and Council Business Session meeting by Dominique Huff: Through grant funding, Riverdale seeks to support police officer recruitment and retention to enable more proactive policing.

Riverdale Mayor and City Council Business Session | Documenters.org Incorporated in 1908, the City Charter established a Council/Manager form of government, in which the Mayor and Council are vested with the legislative power of the city and the City Manager is responsible for executive duties and administration of the city. The Mayor and four city council members a...

New reporting on a Clayton County Board of Commissioners meeting by Dominique Huff: Clayton County leverages pocket parks to bring more greenspace, medical services, and community events to residents.

Clayton County Board of Commissioners - Regular Business Meeting | Documenters.org The board is charged with the responsibility of providing a system of local government services designed to protect the health, safety, and welfare of Clayton County residents. The board considers items ranging from budgetary issues to road issues, to grants and local programs.

This week marks the 120th anniversary of the Atlanta Race Massacre, when a white mob killed dozens of Black Atlantans and attacked their businesses and homes over four days in September 1906.

Two months before it began, Floyd Carmichael, a 22-year-old Alexander Lumber employee who had only moved to Lakewood Heights two weeks prior, was lynched off South Pryor Street. Doctors found no evidence supporting the accusation against him. There was no trial. A mob shot him 40 times and wheeled his body through downtown Atlanta.

In 2019, Canopy Atlanta Community Journalist and Fulton County Remembrance Coalition community chair Ann Hill Bond returned to that ground and organized a vigil. Later, while thinking about Carmichael, she wrote about what it means to offer a community's remembrance to someone who was never granted dignity in his dying.

This piece is quiet and important. It belongs in this week's conversation about Atlanta's history.

✍️ Ann Hill Bond
🎨 Ashley Dopson

Read the full story here:

Offering a “good death” in Lakewood Heights Ann Hill Bond honors Floyd Carmichael, who was lynched off Pryor Street in 1906.

Over and over during community listening in Clarkston, residents told us: "The world is here."

They meant it as a point of pride. But in the same breath, many acknowledged the weight underneath it—that building a life in Clarkston often means leaving family behind in places they can no longer easily return to.

That tension became the foundation for one of our most personal Clarkston stories. Fellow Meena Khodayar writes candidly about her own family in Afghanistan, the years spent navigating legal processes to bring her brother to the U.S., and what it means to grieve people who are still alive.

Read the full story: https://canopyatlanta.org/2026/07/31/clarkston-georgia-transnational-grief/

✍️ Meena Khodayar

During community listening in Clarkston, residents kept pointing us to Refuge Coffee Co.—a rare spot where people from different backgrounds actually mix. But they also asked a harder question: Where do all of Clarkston's communities feel truly welcome?

"The street in front of Refuge Coffee hosts events and programs—it's where everyone goes to learn what is happening."

Clarkston is often called the most diverse square mile in America. But diversity and belonging aren't the same thing. Fellow Lúcia Stanislas spoke with residents, coffee shop owners, and the city's own economic development coordinator to understand what third spaces exist—and what's still missing.

Read the full story: https://canopyatlanta.org/2026/07/24/clarkston-georgia-third-spaces-belonging/

✍️ Lúcia Stanislas

Before Canopy Atlanta reported a single story on Clarkston, we listened.

At places like Refuge Coffee Co. and Amani Women Center, we spoke with more than 180 community members about the journalism they needed. One of the most urgent themes: fear. Residents told us that anxiety around deportation was everywhere—and that the mental health toll was largely going unaddressed.

"People are afraid of deportation and especially being deported for no reason. Even kids ask, 'Are they gonna come get me?'"

That feedback shaped our reporting. As ICE activity escalated across the country, journalist Gray Chapman and Clarkston Fellow Nushrat Nur found that therapists and doulas in the community were being asked a new question: "Is it safe to send my kids to school?"

Read the full story: https://canopyatlanta.org/2026/07/15/ice-impacts-mental-health-clarkston-georgia/

✍️ Gray Chapman & Nushrat Nur

New reporting on a City of Clarkston meeting by Sirrus Darr: Council shares a 3D fly-through of Greenway Trail Phase I, ahead of a $3 million funding application. The trail connects to Friendship Forest Wildlife Sanctuary.

City of Clarkston Regular Meeting | Documenters.org The City of Clarkston functions under the council-manager form of government. This system of local government combines the strong political leadership of elected officials in the form of a council, with the strong managerial experience of an appointed local government manager. The Clarkston city cou...

New reporting on a Clayton County Board of Commissioners meeting by Dominique Huff: County legislation allows 911 responders to permit residents to choose telehealth services instead of visiting an emergency room.

Clayton County Board of Commissioners - Regular Business Meeting | Documenters.org The board is charged with the responsibility of providing a system of local government services designed to protect the health, safety, and welfare of Clayton County residents. The board considers items ranging from budgetary issues to road issues, to grants and local programs.

New reporting on a Atlanta Board of Education meeting by Faith Mbadugha: Atlanta Public Schools proposes an updated school policy to incorporate AI-focused but human-centered education into the K-12 curriculum.

Atlanta Board of Education Monthly Meeting | Documenters.org The Atlanta Board of Education establishes and approves the policies that govern the Atlanta Public Schools system. The Board consists of nine members, representing six geographical districts and three "at-large" districts. One person is elected per district to represent the schools in a given distr...

New reporting on a Clayton County Board of Commissioners meeting by Dominique Huff: MARTA moves forward with planning Southlake Bus Rapid Transit to help attract economic development to Riverdale, Morrow, and unincorporated Clayton.

Public Information Open House: Clayton County/ Southlake Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) | Documenters.org The board is charged with the responsibility of providing a system of local government services designed to protect the health, safety, and welfare of Clayton County residents. The board considers items ranging from budgetary issues to road issues, to grants and local programs.