Westview Neighborhood Association Wins National Award for Community Revitalization

ATLANTA — The Westview Community Organization has been named the National Neighborhood Coalition's Community of the Year, recognizing the southwest Atlanta neighborhood's decade-long effort to revitalize its commercial corridor and preserve affordable housing.

The award cited Westview's success in attracting more than 40 new locally owned businesses, preserving 200 affordable housing units through a community land trust, and launching a neighborhood investment fund that has provided $2 million in low-interest loans to local entrepreneurs.

"Westview is proof that communities can shape their own destiny," said National Neighborhood Coalition President Robert Weissbourd.

"We didn't want to be the next neighborhood that got gentrified and lost its character," said WCO Executive Director Kwame Mensah.