484 organizations
How community and civic life works in Atlanta
Atlanta is organized into 25 Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs) — citizen councils that meet monthly and give official input on zoning, development, and city budgets. Anyone who lives in the NPU can show up and vote; it's the most direct lever ordinary residents have, and most people have never been told it exists. Find your NPU's meeting on the city's planning site or ask at your library branch.
Libraries deserve their own sentence: free meeting rooms, computers, printing, hotspot lending, social workers in some branches — the public living room of every neighborhood. For volunteering, Hands On Atlanta matches people to thousands of shifts; mutual aid networks organize neighbor-to-neighbor help with fewer forms and faster yes.
What to expect when you show up: community meetings run on first names and folding chairs. Come twice — the first time you'll listen, the second time you'll belong.
Operation Interdependence, Inc. is a national volunteer-run nonprofit that sends Department of Defense-approved care packages to deployed U.S. service members. It also supports veterans at home and asks the public to help by donating items, money, or time.
3 services
NALEO Educational Fund is a national nonprofit that helps Latinos take part in civic life, from becoming citizens to voting and public service. It offers a bilingual hotline, citizenship and voter information, naturalization help, community events, and training for Latino elected and appointed officials.
13 services
Dogs for Better Lives is a national nonprofit that trains assistance dogs for people with disabilities. They place hearing assistance dogs, autism assistance dogs, and facility dogs at no cost to clients, and they also run volunteer programs including a shelter-dog foster program with The Atlanta Humane Society.
6 services
Atlanta Habitat for Humanity ReStore is a nonprofit home improvement store at 271 Chester Ave SE. It sells donated furniture, appliances, building materials, decor, tools, and other home goods at discounted prices, and the money helps Atlanta Habitat build and repair affordable homes.
6 services
