In its 10th year, the non-profit organization, Aerotropolis Atlanta, deserves to be celebrated. President and CEO, Shannon James, is excited about the decade of growth, partnership, and most of all, the future of this enormous initiative, while wrapping up ‘Blueprint 2.0’.
Regional economic competitiveness, rather, the ability of a region to compete but also prosper in the global economy, is the goal of Aerotropolis and they’re leveraging Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as its anchor. They’ll accomplish this with a focus on developing the workforce, community, and economy surrounding the busiest airport in the world.
Aerotropolis Atlanta has forged relationships with Beijing and Paris to learn best practices and are now customizing it for the Atlanta area’s ‘built’ environment. The defined area is south of Interstate 20 and extends as far south as Lovejoy. With that, the jurisdictions it encompasses are represented by the mayors of the cities, Development Authority chairs, Board of Commissioner chairs and other important leaders on the Board of Directors. In addition, many of the areas’ corporations such as Delta Airlines, Chic-Fil-A, ProLogis, Georgia Power, Porsche, and other heavy hitters are also invested in the success of Aerotropolis.
“For each of these jurisdictions, we’re working with economic development directors to host bus tours, brokers receptions, and lots of other activities to promote the region so more of these catalytic sites are exposed and activated for economic investment and job creation to push the area forward,” Shannon explains.
This is Blueprint 2.0. Shannon and his team have spent hundreds of hours consulting with partners such as Clayton State University to compile data, real-time, to help understand the gaps and needs of the area.
Aerotropolis recently hosted its 4th Annual Career College and Resource Expo with over 400 high school juniors and seniors from Fulton and Clayton Counties to introduce them to their Workforce Development initiative. “Our Atlanta airport plays a huge role in this conference, along with Chick-Fil-A, who will feed every single person that attends and participates,” Shannon says. Considering almost 80% of employees commute into the area, less than 20% of the residents benefit from the jobs in their own backyard.
Their community development focus will target housing needs, transportation, and arts and culture. The subcommittee’s current project consists of a mural unveiling on Main Street in College Park, created by artist Ashley Bella, who serves as the Co-Chair of the Arts and Cultural Subcommittee.
Aerotropolis Atlanta is making huge strides for the area it’s serving as well as the entire state of Georgia. Birthed by the Atlanta Regional Commission, it’s the force needed to fuel the region to become a key player in the aerotropolis space.
“In the east, it’s very popular. Japan built an airport and built an infrastructure around it. Those areas are bustling and booming and it’s not like that here,” says Shannon.
