What Is Neighborhood Planning Unit V (NPU-V)?

An Intro­duc­tion to Atlanta, Georgia

The birth­place of the Rev. Mar­tin Luther King Jr. and the Amer­i­can civ­il rights move­ment, Atlanta is home to some of the country’s most pres­ti­gious his­tor­i­cal­ly Black col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties. It serves as the head­quar­ters for 29 For­tune 1000 com­pa­nies that have col­lec­tive­ly gen­er­at­ed almost $429 bil­lion in rev­enue dur­ing 2020 alone. With over 498,000 res­i­dents, Atlanta boasts the 10^th largest met­ro­pol­i­tan econ­o­my in the Unit­ed States.

How Many Neigh­bor­hoods are in Atlanta?

The city of Atlanta con­sists of 242 dis­tinct neigh­bor­hoods, which are sub­di­vid­ed into 25 Neigh­bor­hood Plan­ning Units (NPUs).

What is a Neigh­bor­hood Plan­ning Unit?

Estab­lished in 1974 by for­mer may­or May­nard Jack­son, the NPU sys­tem allows res­i­dents to have a voice in mat­ters con­cern­ing their com­mu­ni­ties. Each NPU has a cit­i­zen advi­so­ry coun­cil that liais­es with the May­or and City Coun­cil on land use, hous­ing, zon­ing and oth­er city-plan­ning issues.

About Atlanta’s NPU-V

Which neigh­bor­hoods belong to NPU-V?

The six neigh­bor­hoods with­in NPU‑V are divid­ed between south­east­ern and south­west­ern Atlanta and con­sist of:

1. Adair Park
2. Capi­tol Gateway
3. Mechan­icsville
4. Peo­plestown
5. Pitts­burgh
6. Sum­mer­hill

Key NPU-V sta­tis­tics on chil­dren and families

• NPU‑V is home to 17,536 residents.
• NPU‑V has the fol­low­ing racial com­po­si­tion: 80% Black, 16% white, 3% Lati­no and 1% Asian residents.
• NPU‑V con­tains four ele­men­tary schools, a col­lege and a career acad­e­my for high school students. 
• As of 2016, the medi­an house­hold income was $27,103.
• Between 2011 and 2017, grad­u­a­tion rates in NPU‑V high schools rose from 65% to 76%.
• As of 2016, NPU‑V con­tained 8,698 hous­ing units, 33% of which were vacant.
• 37% of NPU‑V house­holds receive food stamps/​SNAP assis­tance and 66% of stu­dents in NPU‑V schools receive SNAP ben­e­fits or are clas­si­fied as home­less, unac­com­pa­nied, fos­ter or migrant youth.

Learn more about NPU‑V in the Casey Foundation’s Chang­ing the Odds report

NPU-V his­to­ry

Formed in the after­math of the Civ­il War, the six NPU‑V neigh­bor­hoods were once a thriv­ing and diverse epi­cen­ter. Pitts­burgh, for exam­ple, was found­ed in 1883 by for­mer­ly enslaved peo­ple who were seek­ing sta­ble hous­ing and work with near­by rail­road com­pa­nies. By the turn of the cen­tu­ry, the neigh­bor­hood was home to a drug­store, schools, a funer­al par­lor, bar­ber shops, restau­rants and the city’s first African-Amer­i­can orphanage.

Things began to change in the 1950s and ​’60s, how­ev­er, as many res­i­dents moved to the sur­round­ing sub­urbs and home val­ues in the area declined. Decades of dis­in­vest­ment and dis­place­ment fol­lowed — much of which can be attrib­uted to dis­crim­i­na­to­ry poli­cies and prac­tices, includ­ing the con­struc­tion of inter­states 20, 75 and 85.

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion and NPU-V

Since 2001, the Casey Foundation’s Atlanta Civic Site team has been work­ing to increase oppor­tu­ni­ties for NPU‑V res­i­dents by:

• focus­ing on neigh­bor­hood revitalization, 
• pro­mot­ing entre­pre­neur­ship and wealth-build­ing strategies, 
• sup­port­ing local orga­ni­za­tions that gal­va­nize com­mu­ni­ty involve­ment; and 
• pro­mot­ing ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion and child development.

This work includes efforts to advance equi­ty in Atlanta Pub­lic Schools; cre­ate safer com­mu­ni­ties; fos­ter res­i­dent lead­er­ship; and pre­serve and expand access to safe, long-term afford­able hous­ing options.

Pitts­burgh Yards

The Casey Foundation’s Atlanta Civic Site also serves as the pri­ma­ry investor and advi­sor on the rede­vel­op­ment of Pitts­burgh Yards^® — a 31-acre, mixed-use com­mer­cial site that includes leasable offices, cowork­ing spaces and for-rent apart­ment units. The project aims to serve as a com­mer­cial, recre­ation­al and com­mu­ni­ty anchor that offers liv­ing-wage employ­ment as well as long-term career and entre­pre­neur­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties for res­i­dents in and around NPU‑V.

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Watch a video on the com­mu­ni­ty-led evo­lu­tion of Pitts­burgh Yards