Page 10 - 2014 SDCA Project

CLIENT FACILITY GOALS

After over a decade of strong growth for Friends of Refugees and a

desire to better serve the community in Clarkston, the idea for the Jolly

Avenue Development Center (JADC) arose as a way to more sustainably
provide space for critical programmatic and community development
services. The JADC is located just outside the City of Clarkston in

unincorporated DeKalb County, at the site of Friends of Refugees’ (FOR)
existing family community gardens, which will be a part of the new site.

The JADC will benefit the entire neighborhood, but with more than 100
ethnicities within a few minutes’ walk of the site, it predominantly serves

refugees resettled in the USA from areas of the world where they have
endured abject poverty, religious or political persecution, violence and war.

These refugees now have an opportunity to build a better life in America,
but they have significant opportunity and empowerment needs. Language
and cultural barriers leave them vulnerable to isolation from mainstream

American culture and safety nets.

Through multiple years of community research, the JADC’s uses have been
carefully designed not to replicate existing resources in the neighborhood
of South Jolly Avenue. The JADC focuses primarily on functions that

emphasize economic uplift, opportunity, innovation and well-being; it does
not endeavor to host major events, weddings, or arts and recreation,

among other things. Rather, it hopes to form an integral part of the
community development keys that are unlocking the potential already
present in the community.

08 SDCA