WORTH Atlanta Homeownership Collaborative

The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta leads the WORTH Atlanta Homeownership Collaborative, a strategic initiative uniting businesses, civic institutions, nonprofits, and philanthropies to create and preserve 6,000 homeowners of color across five counties in Georgia: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett. This initiative emerges from years of groundwork with the City of Atlanta and local housing nonprofits, aiming to close the racial wealth gap and improve access to homeownership for historically excluded communities. The WORTH Collaborative implements a range of strategies, including leveraging local builders of color, nonprofit developers, and major market producers to create affordable housing. It coordinates industry resources to streamline the homebuying process through the Homeownership Urban Blueprint, a centralized hub for first-time buyers of color. Additional efforts focus on real estate industry diversity and preserving homeownership for seniors and vulnerable populations of color. Grants are available to nonprofit housing developers and builders for predevelopment and "shovel-ready" projects within the specified counties. Funding amounts vary by income tier: up to $5,500 per unit for households under 80% AMI, and up to $3,500 per unit for those between 80–150% AMI. Eligible predevelopment expenses include appraisals, architectural and engineering fees, legal costs, marketing, environmental assessments, and similar project readiness items. Applicants must demonstrate that their housing projects are "shovel-ready" with documents such as land disturbance permits, building permits, or proof of construction loan closing. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis through Neighborly, where applicants select the For-Sale application and indicate whether they are applying for the WORTH program, The Funders' Collective, or both. In addition to grant funding, applicants may opt to present their developments to The Funders' Collective, a cross-sector group of public, private, and philanthropic funders that collaboratively invest in affordable housing production. There is no guarantee of selection for this opportunity. Applicants must be nonprofit developers or builders operating within the five target counties. No matching funds are required, and there is no stated award limit or total program funding disclosed. Contact details for the grant administrator are not provided in the source, and applicants are advised to refer directly to the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta for further guidance.

Ensure documentation is complete and project is truly shovel-ready.