Community Activist LaTonya Gates Johnston shares practical ways on how she’s healing the hood.
PAWKids is a nonprofit you founded 10 years ago to serve as a community hub on Atlanta’s westside. What are some of the fundamental things that you do?
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We are dealing with food insecurity. So that’s our outreach. Then we’re big on behavior health and identifying generational trauma. Then our enrichment center offers year-round enrichment for our children.
Is it fair to say that in Black culture we tend to lean much more towards getting money, and entrepreneurship while allowing the big nonprofits to oversee the bulk of the community work? Why aren’t we more excited about pursuing careers in the nonprofit space?
I think Blacks have not been educated on the importance of running non-profits and how powerful they are because that’s what controls the neighborhoods. You’ve got these big, gigantic nonprofits, but are they really touching the people? It’s the grassroots nonprofits that really struggle. Take your money, take your taxes, and donate that back to grassroots, and we can make changes in neighborhoods like this.
Your beautiful property is not only located next door to the community’s beloved Bankhead Seafood, but Killer Mike not only co-owns the restaurant with T.I., but he is also one of your biggest supporters.
Before Mike won the Grammys, before his name was out there, before the pandemic hit, this man came to me and said, ‘Hey sis, we’re going to show the world what it looks like to change a corner. It’s a Black nonprofit and a Black for-profit working together.’ At that time, he started helping us financially. Nobody talks about how he’s given hundreds of thousands of dollars to us through his work, and through connecting people to us. He’s been a man of his word.
Mike is definitely a real one. You all are located in Bankhead, which is about 85% Black. Do you feel like you’re getting enough support from the social media activists who claim to be outside?
We do things in spurts. We get excited about doing certain things, supporting certain initiatives in moments, and then it sort of dies off. I’m going to be honest now. I cry at night because it’s heartbreaking to see women and to see people who look like me not support me. I’m not asking you to get your pocketbooks out to me. Give me five dollars a month. A little goes a long way.
We have to do better. No one is going to look out for us like us. What else can the Black community do to put ourselves in a better position to win?
It starts with making sure you attend your local neighborhood association meetings, equipping and educating our seniors, and our neighbors about the zoning laws, because that’s how they get us. It’s basic. We’re so worried about the President, we should also be worried about local government and holding our city councils and commissioners accountable. We voted them in.
PAWKids, a community hub founded by LaTonya Gates Johnston, is dedicated to empowering and uplifting low-income residents of Atlanta’s Bankhead neighborhood. The organization is rooted in faith and committed to providing holistic resources, such as education, healthcare, and social services, to help individuals achieve self-sustainability.
