Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and Wells Fargo joined together to present a 2019 First Place CommunityWINS (Working/Investing in Neighborhood Stabilization) Grant Award in the amount of $200,000 to Wellspring Living, Inc. for its work in support of the Women’s Academy. Launched in 2015, the nationwide CommunityWINS program recognizes nonprofits and cities that drive neighborhood stabilization, economic development, and job creation.
 
“Wellspring Living Inc. provides career training for the most vulnerable women of our community and allows them to be empowered and prepared to enter the workforce,” says Mayor Bottoms. “This innovative program is critical to providing opportunity and support to survivors of trafficking in Atlanta. Thank you to our partners for continuing to invest in our communities. Together we are preparing our residents for success by creating the vision of One Atlanta.”
 
Funded in collaboration with USCM and the Wells Fargo Foundation, the CommunityWINS grant will provide job training and critical support to human trafficking survivors. The City of Atlanta has dedicated efforts to developing and implementing a citywide policy on human trafficking programs. Led by Senior Human Trafficking Fellow Ouleye Ndoye, the City has implemented workforce training and job opportunities within the department of ATL 311 and the Department of Watershed Management.
 
The 2019 CommunityWINS awards include monetary grants to city-based nonprofit organizations and recognize mayors for exemplary leadership in developing local programs that promote long-term economic prosperity and improve the quality of life for residents in three categories: neighborhood stabilization, economic development, and job creation. An independent panel of judges, selected by USCM, determined the eight winning cities from a pool of 139 applicants in three population groups - small, medium, large and metropolitan. The Women’s Academy, managed by Wellspring Living, Inc., was among those chosen for funding.
 
Grant funds will be used for Wellspring Living’s community-based programs—which are modeled after the organization's successful residential programs. The programs provide survivors and at-risk young women the opportunity to earn their GED, receive therapeutic services and participate in life skills and career readiness training that lead to high school diploma equality and sustainable-wage employment placement. The Women's Academy anticipates serving a total of 80 women from the Metro-Atlanta area with job training, apprenticeship, job placement services, and supportive services in the 2019-2020 fiscal year.