Atlanta — Nov 03, 2026
About 1,500 metro Atlanta leaders attended the Atlanta Regional Commission’s 2026 State of the Region event today to take stock of metro Atlanta and explore regional challenges through the theme of “Opportunity Rising.”
In her State of the Region address, ARC Executive Director & CEO Anna Roach challenged the audience to think differently about the issues facing metro Atlanta.
“Let’s imagine for a moment a region where prosperity is shared across every community in metro Atlanta. Where every child has a fair shot at a good school, a good job, and a good life,” she said. “Now imagine this isn’t a dream we leave to the next generation, but a future that we choose together, starting today.”
Regional Leaders Launch ‘Opportunity Rising’ Coalition to Expand Economic Mobility
During the event, ARC Executive Director & CEO Anna Roach announced the launch of Opportunity Rising (external link), a regional coalition focused on expanding economic mobility in a region where too many residents still face barriers to getting ahead.
The effort is being led by United Way of Greater Atlanta, the City of Atlanta’s Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and ARC, with a shared commitment to grow a broad regional coalition.
“Metro Atlanta is a major global economic center, with a strong economy and a high quality of life. Yet, too many residents face barriers that make it harder to get ahead,” Roach said. “Opportunity Rising is about agreeing on what success looks like for children, families and communities, and finding ways of working together to achieve it.”
Opportunity Rising focuses on four shared priorities where working together can make a difference:
- Data: Further understand what drives economic mobility, track progress, and set long-term regional goals.
- Policy: Identify and address the systemic barriers that limit opportunity, so the region can speak with one voice.
- Investment: Align and coordinate public, private, and philanthropic dollars around best practice approaches.
- Community Voice: Make the experience of people facing barriers to mobility central to the work from the start.
Opportunity Rising will bring a growing cohort of organizations and leaders together to learn from what’s working, track progress, and identify where greater alignment can help more people and communities move forward.
Learn more at OpportunityRisingATL.org (external link)
Housing Costs Are Metro Atlanta’s Top Concern and Biggest Barrier to Getting Ahead, ARC’s 2026 Metro Atlanta Speaks Survey Shows
For the second year in a row, metro Atlanta residents name housing affordability as the region’s top concern, and more than half say housing costs are a major barrier to getting ahead, according to the 2026 Metro Atlanta Speaks survey.
When asked about the biggest problem facing metro Atlanta, 30% of the respondents said housing affordability, followed by traffic (22%), and the economy (16%). It’s the second year in a row that housing affordability topped the list of top concerns.
“Metro Atlanta residents are telling us what stands in the way of getting ahead: housing they can afford, jobs they can reach, and connections across income lines. We must act now to improve economic mobility in this region, so everyone has a fair shot at success,” said ARC Board Chair Andre Dickens, who also serves as Mayor of the City of Atlanta.
ARC released the survey results today at the 2026 State of the Region. Highlights include:
- Housing costs are a big barrier to upward mobility.
About half (51%) rated housing costs as a major impediment to economic mobility, followed by lack of job opportunities (35%), transportation costs (28%), care for an aging parent (26%), and public assistance eligibility (26%). - About 40% of respondents have few friends outside their own income range.
Four in 10 respondents have fewer than two friends – or none – whose household income is very different from their own. Research shows that people with fewer financial resources are more likely to move up economically when they have more connections with people who have higher incomes. - About one in three respondents say good jobs can be hard to find within a reasonable commute.
When asked how many good jobs that matched their skills and experience could be found within a reasonable commute, about one in three (32%) said “very few” or “none.” That compares to 15% who said “a lot” and 29% who said “some.” - More respondents say they are worse off than a year ago.
More than a third (35%) said they were feeling worse off this year, up from 29% in 2025. The share who feel better off held steady (27% compared with 28% in 2025). - Yet residents are less pessimistic about the near future.
When asked about the next three to four years, 27% of respondents said they expect things to get better, up from 16% last year. And 37% said they expect conditions to worsen, down from 46%.
Learn more at:
Southern Company’s Chris Womack Delivers Keynote Address
The State of the Region keynote address was delivered by Chris Womack, President & CEO of Southern Company. His talk focused on how companies can help foster economic mobility in our region and support a shared vision for expanding economic opportunity.
He also announced that Southern Company will serve as a Corporate Champion for the Opportunity Rising initiative.
“Metro Atlanta has a proud history of bringing business, government and civic leadership together to move forward and solve critical problems. But the region has changed,” he said. “Our responsibility is to carry that spirit of cooperation into a new era, making room for more people and more voices.”
He added: “The question for us is whether the institutions making decisions about the region’s future reflect that same breadth of experience. A 21st-century Atlanta Way cannot simply invite more people into an old conversation. It has to create a bigger table. We make better decisions when those most affected are not simply informed at the end but included from the beginning.”
What’s Next ATL Talks: Exploring Innovation and Ideas
Morgan Shaw Parker, President and COO of the Atlanta Dream, delivered a What’s Next ATL Talk that challenged metro Atlanta leaders to recognize the influence they already have and put it to work beyond their traditional roles.
Parker said she came to the Dream after years with some of the nation’s largest sports organizations and had to stop asking how big the team’s platform was. “The question was, ‘What do we have that matters, and who can we serve with it?’” she said.
That shift led the Dream to build community impact into every department, from finance to marketing to ticketing, and to ask sponsors to invest in the community alongside the team. She described how a debt relief partnership that eliminated $10 million in debt for 3,500 Atlanta families.
Parker closed by calling on the region to measure its rise by who shares in it: “The greater dream for Atlanta isn’t simply that our region rises. It’s that more people have the opportunity to rise with it.”
In his What’s Next ATL Talk, Jay Bailey, President and CEO of the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, argued metro Atlanta’s growth will become opportunity only if the region connects the talent and resources it already has.
He noted that metro Atlanta added nearly 54,000 people in the last year, and all 11 counties grew and then asked who gets to help write the region’s next chapter.
Bailey answered with the story behind RICE, which he started in 2018 in the former Westside headquarters of entrepreneur Herman Russell. Bailey said he kept meeting talented business owners who couldn’t get in the room with a buyer or a banker. “Atlanta doesn’t have a talent problem. We have a connectivity problem,” he said.
Bailey concluded with a challenge for leaders in the room: name one asset your institution controls, name one barrier keeping someone from reaching it, and start closing that distance now. “We’ve spent decades building this region,” he said. “Now we’ve got to make sure more people can build with us, own with us, and benefit with us.”
Regional Excellence Awards Honors Innovative Projects, Places, and Plans
This year’s Regional Excellence Award winners show how bold ideas, and visionary thinking can transform a community. The 2026 winners are:
Visionary Planning: Henry Helps Mobile Health Unit (Henry County)
This initiative takes primary and preventive healthcare into neighborhoods where transportation, cost, insurance, or geography can create barriers that keep people from seeking needed medical care. Powered by partnership between Henry County local government, Piedmont Henry Hospital, Hands of Hope Clinic, and community partners working together to close gaps in care.
Watch the Henry Helps Mobile Health Unit video (external link)
Great Place: Azalea Fresh Market (City of Atlanta)
Housed in the historic Olympia building, the market is a place where neighbors can shop, workers can grab a meal, and students can find fresh food, all in one welcoming community hub. Azalea Fresh Market is Atlanta’s first municipal grocery store and was created through a public-private partnership between the city of Atlanta, Invest Atlanta, Savi Provisions, and the Independent Grocers Alliance. It brings fresh, affordable food to people who didn’t have it before while supporting Georgia farmers, local businesses, and a stronger downtown economy.
Watch the Azalea Fresh Market video (external link)
Livable Center: North Avondale Road / East College Avenue Complete Street Project (City of Avondale Estates)
This corridor, once defined by speed and separation, is now connecting neighborhoods, businesses, and people. A grant from ARC’s Livable Centers Initiative helped Avondale Estates imagine a place to drive to, not drive through, by transforming five lanes into a safer three lane, landscaped, multi-use path.
Watch the Avondale Estates video (external link)
Innovative Development: F.I.R.S.T. Housing Center (City of Lawrenceville)
This 70-year-old apartment building was redeveloped as a place where men experiencing homelessness can find a home and pathway forward. The City of Lawrenceville and Impact 46 created eight private, apartment style units where residents can receive individualized support. F.I.R.S.T. (For Intensive Response and Supportive Transitions) fills a critical gap in Gwinnett County’s response to homelessness.
Watch the F.I.R.S.T. Housing Center video (external link)
Exceptional Commute Program: Georgia Power Smart Commute (Georgia Power/Southern Company)
This innovative program provides a complimentary shuttle to connect Georgia Power and Southern Company headquarters to the MARTA Civic Center Station – offering convenient transportation between downtown campuses. It also expands and improves bike and scooter parking. Smart Commute provides employees with a free monthly transit pass for either MARTA or Xpress commuter buses, helping to relieve some of the commuting pain from many of its 7,000 plus employees.
Watch the Georgia Power Smart Commute video (external link)
Harry West Visionary Leadership Award Presented to Michael Paris
The Atlanta Regional Commission presented the 2026 Harry West Visionary Leadership Award to Michael Paris, President and CEO of the Council for Quality Growth. Paris was recognized for nearly five decades of work at the intersection of development, planning and public policy, and for a regional perspective that looks beyond individual projects and jurisdictions.
Paris began his career in 1978 in commercial real estate, working on major developments including the 1,500-acre Gwinnett Progress Center and the 1,000-acre Barrett mixed-use development. Since becoming head of the Council in 2003, he has helped advance the coalition behind Georgia’s 2015 Transportation Funding Act and efforts to strengthen Community Improvement Districts. He is a graduate of ARC’s Regional Leadership Institute.
“Throughout his distinguished career, Michael Paris has understood that shaping a region is about much more than buildings, roads, or development alone,” said ARC Executive Director and CEO Anna Roach. “It is about thinking beyond individual projects and across jurisdictions. And it is about having the patience, persistence, and vision to keep working toward solutions that will serve our communities for generations to come.
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The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) is the official planning agency for the 11-county Atlanta Region, including Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, and Rockdale counties as well as the City of Atlanta and 75 other cities. The Atlanta Regional Commission’s mission is to foster thriving communities for all within the Atlanta region through collaborative, data-informed planning and investments.
Contact Name: Paul Donsky
Contact Phone: 470-626-3869
Contact Email: [email protected]
