ATLANTA — Kiana Myers suits up inside Fire Station 36 in southwest Atlanta. Service is the firefighter paramedic's calling. Myers started as a recruit with Atlanta Fire Rescue five years ago. She was officially sworn into the department in 2021. She made the city her home 13 years ago and went to Clark Atlanta University.
"I joined Atlanta Fire because I had the passion and the purpose to serve," Myers said. "I wanted to make a difference in the citizens’ lives.”
Working in Atlanta is tough enough. Myers said while Atlanta's culture, people and attractions are big draws for her, living in the city has increasingly become expensive over the years.
"The best way to be able to afford to live in the community as prices have increased over the years are to budget better and utilize the resources available."
Myers takes advantage of resources like tuition reimbursement and the Community Safety Housing Program (CSHP) through the Atlanta Police Foundation. Myers said she would not be able to afford to live in the city if not for the CSHP. Curtislene Bass, Atlanta Police Foundation's director of officer support programs, said CSHP is coming up on its one-year anniversary. So far, more than 50 firefighters, police officers and corrections employees are eligible for up to $850 in rental assistance each month. She said there is a growing waitlist for assistance as well.
"We wanted them to live in the city," Bass said. "We wanted them to stay in the city."
To participate in the Community Safety Housing Program, one must be a sworn officer, have a letter of recommendation and be renting within the city limits of Atlanta. The CSHP falls under the Secure Neighborhoods initiative, which includes four different components that allow first responders to take advantage of affordable housing opportunities.
Each participant in the Community Safety Housing Program must do at least one hour of community service at schools or the At Promise Center in Atlanta. Bass said this builds trust between first responders and the communities they serve.
"Children are seeing that first responder with a different perspective," Bass said. "They're not seeing them as somebody coming after them. They're seeing them as a regular person who's there to help them."
Atlanta City Council just greenlighted $250,000, proposed by District 2 Councilman Amir Farokhi, to continue to fund the Community Safety Housing program. There's another $250,000 earmarked in the city's FY2025 budget for the program. Bass said the investment will help retain current first responders and attract new ones for years to come.
“With them reinvesting in us, reinvesting in this program, I think they see it’s a movement that’s providing public safety across the city, that we’re being seen in a different light, and that what they’d like to see us do is extend that, expand that, to have an even larger net of first responders across the city doing all different things," Bass said. "This is showing us that public safety is a priority for the city of Atlanta.”
Farokhi said the program was shown to have caused a 15-percent increase in recruitment and retention among Atlanta Police officers. Bass said phase two of the program will have more of an emphasis on recruiting officers from outside of the city of Atlanta. Kiana Myers said the program has made the difference between staying with Atlanta Fire Rescue versus leaving for another job or agency.
"I feel attached and invested in this community, and this program allows me to stay in the community and also work in the same community," Myers said.