ATLANTA — Back in 2020, nearly 20 Black Georgia families announced a bold plan to help fight the inequities that were at the heart of many of the racial justice protests that had swept through the country that year.
The 19 households bought nearly 100 acres near Toomsboro, Georgia, to create a self-sustaining, new Black town. They wanted to call it Freedom, Georgia, launching the Freedom Georgia Initiative.
"This is our answer to breaking generational curses," Ashley Scott, a real estate agent who helped spearhead the project, told 11Alive at the time.
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So, three years later - how's it going?
The project is still making progress, with its Instagram account sharing just in the past couple months plans for a tiny house build out on the land, as well as "more things coming down the pipeline with our agricultural pursuits and digital citizenship."
The website is still also soliciting offers on custom home builds on the land.
Last year an Instagram post noted they had sold 3 of 13 lots in an initial phase, advertising investment slots in the community.
"The Freedom Georgia Initiative was established out of an extreme sense of urgency to create a thriving safe haven for Black families in the midst of racial trauma, a global pandemic, and economic instabilities across the United States of America brought on by COVID-19," the site notes. "Our vision is to develop our vast resource-rich 502 acres of land just outside Toomsboro, GA for the establishment of an innovative community for environmentally sustainable-living, health & wellness, agricultural & economic development, arts & culture for generations to come."
They direct interested parties to the www.freedomgeorgia.com website where you can join an email list for updates.
Renee Walters, another founder of the project, was honored at a Goddess In Your City event earlier this year. She has been holding vision board parties this year associated with the project.
Last year, Scott was invited to a symposium at the Georgia State Capitol to talk about the project.
"As a Realtor and the co-founder of a community development project to build a city called Freedom, GA (@freedomga2020 )I have the honor to share my testimony about bringing 19 Black families 👫🏽 together to buy land and develop it with an a Afro-Future 🛰👨🏾🚀🖤 in mind. This might seem like an old story but it's still relevant," she posted in May 2022. "We know the 🌎 is shifting and changing at rapid pace and it's our purpose to be responsible and accountable to building a better future for Black families and our allies ❤️💚🖤. Our mission is deeply rooted in the idea that living sustainably🐝🏡, practicing cooperative economics💰, and creating laws that support equality ⚖️ will create a replicable model that ultimately benefits ALL people. ✊🏾✊️✊🏻✊🏼"
More recently, she's continued appearing at financial and real estate events geared toward Black wealth and empowerment.