WESTSIDE INVESTMENT MAP

A digital map of grant money allocation from the Blank Foundation in Atlanta's Westside Communities

• Project site: GitHub repository
  • (the original map site still exists, but in different form than described here.)
• Role: Information architecture, data gathering, client communications
• Tools: JavaScript, HTML, CSS, open-source mapping tool CartoDB
• Deliverables: Digital interactive map and documentation

The Westside Investment Map was developed in 2015 by a team of twelve Georgia Tech students in partnership with an external client, the Atlanta Community Food Bank. The map provides a window into the financial commitments made by the Blank Foundation, Invest Atlanta, and other funders within Atlanta’s Westside. The map intends to visualize the impact and reach of these investments.

Why a map?

• The mapping platform could provide a space to reshape the power relationship between residents, service providers, and the Blank Foundation. Visualizing the projects, their focus, beneficiaries, and status could allow residents to hold organizations accountable to the work they proposed to do and have been awarded funding to complete. 

• There are many other governmental and non governmental organizations that put resources into the community. A map that could depict all of these actors might reveal opportunities for collaboration between organizations, existing overlaps, or obvious gaps in service provision or community development.

Check out the how-to document for a fuller idea of how the map works.