Press Release

Oglethorpe Students to Assist Neighboring Community

ATLANTA- On this Saturday, February 14, students from the Urban Leadership Program at Oglethorpe University begin a service project benefiting the Lynwood Park Community, one of Oglethorpe’s neighbors. Students will help evaluate the physical and aesthetic conditions of neighborhood homes and infrastructure, documenting observations in site surveys. The information will then be passed on to DeKalb County governmental agencies and then to federal agencies who will use the documentation to assess community development needs and allocate needed funds to accomplish the improvements.

Developed in the 1930s for white suburbanites, Lynwood Park community planners eventually sold parcels of land to African-Americans. For $50, an African-American family could purchase an entire lot. During the early days of settlement, Lynwood residents made Silver Lake their playground, a site once owned by Oglethorpe University.

Since that time, the neighborhood has been through much transition. With desegregation, children residing in Lynwood were sent to schools beyond their community. The only school within the community, a combination elementary and high school, was converted into a neighborhood gym, complete with a community room. The neighborhood has also battled high school truancy and drug infestations in the past, but has stabilized through strong community organizations, active neighborhood leaders such as Patricia Martin, president of the Lynwood Park Neighborhood Association, and strides in community policing by the DeKalb County Police.

In more recent years, Lynwood Park has been threatened by the encroachment of expensive housing. Developers have been building $600,000 homes around Lynwood while others have pushed to build within the community. However, efforts have been made to eliminate this threat to the community.

In 1995, DeKalb County sent a housing expert to design a plan that would help Lynwood to preserve its borders. The plan encourages home ownership and policies that make home ownership possible. The survey conducted by members of Oglethorpe’s Urban Leadership Program will provide data that will be used to secure funds that will make housing in the Lynwood area more attractive and affordable.

This project is expected to be completed by February 23.

The Urban Leadership Program at Oglethorpe University was begun in 1994 to help students cultivate the characteristics, habits, skills and understanding necessary for leadership in the 21st century through a balance of courses, workshops, and various on and off campus experiences.

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