Why
Atlanta?
One of three pilot regions — alongside Los Angeles and Chicago — for the Alchemy Pot Initiative.
Systems are present.
But not yet connected.
In Atlanta, many students grow up surrounded by systems that weren't designed with them in mind — and have never been shown they can change them.
Atlanta ranks among the top 10 U.S. cities for food desert severity. In South Atlanta's census tracts, child food insecurity exceeds 25% — more than double the national average. At the same time, emergency visits for behavioral and emotional crises at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta have doubled since 2015.
This isn't just a resource issue. It's a relationship to systems issue. Most students here have never been given the direct experience of transforming their environment. The Alchemy Pot Initiative is that experience — and it changes what a student believes is possible.
Students transform campus food waste into living soil using the in-ground Soil Maker. Dry land becomes a garden. Waste becomes potential.
The Alchemy Pot practice gives students a structured way to process what feels heavy — mirroring the slow, transformative process of composting.
A student who watches food scraps become living soil doesn't just have a garden. They have proof — in their hands, in the ground — that they can transform what they were given. That belief is what travels with them.
Atlanta is not
starting from zero.
Atlanta Public Schools has had district-wide social-emotional learning in place since 2015, aligned with the CASEL framework — spanning all 89 schools from Pre-K through 12th grade. This matters for a funder because it dramatically lowers the barrier to adoption. Schools aren't being asked to introduce a new concept — they're being offered a tangible, experiential layer that deepens work already underway. That means faster implementation, stronger staff buy-in, and a replication model that travels.
SEL vocabulary — self-awareness, emotional regulation, social connection — is already part of how Atlanta teachers talk to students every day.
District-wide implementation since 2015 means systems, coordinators, and classroom time are already in place. No new infrastructure required.
Every school we've spoken with has been highly receptive. What's missing is a tangible, experiential layer — one that students can see, touch, and watch grow.
Helping students transform
their worlds.
Inside and out. One classroom at a time. Students who learn to turn dirt into soil — with their hands and with their emotional practice — carry that capacity everywhere. Atlanta is where we begin proving it scales.
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