$3 Million In Grants Awarded To Atlanta Police Foundation

ATLANTA — The SunTrust Foundation and SunTrust Trusteed Foundations have awarded $3 million in grants to the Atlanta Police Foundation (APF). The SunTrust Trusteed Foundations include the Florence C. and Harry L. English Memorial Fund, the Walter H. and Marjory M. Rich Memorial Fund and the Nell Warren Elkin and William Simpson Elkin Foundation.

This funding will support APF’s youth crime diversion program, the At-Promise Initiative, by opening an At-Promise Center on Campbellton Road in southwest Atlanta. The center will be named “The SunTrust At-Promise Center Honoring Andrew Young.” It is set to open in 2021, located on land provided by the Walter and Andrew Young Family YMCA.

The center will be a state-of-the-art learning and community facility with specialized services and programming, including financial education for youth and their families.

“We’re proud to support the At-Promise Initiative, as it focuses on ensuring troubled youth find meaningful pathways to productive lives,” said Jenna Kelly, president, SunTrust Bank Georgia Division. “We believe this investment in community building will pay dividends to our city and our neighborhoods for generations to come.”

The $3 million in grants from the SunTrust Foundation and SunTrust Trusteed Foundations is the largest gift ever made to the At-Promise Initiative. The At-Promise Initiative has garnered significant national attention, winning the FBI Director’s Award for its success in reducing recidivism, or repeat offenses, among youth offenders.

In its first two full years of operation, At-Promise enrollees have a 4% recidivism rate while the national rate is more than 15 times higher.

The Atlanta Police Foundation was established in 2003. The organization is based on a public-private partnership model that has worked to secure and leverage private resources to fund high priority projects designed to enhance the City of Atlanta’s ability to fight and prevent crime.

As a result of the work of the APF, since 2003 there has been an increase in the number of police officers on the streets and an increase in the engagement of Atlanta’s business community and neighborhood residents in fighting crime.

Additionally, the city has experienced a 58 percent reduction in the violent crime rate and a 41 percent reduction in crimes overall.