Atlanta, Georgia
Shawn Walton is the Atlanta native who graduated from Tri-Cities High School and Morehouse College. Two historic institutions connected by one road in South West Atlanta. Shawn is an Outkast loving, community activist, mentor, humanitarian, entrepreneur and father of a 6-year-old.
Walton is an educator with a strong focus on bettering the city of Atlanta, especially the historic Ashview Heights community. In July of 2011, Walton founded WeCycle Atlanta Inc., a co-op bike shop that provides access to bicycles, fresh local produce, cycling, and agricultural education to youth and low-income residents. As the Executive Director, he collaborates with families and institutions in order to help create a more responsive neighborhood economy. By using his background in education to help educate others on the importance of utilizing sustainable resources, he is not only giving back to the community, but he is cultivating a safe space that allows families to increase their productivity levels and overall success rates by simply presenting opportunities.
He currently holds the title of Atlanta Developer in life and project; spearheading the Everybody Eats Together Food Hub Iniative. This food coordinating collective and community development agency specializes in revitalizing low-income and degraded black communities using agriculture as an economic driver and engagement tool. Their work and consultation has aided the City of Atlanta and surrounding institutions obtain over $33 Million in Federal funding to revitalize black communities in West Atlanta, most notably through their revitalizing of Ashview Heights through their work in the Ashview Community Garden. Their current project has turned their crime attracting corner store into a community owned and operated food hub after a successful 500k investor round to complete Atlanta's 1st Black owned and operated food hub in Atlanta 1st planned African American community of Ashview Heights; while providing access to nutrients rich food to neighbors in Ashview Heights.