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Canopy Atlanta

Atlanta, GA · covers Atlanta neighborhoods, community-powered · community-powered nonprofit

In their words

For Community, With Community

Canopy Atlanta is a community journalism nonprofit founded in 2020. We collaborate with residents to tell stories about their communities—neighborhood by neighborhood—redefining who journalism is by and for.

Local communities set our reporting priorities

We learn about neighborhood priorities by reaching out to residents through listening conversations, phone calls, social media, and other engagement methods. A paid community editorial board helps us refine story topics for our Community Issues.

We pay and train residents to join the reporting process

We pay and train residents—through our Fellowship, Atlanta Documenters, and more—to report alongside experienced journalists through words, photos, audio, and more.

We share reporting with community members who need it

We make sure our journalism gets to residents through events, partnerships, printed materials, and more.

In our first four years, we worked in seven communities—West End, Forest Park, Bankhead, South DeKalb, Lakewood Heights, Norcross, and Tri-Cities. Before that, we piloted the concept in Pittsburgh.

Canopy Atlanta collaborates with residents to tell stories about their communities—neighborhood by neighborhood.

We redefine who journalism is by

Our work has been featured in Columbia Journalism Review, Nieman Lab, ProPublica, WABE, Saporta Report, and others.

Ways to Support Canopy Atlanta Today

Support, share, and join Canopy Atlanta’s mission to bring community-powered journalism to more neighborhoods across metro Atlanta.

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Community Engagement Coordinator

Genia is an Atlanta native who enjoys reading and spending time with family and friends. She came to Canopy Atlanta as a former Community Editorial Board Member and Fellow from the Bankhead edition. She is presently on the community engagement team. Prior to Canopy Atlanta, Genia worked as an operations manager for an insurance company.

Senior Editor, Community Reporting

As a senior editor, Heather leads the Cost of Living Project and provides editorial direction for the Atlanta Documenters program and Canopy Atlanta’s continued reporting. She’s been in journalism for more than a decade—most recently as senior editor at Atlanta magazine, where she wrote and edited longform features and special packages. Before that, she was a managing editor for seven years, including at a daily newspaper in Alabama. A first-generation college graduate who grew up housing insecure, Heather is interested in policy, affordability, and cyclical inequality. She lives in southwest Atlanta with her cat, Oswald; her dog, Tater Tot; and her husband, Sahil.

Adrian Coleman has been an Oakland City resident for 18 years. She worked in the IT industry for 20 years and is a photographer and videographer who loves capturing sights and sounds of urban communities. She wants to create community media that is participatory, sustainable, and scalable to reflect and preserve the culture of the West End community.

Documenters Program Manager

Serena is the Documenters Program Manager at Canopy Atlanta. She has experience leading communications strategies for Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit organizations, governmental agencies, and higher education institutions. She has worked as a newspaper reporter/editor, magazine editor, public relations practitioner, and communications director. Currently, she serves as a communications adjunct professor at Edward Waters University. Serena is the recipient of the 2016 Southern Regional Press Institute’s Louis R. Lautier Award for Communications Career Achievement.

Floyd is a Canopy Atlanta cofounder, media strategist, cultural producer, writer, and documentarian from Atlanta. He has worked across the media spectrum and has produced hundreds of podcast episodes covering art and culture, including projects for WABE, the High Museum, Flux Projects, the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, and WonderRoot.

Ann is a Jamaican-born, Ghana-raised, Southern Black-reared woman writer who currently lives in Atlanta. In 2017, she began writing for The Atlanta Voice. In 2019 and 2021, she was the licensee and producer of TEDx Collier Heights, which engaged residents from the Bankhead corridor. Ann has written on Bankhead history and is also, currently, working with former residents of Bowen Homes.

Reporter, Documenter + Factchecker

J.P. Irie is a reporter, Documenter, and fact-checker with Canopy Atlanta, and served as a Cost of Living Fellow. A Georgia State University graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, he previously reported for GSU’s student newspaper, The Signal, covering news affecting the campus community. He brings additional skills in data journalism, video production, mapping and graphic design to his work in community journalism.

Artist, Researcher + Reporting Fellow

LeJoi Lane is an artist, researcher and reporting Fellow for Canopy Atlanta. She most recently served as a Tri-Cities Fellow. A storyteller with an unwavering passion for Atlanta, uses her words to uplift Black culture. Through her writing and documentation, she captures the essence of these communities, allowing their stories to unfold through their own authentic lenses. LeJoi’s work celebrates the beauty, resilience, and creativity that flows through her culture, ensuring that these narratives are not just heard, but truly seen and felt.

Mariann is a Canopy Atlanta cofounder. She is an award-winning journalist who began her career at Gannett and the Chattanooga Times Free Press as a reporter, writing about criminal justice, government, politics and healthcare. More recently, she has worked as a freelance writer and a coordinator for a nonprofit, managing community engagement, projects, and operations.

Social Media Strategy + Community Reporter

Eboné Smiley graduated from the University of Georgia in 2005 with a BSFCS degree in consumer journalism. She began working in SAAS B2B sales until the financial crisis hit her industry and she pivoted into nonprofit fundraising development and event planning. She has a diverse set of skills thanks to working professionally in advertising sales, events management, public relations, and freelance writing. An early adopter of social media technology, Eboné is passionate about exploring storytelling about the Black community and the joyful forms of resistance to systemic inequalities in her local community as well as the country at large. Eboné is pursuing a MS degree in Writing and Digital Communications at Agnes Scott College.

Angelina is passionate about convening writing, law, and education to further human rights and sustainability. Reared along the corridors of Buford Highway, Angelina joined Canopy to amplify the concerns and hopes of her diverse community members through journalism. She taught English to immigrants and refugees for over five years before obtaining her Master’s in Education Policy. The humbling privilege of listening to survivors’ narratives across the world solidified her commitment to human rights and storytelling as truth to power. She is a mother and a first generation student at Georgia State Law school. Her activism and writing have been featured on Canopy, NPR, the LA Times, the Earth Institute, and the International House of New York.

Kamille D. Whittaker is a co-founder of Canopy Atlanta and an Assistant Professor of Journalism and Digital Media at Clark Atlanta University. She most recently served as managing editor of Atlanta Magazine. Her tenure in community journalism is rooted in the Black Press—from Black Voice News newspaper in her hometown of Riverside, California, to Liberator Magazine, Atlanta Tribune, and Atlanta Daily World.

Ada is an Atlanta-based, award-winning journalist with published stories at Canopy Atlanta, CNN, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Magazine and Georgia Public Broadcasting. She began working with CA doing freelance community engagement by listening to local communities before joining full-time to help with various levels of production across stories, website, social media and the newsletters, Canopy Atlanta Voices and For the Record. She will be assisting in revisiting communities after an issue has been published to do continued reporting based on resident needs. She values journalism that prioritizes authenticity and intentionality.

Dorothy Woods is a Westside Atlanta community advocate and organizer dedicated to uplifting the voices of longtime residents. Her work focuses on housing, zoning, and the impact of development on underserved neighborhoods. She is the organizer of Brunch and Ballots, a community-driven forum that connects residents with local leaders and encourages civic engagement. Through her organizing and storytelling, Dorothy is committed to building informed, empowered communities across Atlanta.

Board Member & Former West End Fellow

Brent is a West End resident for nearly 20 years and the managing editor/publisher of the Our West End Newsletter (OWEN) since 2006. He also participated in CA’s inaugural Fellow cohort in West End. In curating the bimonthly OWEN publication, he has read, edited, and written hundreds of stories showcasing the neighborhood’s strengths. As a Canopy West End Fellow, he received training and mentorship and copublished a longform story about the West End Mall.

Rodney Gibbs is an entrepreneur and media executive working on the future of local news. He serves as executive director of Heartland Signal, a digital newsroom and talk radio network covering state politics across the Midwest. Previously, he held product and audience leadership roles at The Texas Tribune, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and The National Trust for Local News. Based in Atlanta, Rodney is a coach and lecturer at CUNY’s Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, and he serves on the boards of Canopy Atlanta, The Current, and The Online News Association. A music head, he collects records, catches live shows, and DJs at WRFG-FM.

Nichole Owens is an EMMY® award-winning producer and freelance writer whose work has appeared in several alumni, business, and lifestyle publications. For nearly a decade, Nichole led Communications for mission-driven, Atlanta-area nonprofits. A graduate of Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, Nichole is the author of “The Industry Yearbook: 40 Years of Filmmaking in Georgia and the People Who Made It Happen.” She lives on Atlanta’s south side with her husband and two cats.

Anika Myers Palm is audience and editorial director for URL Media, a network of high-

performing Black and Brown news organizations, focused on strategic content distribution, building and engaging diverse audiences, and ensuring journalism meets

the real needs and interests of communities of color. With experience spanning CNN,

the Orlando Sentinel, the Ocala Star-Banner, and the (Broward) Daily Business Review,

she has spent most of her career mastering digital production and distribution, which

has included everything from crafting compelling push alerts and managing social

media strategies to developing newsletters and cultivating partnerships with key

platforms. A graduate of Georgetown University and the Columbia University Graduate

School of Journalism, Anika brings both editorial rigor and audience intelligence to the

work of amplifying stories that matter to Black and Brown communities.

Clare S. Richie is a public policy specialist and freelance writer. For more than two decades she has researched and analyzed policy and budget issues for HouseATL, Community Wealth Partners, Enterprise Community Partners, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Georgia Budget & Policy Institute, Achieve Atlanta, and more. For more than a decade, she worked as a regular paid contributor for Atlanta Intown covering nonprofits, local businesses, local government, and other hyperlocal features. Several stories ran in Rough Draft Atlanta and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Clare has a BA in mathematical economics from Brown University and an MPA from Georgia State University. She has lived in Atlanta since 1993, where she and her husband raised their twins.

Sheena Roetman-Wynn, Lakota, is the education manager for the Indigenous Journalists Association.

Previously, Roetman-Wynn spent six years as director of membership and programs at the Atlanta Press Club, where she also ran APC’s annual internship program and assisted in producing debates for local, state and federal races in partnership with Georgia Public Broadcasting and Public Broadcasting Atlanta. She has also spent more than 15 years as a freelance journalist, editor and researcher.

Roetman-Wynn holds a degree in Journalism with a research specialty in American Indian Media from Georgia State University. She is currently based outside Atlanta, Ga. where she enjoys cooking, gardening, yoga and hiking with her husband and their wiener dog.

Charles Stephens is the Founder and Executive Director of the Counter Narrative Project (CNP). Charles has been and continues to be active in community organizations with current board service for Canopy Atlanta, where he serves as Chair. His past board and advisory board service includes: Alliance Theatre, the Atlanta Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Board, Actor’s Express Theatre Company, Historic Atlanta, and the Atlanta Public Schools LGBTQIA Task Force. He was also a 2025 Funders Concerned about AIDS Global HIV Philanthropy Fellow. In recognition of his civic and social justice leadership, Charles was awarded the Georgia State University College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award, named to the VOX ATL Hall of Fame, and listed as one of OUT Georgia’s 100 Most Influential LGBTQ+ Georgians. As a thought leader, he has published Op-Eds and essays in such publications as Them, Nonprofit Quarterly, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), Atlanta Magazine, and the Advocate, and given talks and presentations at Georgetown University, Bates College, and Emory University Law School.

Nichole James Vickers is a Birmingham, Alabama native. She graduated from Spelman College in 1994 with a degree in psychology and received her Juris Doctor in 2005 from Florida Coastal School of Law, where she was a member of the American-Caribbean Law Initiative and Coastal Association of Public Interest Law. She also participated with AmeriCorps VISTA where she served at Atlanta Habitat for Humanity. Nichole currently practices as a senior attorney at Johnson & Freeman, LLC in the firm’s business representation, government, and estate planning practice areas. Prior to joining Johnson & Freeman, Nichole was in private practice and represented clients in a variety of matters including real estate transactions, consumer bankruptcy, business advisory, and personal injury.

Committed to Transparency

Canopy Atlanta is transforming journalism by making it community-first, equipping Atlantans who’ve been overlooked and misrepresented by journalism to tell stories.

We believe in high standards of transparency and accountability to our communities, which is why we make information about our major funders and our tax filings easily accessible.

Our Donors & Transparency Policy

— from their About page, fetched 2026-08-25.

Canopy Atlanta

In their words

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