The tragic death of Ahmaud Arbery and going to therapy was the reason Georgia-based realtor Ashley Scott launched The Freedom Georgia Initiative with her friend Renee Walters who’s an entrepreneur and investor. The Freedom Georgia Initiative is a black-owned limited liability company organized in Georgia for the social and economic benefit for its members. Their LLC also seeks to support black-owned, women-owned, and veteran-owned businesses by providing contracts to qualified vendors to do vendors with their company. One of the pledges their LLC have is to create a thriving safe haven for black family and their allies that brings value and gives back to the community. That’s exactly what they’re on the path to do as it was announced that they and alongside 19 other families came together to purchase almost 97 acres of land in Toomsboro, Georgia.
“Our vision is to develop our vast resource-rich 96.71 acres of land in Toomsboro, Georgia for the establishment of an innovative community for environmentally sustainable-living, health & wellness, agricultural & economic development, arts & culture for generations to come. Our aim is to be a premier recreational, educational, and cultural destination for Black families across the African diaspora. We welcome you, your family, and all Black allies to support us in our vision to be the change we want to see,” The group states on their website.
In an op-ed for Blavity, Scott explained how the way Black people deal with deep-rooted issues is going to take more than protesting in the streets. “It will take for us as a people, as Atlanta rapper and activist Killer Mike so eloquently put, ‘To plot, plan, strategize, organize and mobilize.’ So that’s what I and my good friend Renee Walter, an entrepreneur and invest did.” She states.
Together with Walters, Scott attended local city council meetings. They then assembled a group of 19 families and purchased the land located in Toomsboro. Which started the plan to make sure the community is equipped with black-owned farmers, vendors, suppliers, and contractors.
“We figured we could try to fix a broken system, or we could start fresh,” Scott explains. “We wanted to be more involved in creating the lives we really want for our Black families, and maybe, just maybe, create some generational wealth for ourselves by investing inland. Investing in creating a community that is built around our core values and beliefs.”
“This is how we build our new Black Wall Streets,” Scott states in Blavity’s op-ed. Which is important as a whole for the black community, especially when the last known Black Wall Street that people may know is the one that was tragically destroyed in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921.
