Create the Village

America is aging, and fast. In just a few years, millions will enter their 80s, many without the resources or support systems to age with dignity. Yet affordable assisted living remains misunderstood, underfunded, and dangerously overlooked.

In this episode of Create the Village, Daryl Jones (President, Real Estate Acquisitions) sits down with Julie Simpkins, co-CEO of Gardant Management Solutions, one of the largest assisted livin...

Essential workers are the backbone of our communities, yet too many are being priced out of safe, attainable housing near where they work.

Rents have climbed faster than wages for years, creating an unsustainable gap that leaves millions of teachers, nurses, first responders, and other essential workers stuck in the “missing middle.” They earn too much to qualify for subsidies yet not enough to afford market-rate housing. In this e...

Community development isn’t just about bricks and mortar.

It’s about people, honoring legacy, addressing structural inequities, and building trust block by block, relationship by relationship. Few places reflect that truth more than Atlanta’s historic Westside.

In this episode of Create the Village, guest host Shannon Judd, President of Integral Property Management, sits down with Rachel Carey, Chief Real Estate Officer at Westside...

In Atlanta, the racial wealth gap is staggering.

The average white household holds 46 times more wealth than the average Black household. One major reason is homeownership, and who gets to buy a home. If we want cities that are truly inclusive and resilient, bold new approaches are needed to help families build wealth and stay in place. This episode explores one such solution: permanently affordable homeownership that keeps longtim...

Impact investors provide the last dollars to unlock attainable housing.

Many promising housing projects get close to the finish line and then stall because the last dollars aren’t there. This episode looks at a practical fix: bring mission-minded funders and public partners to the table to cover the remaining costs so homes can actually get built.

Host Ade Sanusi, Vice President, Asset & Investment Management, The Integral Grou...

Developers don’t just need better plans, they need workflows that line up from plan to permit.

Homebuilding still runs on disconnected files and manual redlines. Design changes don’t reach sales, purchasing, or the field in time, creating RFIs, delays, and budget creep.

Host Jordan Jones, Principal – Integral Carolinas and Marc Minor, Co-Founder & CEO, Higharc, unpack a design-to-build approach that centralizes data and automat...

Lasting change in communities starts with the right connections.

In this week’s Create the Village, Kareem Brantley, Principal - Integral Florida, hosts a powerful conversation with two leaders driving equity and opportunity in real estate: Kenasha Paul, founder and CEO of the Black Professionals Network (BPN), and Chad Musgrove, Sr. Vice President at M&T Bank and President of the Black Real Estate Investment Council (BRIC).   ...

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲—𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝘀?

In episode 2 of 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘝𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘦, Jordan Jones, Principal – Integral Carolinas, talks with Hasier Larrea, CEO of Ori, to explore how rethinking square footage can unlock  attainable housing. They break down how Ori’s adaptable, tech-enabled designs - ...

Art and culture aren’t just creative expressions — they’re powerful tools for building communities that thrive.

In this episode of Create the Village, renowned artist and scholar Dr. Fahamu Pecou explores how cultural spaces like the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA) preserve heritage, strengthen identity, and drive equitable development.

From addressing the wealth gap to creating inclusive communities, Dr. Pecou share...

A year ago, we published an episode of Create the Village entitled, “Has ‘Infrastructure Week’ Finally Arrived?” There was plenty of conversation, rolling into a national election, that supported the idea that the time had finally come…that after years of neglect and procrastinating, Washington was ready to enact a massive program to address crumbling highways, a patchwork of high-speed internet access, and inadequate public transi...

In the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Dr. Calvin Mackie was appointed to the 33-member board of the Louisiana Recovery Authority. In 2009, he was appointed to the Louisiana Council on the Social Status of Black Boys and Black Men. Recently, Mackie was appointed to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board. In 2014, Dr. Mackie founded STEM NOLA, a non-profit organization created to expose, inspire, and eng...

This week’s episode of Create the Village is a potent conversation about some of the issues of inequality facing the U.S. and some of the policy initiatives designed to raise awareness. Linda Goler Blount is President and CEO of the Black Women’s Health Imperative, the only national organization focused on Black women’s emotional, physical and financial health and wellness. After one year of pandemic, the conversation between Bloun...

Mary Means is an award-winning community planner and innovator who has led the movement in Main Street Revitalization for more than four decades. She has been dubbed the Queen of Main Street by her colleagues and industry leaders. Today, Mary is a popular conference speaker and continues to help public interest clients envision and build consensus to make their communities better places to live and work.

When discussing Mary Means,...

Guest: John O’Callaghan, President and CEO of Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership (ANDP). Atlanta is famous for the ebb and flow of its real estate market. And, while some parts of the metro area are certainly doing well, some parts of the market are still feeling the impact of the 2008 foreclosure crisis.

Atlanta is famous for the ebb and flow of its real estate market. And, while some parts of the metro area are certainl...

Jill Barshay and Egbert Perry discuss the barriers to educational attainment for children from modest-income households during the pandemic and the lasting impact of a lost generation of students.

Barshay ...