Braves break ground on project tackling food, housing insecurity 

LEILA VALLEY, Ga. -- Food insecurity has long been a cause that Braves vice president of community affairs and executive director of the Braves Foundation Danielle Bedasse has championed.

“One in three kids in the United States of America go to school hungry,” she said. “The prevalence of food insecurity is rampant. … It’s working poor, middle-class families that can’t afford to feed their children. There is just an increase in cost and prices, but the accessibility of organic or locally grown food is an issue.

“Our systems are broken.”

One recent example highlighting the prevalence of food insecurity was during the COVID-19 pandemic. Per Bedasse, the Braves Foundation distributed an estimated four million pounds of food.

So with the 2025 All-Star Game coming to Atlanta and the MLB Legacy Initiative funds that come with it, Bedasse saw an opportunity to step up even more.

She gave a call to a frequent collaborator in Kate Conner, executive director of Food Well Alliance, and asked, “What do you got?”

Conner responded with an ambitious project that she had already been working on for two years: a first-of-its-kind affordable housing community with an urban farm at its center. On Saturday morning, the project officially broke ground in Leila Valley, Ga.

Planters were raised, birdhouses were built, stairs on the Valley View Church of Christ across the street were painted and shovels hit the dirt to plant the literal seeds that MLB, the Braves Foundation, Food Well Alliance and Atlanta Housing all hope will bear fruit for generations of Southeast Atlanta residents.

The site in Leila Valley was formerly home to a 175-unit public housing development that fell into disrepair over the years and was demolished in 2007. Dr. Alan Ferguson Sr., chief housing and real estate officer of Atlanta Housing, always had a vision of returning to the community and rebuilding; the timing worked out perfectly when Conner and Food Well Alliance approached him.

“We should be working together,” Ferguson recalled Conner telling him. “When you talk about the communities and the people we’re both trying to serve, we have a lot in common.”

In addition to the farm and housing complex, Conner and Ferguson plan to put up education buildings and distribute the food grown into the surrounding Leila Valley community with the help of Valley View Church and a few other local food organizations.

“I’m truly honored and grateful that Valley View has been a part of this community since 1971,” pastor Gary Cooper said. “We do have a legacy. The community and project means so much to me.

“I grew up in this community, I’ve seen with my own eyes the change of Leila Valley. We thank God.”

While the final numbers on the units themselves are still being worked out, Ferguson expects anywhere from 100-200 units -- both rental and for sale -- to be built, which he estimates can house about 500-700 people.

“They’ll be a part of this community, adding to the neighborhood quality and revitalization effort,” he said. “It’s gonna be absolutely fantastic.”

The hope for Conner and Ferguson is that this project can become a model also for other major cities in the U.S. to combat both the housing crisis and food deserts.

“This is what Major League Baseball calls a legacy project, and that’s exactly what we’ve always thought it is,” Conner said. “… We’re excited to set the path and experiment and have fun. And meet lots of great people and work with them in the process.”