ATLANTA — Under bright sun and blue skies, community partners boarded a bus to see the progress being made on affordable housing in Atlanta’s Vine City and English Avenue neighborhoods.

“This has been and continues to be such a historic part of Atlanta’s fabric,” Managing Director of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation Danny Shoy said. “Oftentimes, people think about the challenges and not the opportunities, but this tour is about more than bricks and mortar.”

The foundation hosted the tour and was joined by partners like West Side Future Fund, Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund and West Side Works.

A ride down James P. Brawley Drive shows progress and the work that still needs to be done.

“Oftentimes people think about thriving communities and they think about buildings and institutions but it’s really the people that make a community thrive,” Shoy said.

To help this community thrive, the foundation is focused on financial stability, in addition to affordable housing.

On Thursday, the foundation announced $4.5 million in grant money for education training and job placement for people who live and work on the West Side.