Community needs vastly exceed the amount of available resources. The City's decision to reorganize and carry out the Renaissance Atlanta Program represents a bold, aggressive, and ambitious approach to achieve major urban revitalization. The planning process allowed for effective and meaningful participation by citizens and representatives from various communities. Many of the residents have become empowered and more knowledgeable of the City's planning process and are no longer intimidated by the decision-making process, especially on issues that affect their communities and quality of living. The collaborative process assisted the City in defining a clear vision that will guide the implementation of many of its community development activities.
Adequate funding is always an issue.
Related to that is finding a true balance between meeting the most critical needs and reaching consensus between various neighborhoods or other competing factions regarding the priority of funding from limited resources. Community projects in low-income communities are often complicated, risky, and difficult to implement. If not for the grant funds, many needed improvements would not be realized. The strategies employed for achieving broad consensus are very important to the planning and implementation process. The fact that more people and agencies than ever before are working together to revitalize neighborhoods could be an indicator of results.