Mtamanika Youngblood is a nationally recognized community development practitioner and a strong proponent of equitable development, sustainability, and cultural and historic heritage as the model for addressing both the human and physical development needs of revitalizing communities.
Ms. Youngblood is the Chair Emeritus and the founding Board Chair of Sweet Auburn Works (SAW), a nonprofit organization supported by a broad range of stakeholders committed to the revitalization of the Sweet Auburn commercial corridor that preserves its history and legacy. Modeled after the successful national Main Street program, SAW uses historic preservation and economic development as the driving force behind its work.
Ms. Youngblood is the Chair Emeritus and past President & CEO of the Historic District Development Corporation (HDDC) the non-profit, community-based development organization that led the revitalization of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Historic District and subsequently, Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward. HDDC’s neighborhood revitalization efforts are based on historic preservation, economic diversity and the non-displacement of existing residents. Its goal is to reestablish the mixed-income residential and commercial community that once thrived around “Sweet Auburn” Avenue and the childhood home of Martin Luther King, Jr.
She is the founder and past President and CEO of The Center for Working Families, Inc., a nonprofit organization created by the Annie E Casey Foundation to advance its family and neighborhood strengthening work. Previously, Ms. Youngblood became the first Senior Vice President for Community Impact at United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta.
Ms. Youngblood has been widely acknowledged for her work. Awards and recognition have come from The National Trust for Historic Preservation, The Atlanta Urban Design Commission, Central Atlanta Progress, the Georgia Association of the American Institute of Architects, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Atlanta Magazine, the State of Georgia Affordable Housing Division, the National Neighborhood Coalition and the National Community Land Trust Network.
In addition to Sweet Auburn Works and HDDC, Ms. Youngblood is a Trustee Emeritus of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and a member of the National Advisory Council for the African American Heritage Action Fund. She has served on various boards, including the Partnership for Southern Equity, the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, United Way, the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Center for Working Families. Additionally, she has served as a member of the Fulton County Arts Council, the City of Atlanta Public Art Advisory Committee and the Technical Review Panel for the Housing and Transportation Affordability Index for HUD’s Office for Sustainable Housing and Communities.
Ms. Youngblood earned a BA from New York University and an MBA from Atlanta University. She was a Fellow to the Kennedy School of Government Executive Program at Harvard University, an Inner City Fellow for the Urban Land Institute and a James A. Johnson Community Fellow of the Fannie Mae Foundation.