On Wednesday evening, the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement (AADM) held an end-of-year community town hall to discuss the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) crisis, food insecurity and housing challenges in Athens.
The event featured keynote speakers, community leader and housing advocate Broderick Flanigan, health and food policy analyst Grace Bagwell Adams and District Six Commissioner Stephanie Johnson. The event was open to all community members.
AADM is a grassroots organization that advocates against systemic discrimination and racial injustices in Athens. Johnson said the organization is coming up on its 10 year anniversary.
“As we close 2025, our commitment remains clear to protect, empower and uplift our community, while building leaders who can carry this movement forward with stronger advocacy, deeper community partnerships and a renewed focus on sustainability,” Johnson said. “Together, we are building a more equitable, inclusive and resilient Athens, one that gives power to the people.”
AADM is supported by a multitude of community members and volunteers. Barbara Benson, who started out as a volunteer for AADM nine years ago, is now a board member and secretary. Benson shared her insights on housing and food insecurity throughout her time being involved in AADM.
“I think the community is very, very concerned and they want to be involved, and the town hall allows people to come out and voice their concerns,” Benson said. “Trying to find solutions, and that’s really the ultimate goal of bringing something like this to the library and inviting many different people is that we’re really trying to come up with some answers.”
Benson attested to AADM’s push for community accessible events, such as the town halls, which are held at the Athens-Clarke County Library.
“This meeting, bringing it to the library, that’s accessible, hopefully to different folks in the community, from east side to west side,” Benson said. “[We’re] always trying to get people to get involved with AADM and become volunteers, that’s a way that they can really be able to help come up with ways to improve quality of life in Athens.
Adams, a faculty member at the University of Georgia in the College of Public Health, was asked to speak at the town hall as a SNAP and health policy expert. Adams is the principal investigator for the Athens Wellbeing Project and has been working to research these issues.
“This is foundational to what I do. I am a community-engaged researcher, and think of myself, first and foremost, as a citizen of Athens, and then second as a researcher,” Adams said. “It’s just part of what I believe it means to be a citizen, is to show up for community.”
Adams shared the impact of community members in addressing food insecurity and the SNAP crisis in Athens.
“Particularly around food insecurity, and seeing all of the different stakeholders rally around the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia in particular, has been really powerful in seeing how local efforts to feed our community have stepped in to fill in the gap when federal assistance wasn’t there,” Adams said. “Everyone from faith communities to individuals who have been giving to people who volunteered, nonprofits and again, especially the food bank as the leader in that space, it’s been really amazing.”
Community member Miki Chastain originally discovered AADM through her involvement in her church. Chastain is a pastor at Oconee Street United Methodist Church and has been involved in AADM for a couple of years now.
“I think it’s both the connection and relationship that AADM fosters, which I think is so important, because the issues we’re all trying to address, whether it’s from our faith or just being a part of the community, they all require us working together,” Chastain said. “They also require good education — as well as we can be informed — and AADM plays into both of those roles very well.”
Chastain has seen firsthand how the community has worked together to support people in combating housing struggles and food insecurity.
“As a church, we get regular requests for housing support. In fact, on my way here, I was late because I got a request this afternoon to go help with someone’s rent,” Chastain said.
The church also offers food support, groceries and pantries for local schools.
Adams expressed her concern for the number of people dealing with these hardships.
“We all know people that are going hungry and who are suffering,” Adams said. “In the wealthiest nation in the world, I find that to be unconscionable. I find that to be absolutely just not acceptable.”