While the CSR landscape is shifting, Atlanta’s corporate community is finding new ways to turn business resources, employee expertise and community partnerships into meaningful local impact. This year, 31 companies were nominated for the purposeful work they’re doing across Atlanta, and winners will be announced at the IMPACT Awards ceremony on September 10.
From addressing housing instability and workforce shortages to expanding educational opportunities, supporting vulnerable youth and protecting the environment, this year’s finalists show how companies can leverage their people, expertise and platforms to tackle some of the region’s most pressing challenges.
IMPACT Corporate Program of the Year
The Atlanta Braves are one of the most recognizable sports franchises in the country, but their impact extends well beyond the ballpark. As part of their commitment to supporting vulnerable populations and improving equity and access, the Atlanta Braves Foundation invests in under-resourced communities in their own backyard through funding, volunteerism and drawing attention to Food Well Farm, a first-of-its-kind food-housing development model in the Southeast. Developed by Food Well Alliance and Atlanta Housing, the site will include a garden, farm, and orchard education hub alongside 100 future affordable housing units. In 2025, the Atlanta Braves and Major League Baseball (MLB) executed their All-Star Legacy volunteer day at the Farm, hosting 96 volunteers from the Braves, MLB, Food Well Alliance, Atlanta Housing, and local community members who contributed an estimated 144 hours, building raised beds, a growing tunnel, bird boxes, fencing, and pathways. In April of this year, 20 Braves volunteers returned to the Farm for Pitch In for the Planet, where they removed invasive species, cleaned planter boxes, and prepped the space for summer crops. Looking ahead, the Farm will empower the community to build greater food sovereignty, self-sufficiency, and long-term financial stability for generations to come.
Cox Enterprises’ Beyond School Walls program brings high school students into the workplace to help them envision their futures. Building on a 35-year partnership with a local high school, the program evolved seven years ago to bring students to Cox’s campus each month for mentoring, career exposure and hands-on professional experiences. Employees at every level help students build confidence, explore career paths and prepare for what comes next. In May 2025, 100% of participating seniors graduated on time, 99% avoided the juvenile justice system and 94% had plans for post-secondary education. This program is also a cornerstone of internal culture at Cox, aligning business operations directly with its commitment to education and workforce development.
IMPACT Innovative Corporate Project of the Year
As Atlanta continues to face rising rents and a lack of affordable housing, J.M. Huber Corporation knows that everyone deserves a safe place to call home. To help address these housing challenges the company spearheaded an initiative in partnership with Atlanta Habitat for Humanity to support 29 new homeowners. Over the course of three months, employees built homes, participated in skills-based training and donated goods to the new homeowners. The project expanded a longstanding nonprofit partnership beyond traditional giving by connecting employees around the world to a local Atlanta housing effort.
At Cox Enterprises, Earth Month is an opportunity for employees to learn, volunteer and take action. In 2026, the Chairman’s Challenge expanded its focus to habitat and species, building on Cox’s sustainability goals around carbon, water and waste. Employees participated in everything from expert-led sessions and campus tours to tree planting, floating wetlands restoration, sustainability trivia and a book swap. The effort generated 10,000 volunteer hours, support for over 25 environmental nonprofits through 80-plus events, 753 trees distributed or planted in employees’ honor and more than 400 books donated. Employees also helped direct $45,000 in grants to environmental nonprofits, while 1,549 participants pledged to carry more sustainable habits forward.
With homelessness on the rise in Atlanta, Gas South is helping unhoused young people turn creativity into opportunity through a partnership with Covenant House of Georgia and Notes for Notes. Together, they transformed an underused space into a professional music studio where youth can record, produce and explore music while building confidence and developing new skills. Gas South provided funding, volunteers and community connections, with employees helping design and prepare the space. The initiative also includes ongoing programming, mentorship and connections with artists and music professionals to give participants access to tools, experiences and relationships that can support their personal and professional growth.
IMPACT Corporate Skills-Based Award
Norfolk Southern is turning workforce challenges into pathways to economic mobility through skilled-trades training for underserved Atlantans. In partnership with City of Refuge, the company helped create a state-of-theart welding training center designed to prepare participants for living-wage careers while addressing demand for skilled welders. Norfolk Southern invested $350,000, contributed technical expertise to its design and curriculum and expanded access to free American Welding Society certification testing. Employees also provide mentorship, facility tours, mock interviews and career coaching. The first two cohorts achieved graduation and certification rates above 91%, while all 22 graduates in 2025 earned AWS and OSHA credentials and more than half secured employment in the skilled trades. The initiative also creates a sustainable workforce development model that can expand economic opportunity and strengthen Atlanta’s skilled-trades pipeline well into the future.
Troutman eMerge leveraged its employees’ professional expertise to help Georgia Innocence Project spend less time managing systems and more time helping the community. During a 16-week project facilitated by technology nonprofit, Apparo, volunteers contributed 173 hours, valued at $25,000, to identify inefficient processes and operational risks. Drawing on expertise in legal operations, data governance and technology, the team mapped workflows, documented processes and developed a strategic roadmap for more efficient systems. Following the project, the Georgia Innocence Project expects the improvements to free roughly 25% of a full-time role and dramatically reduce the time spent locating case files, allowing staff to devote more capacity to investigations, client support and advancing justice.