Empowering our neighbors with the skills to succeed in Georgia's growing energy industry
ATLANTA, GA / ACCESS Newswire / March 13, 2026 / The Westside Resilience Corridor celebrated the successful launch of its Career Pre-Employment Training (CPET) Program this month, welcoming nearly 100 attendees to the orientation and kickoff session hosted at the Vicars Community Center at Community Church Atlanta. Nearly five times more Atlanta residents applied than there were available slots in this inaugural cohort, underscoring the community's strong interest in high-paying, sustainable careers in Georgia's growing energy sector.
This neighborhood-based workforce training initiative draws on recent research from the Mayor's Office of the City of Atlanta, which underscores the importance of bringing resources directly into communities so that opportunity is fully aligned with access. With demand for the CPET training far outpacing initial capacity, community leaders emphasized the clear need for continued and expanded investment in local workforce programs that connect residents to high-paying, upwardly mobile energy careers.
The CPET program connects Westside neighbors to sustainable, upwardly mobile careers that keep essential local infrastructure operating, from power lines and plants to customer service systems. When residents secure high-paying, wealth-building careers, household stability increases, energy insecurity declines, and communities are better able to prepare for, withstand, and recover from disruptions. "Workforce development is community resilience in action," commented Matthew Wesley Williams, Groundswell Senior VP of Community Development. "Resilience is not only about recovering from storms. It's about co-creating the everyday conditions our communities need to survive and thrive."
Administered and hosted by Community Church Atlanta at its Vicars Community Center, this program is a flagship effort of the Westside Resilience Corridor congregations-West Hunter Street Baptist Church, Providence Missionary Baptist Church, Community Church Atlanta, and Atlanta Good Shepherd Community Church-who are working together with the City of Atlanta, Georgia Power, and Groundswell to build a neighborhood-based pipeline to energy careers. The strong turnout at the launch event and the robust application pool both demonstrate how deeply residents value pathways to high-paying, sustainable work that also strengthens their community's everyday resilience and its capacity to respond effectively in emergencies.
"We want more of the people who build and maintain the energy system serving our city and state to come from Atlanta's Westside. As the city's first community-owned resilience hub, we are proud to launch this energy workforce training program with our partners, honoring our history of service while shaping what comes next for this community," commented Pastor Kevin Earley of Community Church Atlanta.
Among the nearly 100 neighbors who participated in the orientation session, 15-20 residents will form the first CPET training cohort. CPET is a no-cost, 10-session skills-prep series that equips participants with the tools, support, and confidence needed to pursue careers in the energy industry, including but not limited to, power delivery (energy lineworkers), plant operations, and customer service, with all technical training provided by Georgia Power.
"At Georgia Power, we believe strong communities and a reliable energy future are built through meaningful partnerships and investments in people," said Latanza Adjei, Senior VP and Chief Customer Officer at Georgia Power. "Through this collaboration with the Westside Resilience Corridor, Groundswell, and the City of Atlanta, we're creating pathways for Atlanta residents to pursue long-term careers and become the next generation of energy professionals. As Georgia continues to grow, we remain committed to developing a workforce that reflects and serves the communities we power every day."
"Groundswell delivers on our mission of building community power by strengthening local resilience and creating real pathways to economic opportunity with clean energy," added Michelle Moore, CEO of Groundswell. "By connecting people with the skills and opportunities to succeed in the energy industry, we are investing directly in local talent and resilience on Atlanta's Westside."
The strong community response to CPET aligns with the City of Atlanta's broader goals for inclusive economic development and neighborhood resilience. "This initiative is a great example of what we mean when we say, 'Atlanta is a group project,' and aligns with our Administration's Atlanta Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative-a collective commitment to access and opportunity in every Atlanta neighborhood, particularly historically underserved communities," said Mayor Andre Dickens. "We continue to emphasize that every Atlanta resident-including those in the Westside and Southside-should have equal opportunity and support to gain access to economic prosperity. Neighborhood-based programs like CPET provide on-ramps to sustainable economic pathways for historic communities that have long been the backbone of Atlanta's culture and legacy."
With CPET's inaugural cohort now underway and community demand far exceeding current capacity, the Westside Resilience Corridor and its partners are calling for additional investment to sustain and grow this model. By continuing to bring opportunity into the neighborhood-through training, case management, and direct connections to energy careers-the Corridor's churches and community partners are strengthening the everyday conditions that allow Atlanta's Westside to meet its daily needs and to muster effective emergency response when crises arise.
Learn more about the Westside Resilience Corridor and future opportunities at Groundswell.org/westside-resilience-corridor/.
Partners and Roles
Vicars Community Center (Host/Administrator): Serves as the host site and program administrator, providing facilities, program scheduling, wraparound services, and cohort case management (in partnership with the City of Atlanta) to reduce barriers to local participation and program completion. As an active resilience hub, Vicars offers accessible space, reliable operations, and community trust.
Georgia Power (Training/Education): Delivers a proven curriculum and leads implementation of the 10-week CPET training program, aligned with utility hiring pipelines and broader energy-industry career pathways.
Westside Resilience Corridor (Workforce Pipeline): Initiates and anchors the neighborhood-based recruitment and training effort as part of its workforce development efforts centered at Vicars Community Center at Community Church Atlanta, a member congregation of the Westside Resilience Corridor.
Groundswell (Program Planning): Serves as a covenant partner with the Westside Resilience Corridor, supporting the collaborative planning and launch of the workforce development initiative, leading implementation of complementary Corridor program elements in home energy efficiency, resilience hub development, and community resilience planning.
City of Atlanta (Access and Research): Acts as a planning and implementation partner to ensure full access for Atlanta residents by reducing barriers to participation, and leverages research from the Mayor's Office's Co-Design Lab to support career planning for participants as part of cohort case management in collaboration with the Vicars Community Center team.
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About the Westside Resilience Corridor
Launched in 2025, the Westside Resilience Corridor is a coalition of four anchor institutions-West Hunter Street Baptist Church, Providence Missionary Baptist Church, Community Church Atlanta, and Atlanta Good Shepherd Community Church-on Atlanta's Southwest side working in covenant partnership with Groundswell. With support from Georgia Power, the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority, the City of Atlanta, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and Google, the Corridor is expanding community access to critical resources and infrastructure, preserving energy and housing affordability, advancing economic mobility, and strengthening grid reliability. Through these partnerships, historic congregations and community institutions are building a local network of resilience hubs and related solutions that deliver tangible benefits for residents of Atlanta's Westside.
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ABOUT GROUNDSWELL:
Groundswell builds community power to cut electricity bills in half and strengthen local resilience. We use community solar, energy storage, energy efficiency, and ethical AI to preserve affordable housing, strengthen the grid, and support local economic development. Our people-centric, place-based programs serve community-based partners across the Heartland, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast. We're on track to deliver over $29 million in annual energy savings to more than 36,000 families and deploy more than 40 resilience hubs across 12 states by 2030.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Kenrick Escalanti
kenrick.escalanti@groundswell.org
?(928) 304-0650
SOURCE: Groundswell
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/utilities/westside-resilience-corridors-cpet-program-launch-draws-strong-community-response-and-hig-1147397
