Urban Sustainability
By: Kelley Friend (Photography by Casey Crain) | Categories: Alumni Interest
Today, Queen, a 2021 40 Under 40 honoree, works as a sustainable transportation specialist for AECOM, where she directs transportation planning and engineering efforts focused on reducing pedestrian and cyclist crashes, injuries, and fatalities. But she also has a sustainability side-hustle: board president of Groundwork Atlanta, an organization that works to advance environmental projects that improve communities and quality of life in Atlanta.
“I focus on sustainable transportation, and I thought this would be a great way to continue that holistic approach to community sustainability and global sustainability,” Queen says of her decision to get involved. She began by volunteering to help with a survey and became a founding board member in 2015.
When the president position opened in 2017, Queen knew her experience leading Students Organizing for Sustainability provided valuable lessons.
“It was challenging leading an organization from its starting point, but we had success in changing campus policies and practices, and that gave me confidence,” Queen says. “So when I had the chance to lead Groundwork Atlanta, I was willing to try.
One of the biggest things Georgia Tech teaches you is how to figure things out, how to learn, how to teach yourself what you need to know in order to succeed.”
Under Queen’s leadership for the past five years, Groundwork Atlanta launched AgLanta Grows-a-Lot, which converts vacant city properties and Georgia Power utility corridor lots into urban farms and community gardens that are leased by residents, entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and farmers. Some lessees are focused on building a business selling produce and flowers, while others, such as nonprofits, work to feed those in need. The program currently has eight sites across the city, with plans to activate more in the future. In 2019, the program was a finalist for the Engaged Cities Award by Cities of Service.
In addition to its Grows-a-Lot program, Queen’s organization is also helping to reactivate a 7-plus-acre farm located in a food desert in southeast Atlanta. The farm’s former owners used to leave excess produce on fence posts for neighbors to enjoy, and Groundwork Atlanta hopes to bring that resource back to residents. Groundwork Atlanta also helps put on a local food festival, AgLanta Eats, to raise funds and support for AgLanta programs. After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the event will return to the Atlanta Botanical Garden on Aug. 29, 2022.
All the AgLanta programs are part of a mission to advance Atlanta’s local food system and ensure that 85 percent of Atlanta residents are within a half-mile of fresh food by 2022.
“I had good lessons early in life about eating organic and healthy food,” Queen says. “I can tell that has resulted in huge benefits in my life. Not just physically, but my mental health and my ability to think has come from eating healthy, fresh food. Everybody should have access to that and be able to have their bodies and minds as healthy as they can be.”
