2026 Faith-based Community Development Symposium

Brings together faith-based organizations, developers, funders, and policy leaders to advance a shared vision for community development.
About this Event

The inaugural Faith-Based Community Development Symposium hosted by the Georgia Interfaith Public Policy Center brings together faith-based organizations, developers, funders, and policy leaders to advance a shared question: how do we use faith-based-owned land to build attainable single-family homes that strengthen communities and generate sustainable economic opportunity?

Over 1.5 days of curated programming, attendees will enjoy:

• Leadership conversations with municipal partners on the role of small-town and metro government in faith-based housing
• Developer roundtables on innovative, statewide models for attainable single-family homeownership
• FBO case studies highlighting the various ways land is being unlocked for community impact
• Funding pathways panels with major institutional partners
• A half-day of property tours showcasing different single family home models and how faith based land is being activated to benefit community

Why Now:

The crisis is here. Metro Atlanta is 132,000 affordable rental units short of meeting demand, having lost more than 230,000 low- and moderately-priced housing units between 2018 and 2023, and only 8,400 new units are projected to deliver in 2026, roughly half of what was added the prior year.

The opportunity is here too. Faith-based organizations in Atlanta alone hold over 1,000 acres of underutilized land, and the City of Atlanta's Faith-Based Development Initiative has begun proving the model, with 43 faith institutions engaged, a $500K pre-development forgivable loan fund deployed, and a target of 2,000 affordable units on church-owned property by 2030. Statewide, the inventory is significantly larger and largely untapped.

What's been missing is the room where Georgia's faith leaders, developers, funders, and policy partners come together intentionally and on equal footing — to move beyond pilot scale into systemic impact.

This symposium is the room. Curated for substantive content, quality networking, and direct introductions among the people positioned to move this work forward together.