June 17, 2008

Every fall, Mayor Franklin personally visits each Atlanta Public High School to speak directly to the senior class about the opportunities available to them through the Mayor’s Youth Program. The students then meet one-on-one with her during Saturday sessions where they are registered for the program. During the registration process, students addresses are entered into a locator service that identifies if the student resides in the Atlanta Empowerment zone. If the student does, he or she may qualify to recieve enhanced services based on grants awarded through the Atlanta Renewal Community Coordinating Responsible Authory, better known as ACORA. The ACoRA was designated by the City of Atlanta as the non-profit corporation charged with facilitating the use of special federal business tax incentives and guiding the investment of more than $53 million in Title XX funds remaining from the City's former 1994 Empowerment Zone (EZ) designation.

The Atlanta Renewal Community Coordinating Responsible Authority, Inc. (ACoRA) works to help those neighborhoods most economically distressed and underserved to grow and become places where residents and business owners can live and flourish.