Below are images from Google Maps that map the surrounding community assets of my school, Intown Community School. The school is located within five miles of both Emory and the CDC and is strategically placed inside the Atlanta perimeter and right next to Highway 85. This makes the school easily accessible for families who choose to commute and is placed in a neighborhood that provides a lot of community engagement and assets for the families that live nearby.

The images below show locations of grocery stores, parks, museums, hospitals, liquor stores, libraries, neighboring schools, and daycares. Click on each image to enlarge it and see the wealth of community resources surrounding the school. 

To highlight just a few: 

1. Toco Hills Avis G. Williams Library: This library among many others is located only 1.2 miles from the school. The library provides easy access to books, audio books, dvds, newspapers, and magazines. This free resources can be utilized by students for research in school projects, pleasure reading, and a space to study. It provides the community with a space for collective engagement and experiences. 
2. The High Museum of Art: 5.4 miles away from the school is the High Museum of Art, a major cultural hub in Atlanta. Besides being a place for field trips and enrigh educational experiences with the school, it provides a place for families to learn together and enjoy the arts. Through many community events and engaging experiences including limited time galleries and a unique children’s museum, the High is a unique space in the community. 
3. Mason Mill Park: This park includes playgrounds, baseball fields, tennis courts, and walking trails. This provides a space for students to participate in sports, be part of a team and play outside. This green space is located 1.2 miles away and provides a place for the community to play, exercise, and compete. It is integral to a flourishing community in that is allows people to be outside and to gather as both a family unit and as a community. 
4. Emory University: This university provides both resources and support to community both through programs that serve the greater community as well as through performing arts, a museum, and library that are open to the public. This can enhance the learning experience of students at the school as a nearby field trip for multiple different content areas and topics since it is on 1.4 miles from the school.  
5. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta – Egleston Hospital: This hospital serves the family of the area as one of the top children’s’ hospitals in the country. This is not only a large employer in the community but also provides the resources for exceptional health care to the community. 

Intown Community School is located in such a way that the families who are engaged in the Intown community take that engagement outside the school. There are so many assets that allow the school to provide great learning experiences to the students and that also enable the students and their families to spend time together outside of school in ways that engaging and provide further learning opportunities. The location of the school shows that students are coming from a place of a great access. They have resources available to them that provide both easy access to the necessities like food and health care and also an ease in access to things like extra curricular activities. Attending Intown is a choice made on the part of the family and exercising this choice shows that they are also able to make choices for the other areas in their lives as well. This power of choice is not one that is represented in all communities and is an asset in and of itself. The obvious number of choices that this community lives within is a position of a great advantage.