HOPE Atlanta gathered the city’s civic, corporate, and nonprofit leadership at Flourish Atlanta on October 8 for Heroes for Hope, its signature gala in the fight to prevent and end homelessness. The evening’s headline honor went to Chris Womack, chairman, president, and CEO of Southern Company, named the organization’s 2026 Individual Hero.
Corporate Power, Aimed at Housing
Womack’s recognition reflects more than executive philanthropy. As a co-chair of the Atlanta Rising campaign, he has helped lead the business community’s push for permanent housing, coordinated outreach, and long-term stability for Atlantans experiencing homelessness, championing efforts including Partners for HOME, the city’s continuum of care lead agency. HOPE Atlanta also honored its board chair, Rocky Atkins, as Volunteer Hero, and the gala was co-chaired by Rose J. Hunter Jones of Hilgers PLLC and Dr. Kofi Smith of Keystone Management. The room underscored the breadth of the coalition: attendees included Carlos Pagoaga, president of The Coca-Cola Foundation, placing two of Atlanta’s most consequential corporate philanthropies in the same conversation about housing.
More Than a Check
HOPE Atlanta’s approach, and the premise of Atlanta Rising, is that homelessness is solvable when a city treats housing stability as core civic and economic infrastructure rather than a charity case. The gala arrives as Atlanta prepares for a global spotlight in 2026, and the organization’s message to its supporters was pointed: a city is judged by whether its growth leaves anyone outside.
For The Social Register, Heroes for Hope is the kind of room that matters, where the people who control corporate giving budgets commit publicly, in front of their peers, to a measurable community outcome. Womack’s honor signals that Atlanta’s business establishment now counts homelessness among its defining responsibilities, and intends to be measured on it.
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