ATLANTA — As we get closer to FIFA World cup match time here in Atlanta, there is a new way to get local communities engaged in the worldwide event.
Channel 2’s Lori Wilson went to Cascade Heights to learn how a grant is being used to bring the community together.
A community engagement grant from Showcase Atlanta means World Cup soccer will be seen on the big screen in Cascade Heights Plaza along with vendors and a kid zone.
“We will be watching the USA v. Australia match, right here in the plaza, the Cascade Plaza parking lot,” she said, Erika Brayboy Collier is the chair of neighborhood planning, Unit S.
Collier says she applied for the FIFA community grant because she remembers the Olympic torch traveling through southwest Atlanta. She actually ran the torch down Cascade Road.
“So we thought there has to be a way for us to activate again, almost 30 years later around a worldwide event,” she said.
Collier got support in applying for the grant, from two other neighborhood planning units and more than a dozen local businesses.
“More than 50% of Atlanta’s residents backing this, along with 13 letters of support from businesses operate in this historic district, I didn’t think they could say no, and they didn’t,” she said.
The FIFA activation will be on June 19, the same day as the Cascade Heights Juneteenth celebration by design.
On Cascade Road, they’re planning a double activation. There’s going to be a Kids Zone, The grant is for $3,750, most of which is going to be used for security.
Erika Brayboy Collier hopes the FIFA World Cup and Juneteenth activations will bring people together and be a big boost for businesses.
“That’s always the hope, and I think it’s going to be very successful,” she said. “This is more than just World Cup, Juneteenth. It’s truly a community-inspired, community-backed event.”
Henry Culler, general manager of The Beautiful Restaurant, is looking forward to the FIFA World Cup watch party in his neighborhood.
“I think it’s going to be very successful,” he said.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
TRENDING STORIES:
- ‘The perfect wedding:’ Parents of groom killed in helicopter crash reflect on his life
- Family confirms man missing from East Point is dead
- Grammy-winning R&B legend Peabo Bryson suffers stroke
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2026 Cox Media Group
