Stop the Erasure: Demand Accountability from DeKalb Leaders Over Candler Crossing Funding
The Issue
Trailer to "The Dividend Pipeline: Where Shopping Is A Pleasure
For years, the residents of South DeKalb and Belvedere Park have fought for basic economic dignity. When the Belvedere Kroger on Memorial Drive closed its doors, it left a massive void in our neighborhood—a food desert that forced families to travel miles just for fresh produce.
So, when the $28.9 million Candler Crossing development was announced at the intersection of Candler and Glenwood Roads, our community celebrated. We deserve a high-end grocery store. We deserve infrastructure.
But a devastating contradiction lies at the heart of this project, and it is a bitter pill for our community to swallow.
The development is anchored by a new, 50,000-square-foot Publix. While Publix proudly markets itself as an "employee-owned" company, the founding Jenkins family heirs still control a massive 20% stake in the corporate fortune. One of the principal heirs is Julie Jenkins Fancelli.
Public records and financial disclosures have revealed a horrifying truth: Ms. Fancelli was a primary financier of the January 6th rallies in Washington, D.C., pouring over $600,000 into the organizations involved. Worse, she is a major financial backer of extremist political groups like Moms for Liberty—organizations actively working across the United States to criminalize diversity, ban books, and legally erase Black history from public school classrooms.
The Clashing Reality on Candler Road
At the recent groundbreaking for Candler Crossing, developers announced a partnership with DeKalb County Schools. Local Black children from our neighborhood are being invited to paint a community mural along Candler Road to celebrate this new development.
Think about the profound dilemma this creates: Our local Black children are being asked to paint a celebratory mural for a development anchored by a corporation whose foundational fortune directly funds the erasure of their own history.
Every single dollar our community spends at this Publix risks being turned around and weaponized to dismantle the education, identity, and future of Black children across this country.
We are building community equity with our hands, while the wealth generated by our pockets is being funneled into "dark money" agendas that target our very existence.
What We Are Demanding
We refuse to choose between having access to fresh food and protecting the minds of our children. We cannot allow public dollars—including the $3.82 million Tax Allocation District (TAD) grant approved for this project—to subsidize structures that quietly fund our own disenfranchisement.
By signing this petition, we are demanding that DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson, Decide DeKalb, and Venture South Investments provide absolute transparency and take immediate action on the following items:
1. Full Transparency: Publicly disclose whether local leadership or the development authority was aware of the Jenkins fortune's extremist political ties before finalizing the Candler Crossing deal.
2. Curriculum Protection & Reconciliation: Demand a formal plan detailing how DeKalb County and Venture South Investments will reconcile their partnership with DeKalb County Schools, ensuring our students are not used as a public relations shield for a corporate fortune that funds anti-Black educational agendas.
3. Community Equity Safeguards: Implement strict, binding structural guardrails on future public-private developments in DeKalb County to ensure public funds are never used to enrich corporate structures tied to dark money agendas targeting minority communities.
Why This Matters Right Now
This isn't just about a grocery store; it’s about respect. For 12 years, grassroots volunteers in Belvedere Park have cleaned the streets, fed the unhoused, and built this neighborhood up with zero budget. We will not let our community's hard-earned equity be overshadowed by billionaires who spend their wealth trying to rewrite our history.
We demand food access AND community respect. We refuse to sacrifice one for the other.
Sign this petition today to demand a formal statement, accountability, and clear answers from DeKalb leadership. Share this with your neighbors, your school PTA, and your community networks. Let them know South DeKalb is watching.
2
The Issue
Trailer to "The Dividend Pipeline: Where Shopping Is A Pleasure
For years, the residents of South DeKalb and Belvedere Park have fought for basic economic dignity. When the Belvedere Kroger on Memorial Drive closed its doors, it left a massive void in our neighborhood—a food desert that forced families to travel miles just for fresh produce.
So, when the $28.9 million Candler Crossing development was announced at the intersection of Candler and Glenwood Roads, our community celebrated. We deserve a high-end grocery store. We deserve infrastructure.
But a devastating contradiction lies at the heart of this project, and it is a bitter pill for our community to swallow.
The development is anchored by a new, 50,000-square-foot Publix. While Publix proudly markets itself as an "employee-owned" company, the founding Jenkins family heirs still control a massive 20% stake in the corporate fortune. One of the principal heirs is Julie Jenkins Fancelli.
Public records and financial disclosures have revealed a horrifying truth: Ms. Fancelli was a primary financier of the January 6th rallies in Washington, D.C., pouring over $600,000 into the organizations involved. Worse, she is a major financial backer of extremist political groups like Moms for Liberty—organizations actively working across the United States to criminalize diversity, ban books, and legally erase Black history from public school classrooms.
The Clashing Reality on Candler Road
At the recent groundbreaking for Candler Crossing, developers announced a partnership with DeKalb County Schools. Local Black children from our neighborhood are being invited to paint a community mural along Candler Road to celebrate this new development.
Think about the profound dilemma this creates: Our local Black children are being asked to paint a celebratory mural for a development anchored by a corporation whose foundational fortune directly funds the erasure of their own history.
Every single dollar our community spends at this Publix risks being turned around and weaponized to dismantle the education, identity, and future of Black children across this country.
We are building community equity with our hands, while the wealth generated by our pockets is being funneled into "dark money" agendas that target our very existence.
What We Are Demanding
We refuse to choose between having access to fresh food and protecting the minds of our children. We cannot allow public dollars—including the $3.82 million Tax Allocation District (TAD) grant approved for this project—to subsidize structures that quietly fund our own disenfranchisement.
By signing this petition, we are demanding that DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson, Decide DeKalb, and Venture South Investments provide absolute transparency and take immediate action on the following items:
1. Full Transparency: Publicly disclose whether local leadership or the development authority was aware of the Jenkins fortune's extremist political ties before finalizing the Candler Crossing deal.
2. Curriculum Protection & Reconciliation: Demand a formal plan detailing how DeKalb County and Venture South Investments will reconcile their partnership with DeKalb County Schools, ensuring our students are not used as a public relations shield for a corporate fortune that funds anti-Black educational agendas.
3. Community Equity Safeguards: Implement strict, binding structural guardrails on future public-private developments in DeKalb County to ensure public funds are never used to enrich corporate structures tied to dark money agendas targeting minority communities.
Why This Matters Right Now
This isn't just about a grocery store; it’s about respect. For 12 years, grassroots volunteers in Belvedere Park have cleaned the streets, fed the unhoused, and built this neighborhood up with zero budget. We will not let our community's hard-earned equity be overshadowed by billionaires who spend their wealth trying to rewrite our history.
We demand food access AND community respect. We refuse to sacrifice one for the other.
Sign this petition today to demand a formal statement, accountability, and clear answers from DeKalb leadership. Share this with your neighbors, your school PTA, and your community networks. Let them know South DeKalb is watching.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on June 15, 2026