About
About Us
Friends of Five Points is a neighborhood organization in Athens, Georgia. We live, work, shop, and go to school in Five Points, a traditional neighborhood adjacent to the University of Georgia. Five Points is a walkable, diverse neighborhood with a strong sense of community identity. Students, elders, young adults, singles, couples, families with children, and small business owners all share in this unique and lovely neighborhood.
Our Mission
The mission of the Friends of Five Points neighborhood organization is to enhance the quality of life in Five Points by facilitating communication amongst our neighbors. Friends of Five Points is a non-profit corporation with a board of directors and members. We facilitate a neighborhood e-mail discussion (listserv) and provide opportunities for residents to interact with each other and access information about our community.
Our Structure & Board
Anyone who lives in or runs a business in Five Points may become a member of FOFP. There is a general membership meeting held annually each Spring. The Board of Directors meets monthly on the second Thursday of the month. The current (2020) Board members of Friends of Five Points are:
Sara Beresford (Interim Chair and Listserve Co-Manager)
Paige Cummings
Susan Field (Government and Community Relations Coordinator)
Kevin Florence (Business Relations Coordinator)
Gary Grossman
Amy Kissane
Glenn Leavell (Treasurer and Listserve Co-Manager)
Kristin Nielsen (Membership Coordinator and Interim Secretary)
Dustin Shinholser
Chris Stutz (“Meet Your Commissioners” Coordinator)
John Weatherford (Board Member at Large, Website Coordinator)
Please direct inquiries to info@friendsoffivepoints.org.
Please note that the Five Points Business Association is a separate entity – we work with FPBA whenever possible and always have at least one FPBA member on our board to act as a liaison between our organizations. Check out FPBA on Facebook.
FOFP Bylaws
Our bylaws can be found here.
Our Communications
We fulfill our mission of facilitating communication amongst neighbors in a variety of ways. Our most active form of communication is our listserve. Learn more about our listserve or manage subscription options here.
FOFP has a Facebook page that has been used primarily for event announcements in the past. However, in 2015 one of our members created a Facebook group (Friends of FOFP Facebook Group), and now many of our members use both platforms for communication. We do not manage or monitor that page, but encourage people to use it if they prefer Facebook. In addition, some members also particpate in NextDoor, which is a national company that connects neighbors with each other. We have no affiliation with NextDoor. Five Points neighbors can use any or all of these services!
Our Neighborhood Organization
Although various organized Five Points neighborhood activites have taken place for years, Friends of Five Points, Inc. was officially incorporated as a non-profit organization by a group of neighbors in 1999 to enhance the quality of life in Five Points.
In 2005 Friends of Five Points was invited to participate in Athens-Clarke County’s new Neighborhood Notification Initiative. The NNI program was set up to improve communication between the local government and neighborhoods about items of interest, such as local meeting announcements and proposed zoning actions. Prior to that time the boundaries of FOFP were loosely defined, if at all. The NNI required each participating neighborhood to submit a map of neighborhood boundaries as part of the application process. Although the process of defining the neighborhood boundaries generated much spirited discussion, the decision was taken to define the boundaries of the neighborhood in the spirit of inclusion. This process was not intended to exclude areas that may wish to identify as part of Friends of Five Points neighborhood, and ultimately any area within reasonable distance of the Five Points intersection that wished to be included in the neighborhood was included in the map (below).
While we use these boundaries to determine eligibility to participate in the listserve, and the ACC govenrment uses the boundaries to define the neighborhood for communications purposes only, the Five Points boundaries do not have any legal meaning. Friends of Five Points is *not* a homeowner’s association.
In general terms the neighborhood extends south to Old Macon Highway, east to Agriculture Drive, north to the residential area adjacent to Baxter, and west to the Middle Oconee River. The neighborhood includes some areas that have their own identity or neighborhood organization (e.g. Midtown-Bloomfield Neighborhood Association, Davis Estates, Glenwood-Bedgood), and their inclusion in FOFP is not meant to intrude or supersede their institutions or historical identity.
There are eight local historic districts included in Five Points: Bloomfield, Castalia, Dearing, Henderson, Milledge Circle, Rocksprings, West Cloverhurst/Springdale, and Woodlawn. You can view a map of Athens’ local historic districts here. Check out this story map about our historic districts here.
