Atlanta Mayor Tries to Secretly Replace Popular Diversion Program

Democratic Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens appears to be putting a beloved community program—that keeps people out of jail—on the chopping block.

The Policing Alternatives & Diversion Initiative, known as PAD, is a pre-arrest diversion program serving Atlanta-area residents living in extreme poverty or struggling with mental illness or substance use. The group responds to requests from law enforcement, as well as calls to 311 and 911. Instead of people in crisis languishing on the street or being tossed in jail, PAD can intervene and ensure people receive short- and long-term care—from Narcan and CPR to a safe place to shower to therapeutic services. 

Earlier this year, the city put out a call for proposals for the services it had contracted with PAD to provide for years. In July, the city’s chief procurement officer notified PAD they had been “recommended as the top ranked supplier.” 

The next steps appeared perfunctory.

“We negotiated a scope of work and a budget and the contract language,” the group’s executive director Moki Macías told The Appeal. “Our understanding was that the only thing left remaining, once we received a notice of award on July 26, was council authorization and the mayor’s signature on that contract.”

But the Mayor’s Office appears to have interfered with the City Council’s vote on PAD’s contract.

At the Finance/Executive committee meeting on Oct. 30, Councilmember Alex Wan said he had planned to move PAD’s contract forward but recently learned that the mayor’s office had initiated a 14-day special procurement process—that was closed to the public—because the city’s new diversion center could potentially affect the scope of services.

“I do hope that PAD is participating in that special procurement opportunity,” said Wan, who is vice-chair of the committee.

But PAD was not invited to apply or even informed that the process was occurring, Macías told The Appeal. When contacted for comment, Wan said in an email that “questions regarding procurements should be directed to the administration since they, not City Council, have that operational responsibility.” However, the Council must approve the contract before it is sent to the Mayor. 

The Council President’s office referred The Appeal to the mayor’s office or the Community Development/Human Services Committee.

In response to a list of questions sent to the Mayor’s Office, a spokesperson emailed The Appeal that, “There is currently an active RFP. As such, it would be inappropriate to comment further during the blackout period.” 

“The Dickens Administration and Atlanta City Council have invested more than $4.4 Million annually in Policing Alternatives & Diversion (PAD)—doubling previous investments—for this vital service and want our residents and, most importantly, the individuals served by these funds to get the services they deserve,” the spokesperson said.

But the opening of the diversion center was accounted for in the city’s initial Request for Proposals, known as an RFP, which stated that the new center would likely reduce the need for mobile services and so potential vendors were asked to “integrate this understanding into their proposed work plan and cost proposal.” On Oct. 28, the city held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the center—the culmination of years of work spearheaded by PAD, which will provide case management services to the center’s clients, said Macías. Macías and Dickens stood next to each other to cut the ribbon. 

The city’s invitation for the closed procurement process is for nearly identical services that PAD was selected to provide—pre-arrest diversion and on-scene response to 911 and ATL311 calls—through the earlier open bidding process. 

The Southern Center for Human Rights obtained the invitation through a public records request and circulated it on Tuesday in a press release. The group’s director of public policy, Tiffany Roberts, urged the council to approve PAD’s contract and “reject any pressure to succumb to a culture of corruption that only harms the people of Atlanta.”

The Appeal asked Councilmember Wan if the committee planned to put PAD’s contract up for a vote at today’s meeting. In response, he told The Appeal in an email, “I cannot predict what will happen in committee meetings.” The chair of the committee, Councilmember Howard Shook did not respond to The Appeal’s request for comment by publication. 

The city’s procurement code requires a written justification for using a closed procurement process. Both the Southern Center for Human Rights and The Appeal have requested the written justification, but the city has not yet provided it. 

In an interview with The Appeal, Roberts said that the city’s actions show “a certain desperation when it comes to getting PAD out of the city’s responder units.” 

Atlanta residents and civil rights groups have rallied in support of PAD, including the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and the ACLU of Georgia. At a council meeting earlier this month, several community members spoke out and demanded that city leaders approve PAD’s contract. 

“We have tirelessly demanded that the public safety and public security be in the hands of the public—that we know what is best for our communities,” Annette Aguilar, a community organizer with Georgia Latino Alliance For Human Rights, told the council. “PAD is what we have reimagined public safety and security to be. So who are you to cut a ribbon and then just days later, turn your back on your community. You should be ashamed of yourselves.” 

Dickens’s mayoral tenure has been mired in controversy. He has championed the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, better known as Cop City. Dickens blocked a referendum on Cop City from getting on the ballot even though organizers had collected twice the number of necessary signatures. After law enforcement shot and killed Cop City protester Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán, more than 1,300 social justice groups demanded Dickens resign. 

In 2022, he supported leasing the city’s jail beds to the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, despite widespread community opposition, including from PAD. 

“The jailing business will never be the pathway to getting out of the jailing business,” the group warned at the time, noting that many of the people detained at the overcrowded Fulton County Jail could have been diverted to PAD in the first place. 

PAD’s opposition drew the ire of some local officials, with one Fulton County Commissioner warning the group to “not bite the hand that’s feeding them.” The mayor did not publicly criticize the group’s position at the time.

Michael Collins, Senior Director for Government Affairs for Color of Change, speculates that Dickens may be retaliating against PAD because of a somewhat misguided perception that the group “has not always supported the Mayor when it comes to justice issues.”

“I think there’s a vendetta against PAD because PAD is seen as having stood up to the mayor,” he said.

Roberts expressed a similar view and said this might be a “warning shot” to the movement in Atlanta “that there will be no collaboration with the Dickens administration unless everyone is complimentary of all of the decisions that he makes.” 

Despite the mayor’s plans, the Finance/Executive Committee can approve PAD’s contract at their Wednesday, Nov. 13 meeting and then send it to the full council, said Macías. 

“We certainly can’t force the city of Atlanta to partner with us to provide these services, but we were designed to provide these services,” she told The Appeal. “We employ dozens of Atlanta residents who are bringing their life experience and their commitment and their passion to provide these services to their community, and that’s what we want to be able to continue to do.”