ATLANTA, GA — In a city known for culture, faith, music, sports, and Black excellence, a new initiative is asking a simple but powerful question:

Are you good? Really?

CAREGD™ is launching Drop the Weight Atlanta, to embed emotional check-ins and crisis clarity into trusted Black community spaces.

The movement was created from a truth deeply rooted in the Black community: we have mastered saying “I’m good,” even when we are not. Drop the Weight was built to create room for truth — and give people permission to say what they’ve really been carrying.

In many Black spaces — churches, campuses, barbershops, athletic programs, and community organizations — strength is celebrated and resilience is expected, but vulnerability is often silenced. Students carry academic and social pressure. Millennials navigate financial strain and identity stress. Athletes wrestle with expectations beyond performance. Young men and women shoulder family responsibilities and emotional fatigue.

Checking In on Atlanta breaks that pattern and introduces language for what is actually being carried. “Drop the Weight was created from what we’ve lived and kept silent,” said Lisa C. Williams, Founder of CAREGD™. “In our community, strength is honored — but too often that strength becomes silence. We are unapologetic. We are checking in loud so no one checks out quietly.”

The Drop the Weight Experience

At the center of the movement is a culturally grounded activation designed to live inside the spaces where Black communities already gather.

Drop the Weight Check-In

A culturally responsive moment of pause where participants are guided through identifying what they have been holding — pressure, grief, anger, expectation, identity strain — and are given space to name it and release it. This is not therapy. It is a structured reset moment grounded in culture and community.

Headspace Song Lab

An interactive creative lab where participants transform emotions into lyrics and original music through guided prompts and facilitated creativity. Music has always been a language of expression within Black culture; here it becomes a tool for emotional awareness and regulation.

Interactive 988 / 911 Awareness

A scenario-based segment teaching when to call 911, when to call 988, and when to use non-emergency services, equipping participants with clarity during moments of crisis.

Because awareness saves lives.

Powered by CARE•CHECK

Drop the Weight Atlanta serves as the cultural activation layer of CARE•CHECK™ — demonstrating how emotional awareness can be embedded before crisis.

CARE•CHECK combines human-centered experiences with QR-enabled check-ins, text-based follow-up pathways, and aggregated, privacy-respecting insights that help organizations recognize pressure early and normalize care publicly.

The goal is proactive: reduce isolation before it escalates and create visible pathways for care.

“Community connectedness has always been a protective factor in the Black community,” Williams said. “When we make care intentional and visible, we strengthen what has always protected us.”

Where It’s Going

Drop the Weight Atlanta is being offered to:

• Black student organizations and campus groups
• Churches and youth ministries
• Barber academies and community hubs
• Nonprofits serving men, women, and youth
• Millennial-focused organizations
• Youth sports programs and athletic teams

The model allows organizations to host a single activation or build ongoing quarterly “Headspace Drops” focused on themes such as identity pressure, family weight, anger processing, seasonal stress, and life transitions. This creates rhythm rather than randomness — and builds a culture of check-in over time.

Why Atlanta

Atlanta is a cultural capital. A sports city. A faith city. A center of Black leadership and influence. Excellence, however, does not cancel out emotional weight.

By starting in Atlanta, CAREGD aims to demonstrate what happens when care becomes visible, normalized, and structured inside the Black community. The city serves as one of CAREGD’s flagship CARE•CHECK cities — modeling how cultural spaces can embed emotional check-ins without losing identity, pride, or strength.

The Invitation

Church leaders. Student leaders. Barber educators. Athletic directors. Nonprofit executives. Atlanta is being invited to check in — out loud. Organizations interested in hosting the Drop the Weight Experience and Headspace Song Lab can request partnership information by contacting:

Aniya Williams
info@caregd.com
@checkinginmovement

Atlanta does not need another program. It needs permission — permission to say “I’m not good,” and permission to ask, “Are you really good?” Drop the Weight Atlanta exists to make that permission visible.

About CAREGD

CAREGD™ (Culture. Care. Connection.) is a cultural care infrastructure organization building CARE•CHECK systems that embed emotional check-ins into sports, faith spaces, campuses, community hubs, and workforce environments. Through experiences like Drop the Weight, Headspace Song Lab, and Checking In — Are You Good?, CAREGD creates scalable, culturally grounded models that normalize conversation before crisis.