By Milton Kirby | Atlanta, GA | January 6, 2026
Atlanta entered a new chapter Monday as Andre Dickens was sworn in for a second four-year term, pledging to confront poverty, inequality, and public safety with renewed urgency — and with proof, he said, that the city’s approach is working.
Before thousands packed into Georgia State University’s Convocation Center, Dickens framed his next term as the completion phase of what he repeatedly called Atlanta’s “group project,” a citywide effort to invest in people, neighborhoods, and opportunity without leaving communities behind.
“Atlanta, we are done managing poverty,” Dickens declared. “We are done tolerating inequality. And we are done accepting violence as destiny.”
A second term shaped by results
Dickens, a lifelong Atlantan who grew up in the Adamsville neighborhood, returns to office after winning more than 85 percent of the vote in November. His second inauguration followed an unprecedented three-day Inauguration Weekend that included 61 community service projects across the city — a nod to his role as Atlanta’s 61st mayor and a signal that service, not ceremony, would define the moment.
During his first term, Dickens said the city invested in people and neighborhoods at a historic scale. Atlanta opened 500 rapid re-housing units and started or completed more than 13,000 units of affordable housing. Youth investments topped $40 million, and more than 19,000 young people were hired at a living wage through city-supported programs.
Those investments, Dickens argued, produced measurable outcomes. Violent crime dropped sharply, with Atlanta finishing 2025 with fewer than 100 homicides for the first time in years. Youth-related crime fell by 56 percent, while Atlanta Public Schools posted its highest graduation rate on record.
The city also earned its first-ever AAA bond rating, raised the minimum wage for city employees to $17.50 an hour, expanded the BeltLine and park access, reduced food deserts, and launched the city’s first municipal grocery store.
“Across every measure,” Dickens said, “the Phoenix of Atlanta continues to rise.”
The unfinished work
Still, Dickens made clear that progress alone is not enough.
“How can we be satisfied when too many of our neighbors still sleep on our streets?” he asked. “How can we be satisfied when too many families live check to check — with more month than money?”
At the center of his second term is the Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative, aimed at ensuring every Atlanta neighborhood is safe, connected, healthy, and whole. Dickens described poverty and inequality as Atlanta’s modern-day “Goliath” — a persistent enemy that demands a direct confrontation, not incremental management.
He outlined five priorities — “five smooth stones,” as he called them — that will guide the administration: affordable housing, neighborhood investment, youth opportunity, public safety, and ethical, fiscally responsible government.
“Where we’ve thrown those stones,” Dickens said, “the results have been undeniable.”
A citywide audience
The inauguration drew a broad cross-section of Atlanta’s political and civic leadership, including U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, U.S. Reps. Lucy McBath and Nikema Williams, U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, and former mayors Kasim Reed and Shirley Franklin.
All members of the Atlanta City Council were sworn in alongside Dickens, including incoming Council President Marci Collier Overstreet, underscoring the administration’s emphasis on collaboration entering a politically active year ahead of the 2026 Georgia legislative session.
From Adamsville to City Hall
Dickens’ story remains central to his message. A graduate of Benjamin E. Mays High School, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State University, he often describes his leadership as forged in Atlanta’s neighborhoods long before City Hall.
“Leadership doesn’t begin in the palace,” he said, referencing his upbringing. “It begins in the field.”
That framing resonated throughout the address, which closed with a promise to move beyond what Dickens called a “tale of two cities” — one prosperous, one struggling — toward a future where opportunity is shared more evenly.
“This is not just a slogan,” he said. “It is our promise.”
Why it matters
As Atlanta continues to grow, Dickens’ second term will test whether the city can expand affordability, safety, and economic mobility without displacing the communities that built it. His administration enters 2026 with momentum, measurable results, and heightened expectations — and with a mayor signaling that the next four years will be about finishing the work already underway.
“Now,” Dickens told the crowd, “let’s get to work, Atlanta.”
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