To celebrate Black Business Month, Capital B Atlanta is profiling innovative entrepreneurs during the month of August.

Shawn DeAngelo Walton is a proud resident of Ashview Heights in southwest Atlanta. Growing up, Walton often saw drug dealers posted on each corner of his neighborhood. But they never tried to pull him into that life — instead, they looked out for him, steering him away from danger.

Today, Walton, 39, stands in those same spots offering something different: bikes, food, and nourishment. For him, the mission is both deeply personal and deeply spiritual.

“We call it the Black Mecca,” he says, reflecting on Atlanta’s reputation. “But it feels like we’ve mishandled our blessings — our land, our institutions, our wealth. I don’t want to face God one day knowing I didn’t try everything I could to build what the people needed.”

Through his business, Everybody Eats Together, Walton is working to reclaim those blessings building a faith-based food system rooted in community care, youth employment, and economic self-determination. He hopes to open a community-owned grocery store in the historic neighborhood by 2027. The goal is simple but radical: grow together, eat together, own together.

“We call it the Black Mecca,” he says, reflecting on Atlanta’s reputation. “But it feels like we’ve mishandled our blessings—our land, our institutions, our wealth.”

Shawn DeAngelo Walton, Everybody Eats Together

Capital B Atlanta spoke with Walton to learn more about his company and what community sustainability means to him.

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Capital B Atlanta: What does Everybody Eats Together do?

Shawn DeAngelo Walton: With my organization, we are establishing a faith-based food system in Ashview Heights. We engage youth in landscaping and garden-scaping the yards of our neighbors — work that provides real income. We also engage them in cart vending that sells produce, smoothies, and hot dogs on a local corner.

I look forward to seeing youth and families provide local produce and hot meals, beautify communities, and one day witness a grocery store built where they are equitable members. They’ll get to see a viable model for faith-based, equitably owned food systems and create an avenue for kids at M. Agnes Jones [Elementary School] to see the process every day.

What inspired you to create Everybody Eats Together? How did your journey at We Cycle Atlanta influence that vision?

We Cycle Atlanta, which is my nonprofit, is youth-based. We teach kids basic engineering and agricultural skills through cycling and urban agriculture. I realized kids grow out of bikes quickly and need more opportunities. Everybody Eats Together gives them employment and community engagement through landscaping, garden-scaping, and vending fresh produce and food.

Why is your work in Ashview Heights so important?

A woman once told me she assumed a white organization was behind our work. That’s the perception — that it takes government or corporate help. But we’re neighbors, doing this for ourselves every day. We want to change that narrative — let us be our own saviors.

Ashview Heights was one of Atlanta’s first planned African-American communities. Our ancestors laid the groundwork for sovereignty and established a lasting legacy. They set the foundation for togetherness. We’re building on that with a food system that the next generation can expand into schools, hospitals, and businesses.

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How has the “Collard Dollar” metaphor helped explain food sovereignty and economic equity?

We spend more energy and money outside of ourselves to get what we need inside our homes. That doesn’t stabilize a community. When we keep resources and labor within, they multiply and provide us with more of what we need. It’s less time spent away, more time building systems that sustain us. The Collard Dollar is about currency — energy and money — circulating within our community, rather than accumulating for others.

How does your work bring back the “Can I borrow a cup of sugar” culture?

This faith-based food system is founded on the principle that God has made things abundant. We grow gardens with our neighbors, so it’s not “Can I borrow sugar?” It’s “We got sugar.”

We live the lesson from the children’s story Stone Soup — everyone brings a little, and we create something that feeds the whole community. That mentality is what allows our entire community to thrive.

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