In Atlanta's Westview neighborhood, a local business is offering its patrons a sense of connection, and its owner has big hopes for a major expansion in the future.

The moment you step inside the Ke'nekt Cooperative, you're hit with immediate joy mixed with the smell of fresh lattes.

The space is the brainchild of founder Kiyomi Rollins.

"The definition of a third space is where the community gathers to exchange ideas," Rollins said. "This is the Ke'nekt."

In a city where development can quickly change a neighborhood's character, Rollins wanted her business to be rooted in maintaining community and history. The site has a free library named in honor of Jeffrey Mathis, one of the young victims killed during a series of killings known as the Atlanta child murders. Rollins believes that it's the only place Mathis is memorialized.

"We really believe in preservation in the neighborhood," she said.  

For Rollins, the creation of the Ke'nekt Cooperative was a "trauma response."

Six years ago, she owned a popular family business in the Westview neighborhood called The Good Hair Shop. While the business sold hair and skin products, it was also a community space.

During a meeting about how to fight the displacement of Black-owned businesses by the West End Mall development, Rollins got an eviction notice. The Good Hair Shop was gone.

Almost immediately after receiving the notice, Rollins created the Ke'nekt Cooperative with the help of her community. That was August 2019. Shortly after, the business became host to COVID food drives, small business opportunities, and a way to gather safely during the pandemic.

"I come here for the sisterhood. I come here for the connection. I come here for the gathering. I come here for rest," community member Ann Hill Bond said.

"In the last 10 years, this city has transformed into something that might be unrecognizable to people who were born here," community member Nikki Porcher said. "To know that I have a community space like this where I can walk to, where I can see people who look like me, where I can feel like I'm at home away from my home is very important." 

In February 2026, the Ke'nekt Cooperative is breaking ground on its next step: An acre of land purchased right up the street. The goal is to build what Rollins calls the first Black-owned commercial eco-resilience district.

Rollins says the new building is in response to environmental and social injustice.

"There is a data point that says living in zone 4, 30310 zip code, this zip code, that my life expectancy is 64, versus if I just lived in Buckhead," Rollins said.  

The plans are to have the acre outfitted with a performing arts space, therapy office, gym, affordable commercial real estate, 10 micro-housing units across the street, and more.

"This is our land," she said. "I love it."

You can learn more about the Ke'nekt Cooperative on its website.