About Us

We are a family run 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Dekalb County, Ga. We have over 15 years experience working in the Atlanta metro area to meet the needs of the poor and extend friendship and care to the least of these. We are committed to being present to the marginalized and restoring dignity within the context of relationship by serving to meet the immediate needs of the poor in meaningful ways and by offering refuge and hospitality to any and all who desire it. 

Our Founder, Johnathon Kelso, is an award winning photo-journalist whose work covering issues of white supremacy and racial inequity have been published by The New York Times, Businessweek, The Guardian, and Time Magazine. The Porter Gate serves as an extension of this work to address inequitable social conditions among the more than 85% of unhoused people in the Atlanta area who are Black.

“Thanks to artists like Kelso, activists like Bryan Stevenson and grassroots organizations like Southern Truth and Reconciliation, among others, more Americans are beginning to understand the truth about racial violence.”

—Sherrilyn Ifill, President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.