We are considering a potential job offer from Atlanta, in the downtown area. I was interested in knowing about how it is as a city to raise children in? Schools, Pakistani community etc. ? We are looking for good public schools with desi community nearby, along with Indian Pakistani grocery, masjid and Sunday school for the kids. My son shall be starting high school next year and daughter fourth grade and we will be looking for houses in the 400,000 dollar range. We love to socialize and want things nearby. Moving from the Midwest where we had a big desi community and social group where ladies had chand raat dance parties, gulla gulla that sort of thing.
Used to live in Detriot before that which was very boring. What are things to do there as a family?
I’ve been to Atlanta to visit a few times as my Mamoo and his family have been there for the past 25 years..they currently live in the Sewanee/Lawrenceville area, which is really nice, but it’s far from the settled/predominantly desi areas. Atlanta has no shortage of masjids/desi stores/community, you shouldn’t have any trouble adjusting there. Try asking @Lusi, she can probably help you with specifics
Hey Eastern, we moved to Atlanta last year. We love it here. There are lot of masjids, sunday school programs, halal grocery stores, desi restaurants, etc.
Desis in Atlanta are spread out. We have quite a few desi friends in Symrna and Marietta. There are quite a few masajids in Marietta as well.
Besides Marietta, Roswell, Alpharatta, Johns Creek, Suwanne, Cumming have huge desi population. There are 3-4 masajids b/w Roswell and Cumming, 2 Islamic Schools pre k-Grade 6 and quite a few sunday school programs. One of main masjids in roswell is Roswell Community Center. It has a Sunday School Program as well. The two islamic schools are ILM Academy and Hamza Academy. I know quite a few people who are sending their kids to both of these schools. All the above mentioned suburbs have great schools. The Housing Price for a decent 4-5 bedroom/2/3 bath is b/w 300-500K.
Big Name Grocery Store----Patel Plaza in Decatur, Al Madina Grocery in Norcross/Jimmy Carter Blvd
There is lot of desi stuff in Decatur and Norcross/Jimmy Carter Blvd
Things to do as a family…really depends on what your family likes…we love taking our kids to the park, he loves that. Besides, there is aquarium, science museum, lego center, six flags, stone mountain park, coco cola world, botanical gardens, food truck park, etc There is lot of stuff you can do. My older kid is 2years and younger is 3 months only, so we don’t do too much adventurous outdoor activities.
a little bit late in replying but I live in the alpharetta area and it’s an excellend area for raising a family plus as Lusi mentioned lots of masgids/grocery places so you shouldn’t have a hard time getting settled. The overall community is very scattered since most people have been settled for a while. Lusi, which area of atlanta are you in? My daughter goes to ILM academy but I live near the Hamzah masgid. Just wondering if we may have met
Lusi covered it well. I would add another area near where Madinah Halal is…Norcross, Lilburn, Lawrenceville & Snellville…there is substantial Pakistani population in this area, several masajids, halal restaurants and halal meat stores, some ethnic/religious clothing stores, madarsahs and an Islamic school ( Al Falah, up to 9th grade )… community wise.. I think it is a very cohesive group… ppl organize get-together and socialize.. and occasionally we also have mushaira etc; if you have any specific questions, please ask away.
Atlanta is at the intersection of 7 counties; the areas I mentioned fall under Gwinnett County, which has some good schools. Johns Creek & Suwanee, in Lusi’s post, also fall in Gwinnett county and have very good schools. Near Lilburn/Lawrenceville, you have two clusters with very good ratings: Parkview & Brookwood. I don’t know much about private schools. I have heard good things about Al-Falah.
Now about the commute. Atlanta probably has one of the worst commutes in the country. Buckhead area is more midtown than downtown, and two highways to take you there GA-400 & I-85. Roswell ( nearer ) and Alpharetta ( farther) and Cumming ( further north ) are off of GA-400. Norcorss( nearer ), Suwanee ( farther ) and Johns Creek ( further North) are off of I-85. Both these have heavy traffic during rush hours. Lilburn/Lawrenceville will probably be worse if you are driving to Buckhead coz in addition to the surface road, you will have to use I-85 to get there.
Thank you, I am only intrested in public schools and the Islamic Sunday school ( at the masjid closest to where we would live. How long would the commute be to Buckhead be do you think from these areas round about and also from Marietta?
Johns Creek is under Fulton county and have excellent school systems. I live about 5 mins away from the Johns Creek area. Forsyth county has excellent school systems as well. Cumming/ Alpharetta are both part of the Forsyth county. Some part of Alpharetta (till exit 11) is Fulton county also.
