[4] By the 1990s and 2000s, the neighborhood experienced a major decline due to blight, high crime, and low performing area public schools.

[5][6] Collier Heights has been the home of several notable African Americans including Cynthia McKinney, Emmanuel Lewis, Billy McKinney, Leroy Johnson, Jasmine Guy, Asa G. Yancey, Sr., Herman J. Russell, Martin Luther King, Sr, Donald Hollowell, Ralph David and Juanita Abernathy, Christine King Farris, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Andre Dickens.

The CHCA meets the 2nd Tuesday of every month at Berean Seventh-Day Adventist Church (291 Hamilton E Holmes Dr NW) at 6:30 pm.

The "Historic Collier" Association meets on the 1st Thursday of every month at St. Paul of the Cross Church (551 Harwell Rd NW) at 7:00 pm.

In 2008 under community association president, attorney Antavius Weems, Collier Heights began a quest to become the first community in the nation to be registered as a historic site, listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places.

MARTA serves Collier Heights with the Hamilton E. Holmes transit station, which is the system's westernmost route.