Collaborative News

Testimonials from Winter Training Event,
Family Connection Day

Editor's Note: Nearly 300 Family Connection supporters and collaboratives representing 120 Georgia counties recently attended the annual Family Connection Winter Training Event and Family Connection Day in Atlanta. This year's event celebrates the 15th anniversary of Family Connection and its progress in improving results for Georgia's children, families and communities. The following are descriptions of a few of the workshops, along with testimonials from attendees. See related story for details of the Winter Training Event and Family Connection Day.

Mavis Moore, director of Terrell County Department of Family and Children Services, delivered a keynote speech using the acronym CHOICE to help illustrate her message.

“You have to make a choice to decide that today is the best day of your life,” she said. “Given the gift of today, what you do with it is your choice. Go back to your homes and your communities and communicate in healthy ways, honoring those who you live and work with, and there will be oneness, change will be inward, you will be open to change, and you will embrace it with enthusiasm and laughter. At the end of the day, you will know it is the best day of your life.”

“The keynote speaker was great. She was funny and engaging and delivered a wonderful message.”
—Denise Duncan, Pickens County Family Connection

The Winter Training Event included 12 workshops led by partners sharing their latest initiatives, work, and resources available to Family Connection collaboratives:

Leadership Development: A Key to Community Success

Louise Hill of the University of Georgia Fanning Institute used a PowerPoint presentation, handouts, and small group activity to maximize learning. She shared tips on how to maintain quality adult leadership development programs and how to better promote and recruit for such programs. She also discussed the various types of funding available to counties, depending on their eligibility status.

“This is the greatest day of my life! I just found out that my community has  prior approved funds still available to us!”
—Angie Inge, Terrell County Family Connection

Linking Up for Leadership

Kim Anderson, a youth leadership program specialist with the University of Georgia Fanning Institute, discussed topics of youth as resources rather than recipients or objects. She explained the Institute's mission to bring meaningful leadership programs to Georgia's youth to encourage them to have their rightful voice in community issues. She also shared resources for more information.

“We must remember that we are preparing for their futures and not our past.”
—Kim Anderson, University of Georgia Fanning Institute

Get in the Know with the GO

Candace Sommer of Education GO Get It said that the mission of Education GO Get It is to enable and motivate all Georgia students to graduate high school and pursue a two-year, four-year, or technical college degree. She discussed how to help students reach their potential through education by using the GO Kit Curriculum, opening GO Centers, recruiting G-Force volunteers, launching GO Theatres, accessing resources within the GO partnership, and applying for a GO Mini-Grant to kick-start GO in a community.

“GO Centers are wonderful opportunities for students and parents. I would like to see them in elementary schools. You can't start too early!”
—Barbara Messer, Pike County Board of Education

“This workshop was very informative. It is something all counties should at least be interested in. Children need this information.”
—Janie Reid, Eatonton-Putnam Family Connection and Communities In Schools

Connecting with Youth

Jill Riemer of the Georgia Afterschool Investment Council, formerly the Georgia Partnership for Youth Investment, discussed implementing a statewide after-school network so that all Georgia's youth have access to enriching opportunities when they are not in school. Topics centered on programs that are serving Georgia's youth, the infrastructure in place to support the programs, and how communities can connect with this partnership.

“The best part about this workshop was the sharing of the information and  knowing that people across the state have some of the same problems in  providing opportunities for youth after they get out of school.”
—John Winchester, Harris County Family Connection

Resource Center: Best Practices in Building Partnerships

A panel of Family Connection coordinators discussed best practices and exchanged ideas around strategies, grants, partners and resources that have led to successes for children and families in their counties.

“This workshop was very informative. I got some unexpected good ideas.”
—Junie Christian, Columbus Children, Youth & Family Coalition

“The workshop provided very good information. It reminded us to include all  partners in fund development.”
—Marcell Johnson, Family Connection Partnership

Collaborative Webs: Build Yours Now

Family Connection Partnership will offer training on Collaborative Webs-new free Web sites designed for Family Connection collaboratives. This two-part computer lab workshop taught participants how to navigate the standard pages, add contact information, and access the event calendar. They also learned how to personalize their site with content, newsletters, and graphics.

“I brought my interns to this workshop, and they really learned a lot.”
—Denese Rodgers, Connecting Henry

Communities In Schools and Family Connection: A Partnership that Works

Communities In Schools (CIS) is a community-based organization helping kids stay in school and prepare for life. This session highlighted examples of the Winter Training Event theme "Partnerships in Progress" by showing how communities have linked CIS and Family Connection successfully to build capacity at the local level. Nina Powers of CIS explained how the organization is focused on improving Georgia's graduation rates and why private sector involvement is critical to the process.

“I thought this workshop was great! It was very informative and not too long. Overall, I loved it!”
—Denise Duncan, Pickens County Family Connection

Partnering to Eradicate School Failure

Caren Cloud Barnes and Jessica Pinson Pennington of the Truancy Intervention Project (TIP) shared how the organization provides advocacy and resources for Georgia's children and their families to prevent school failure. Serving nearly 400 children annually, TIP collaborates with the Fulton County Juvenile Court, Atlanta City and Fulton County Public School Systems, The Atlanta and Georgia Bar Foundations, and many community-based outreach programs to save children from the brink of school failure.

“Because of the state laws around truancy, many of the counties are interested  in new and innovative ways of handling the problem. TIP's early intervention  model, where you get kids and pair them with a mentor early on before the  problem escalates, is something that can be replicated in small counties that  don't have a large attorney pool.”
—Marcell Johnson, Family Connection Partnership

Family Connection Day

Many legislators and state partners attended Family Connection Day at the Georgia Freight Depot. Gov. Sonny Perdue greeted participants, and Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox thanked the collaboratives and partners for their 15 years of service to Georgia's children, families and communities.

The Family Connection Day theme was “Celebrating communities in progress.” Building on the theme from the 2005 Family Connection Conference—“Framing the Future”—three youth keynote speakers shared their visions for what they want their communities to look like in the future and what they are doing to make that vision a reality.

“I thought the event was well presented. The youth speakers were a great motivation, proving that a strong community does make a difference in the lives of our children and youth.”
—Rhonda Heuer, Polk County Family Connection