Editorial

From the Desk of Gaye Morris Smith, Executive Director
Family Connection Partnership

Communities Risk Economic Jeopardy without Collaborative Efforts to Provide Health Care Supports

Welcome to this issue of Connected, Family Connection Partnership's electronic magazine featuring news and information on current initiatives, resources, tools and upcoming events that support community collaboration, results accountability, community-based decision making, family-centered approaches, and prevention-oriented strategies.

This issue of Connected focuses on children's health. Research shows that communities thrive when its members are healthy, educated, and have stable, economically self-sufficient families. When we start early providing our children with the necessary resources, services and supports that encourage good health, we've taken a huge leap toward helping our communities reach that goal. Comprehensive children's health services, community involvement and collaboration, and community outreach activities all play a big part in expanding our efforts to improve children's physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

While rural communities are increasingly challenged to provide health care with limited resources, they often leave residents without access to the health care they need. The consequences of failing to respond adequately to their health needs put the community's economic stability in jeopardy.

In this issue, see how a unique Medicaid funding opportunity designed exclusively for Family Connection collaboratives helps children succeed in school. Read about our partnership with the Department of Human Resources, Division of Family and Children Services, to help keep children safe from abuse and neglect. See an excerpt of a report from the Division of Public Health and the American Heart Association that lists community programs and resources that are promoting physical activity in Georgia's communities. Our Best Practices and Results section features some approaches to children's overweight and obesity issues.

As always, we encourage you to share your organization's news, community highlights, success stories, and best practice approaches, as we continue to link community priorities to public policy initiatives.