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Read and respond to stories by staff,
collaborative members, partners, legislators, and supporters about how we’re working together to improve conditions for children and families in your community. |
RSS 2.0Jack Eatman, executive director of Troup Family Connection Authority, wrote a prayer for families that he read at the National Day of Prayer event in LaGrange earlier this month.
“No children of mine are going to have their brains turn to mush.”
Lisa Brewer of Wayne County Family Connection and Wayne County parent mentor April Lee are finalists for the 2012 Community Impact Award in Parent to Parent of Georgia’s Impact Award Program. But they need your help to earn the title.
1 in 4 young adults have close friends who use Meth. Guest blogger Jim Langford, executive director of the Georgia Meth Project, tells how he can help communities raise awareness of the dangers of methamphetamine as a component of the Teen Maze.
This is Brain Awareness Week. Guest blogger Diane Bales, a specialist in child and family development at the University of Georgia, offers some practical tips on how we can raise children with healthy brains, and raise awareness of early brain development in our communities.
More than 20 partners and stakeholders shared information with legislators and the community about the issues that affect Georgia’s children at Voices for Georgia’s Children’s first annual Children’s Day at the Capitol.
Today children are reading across America to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s 108th birthday. But in Georgia too many children will struggle to comprehend his beginner books, even by fourth grade. Take a look at how we talk about improving literacy in Georgia in Seussian wisdom. Feel free to explore the data, comment, or add on.
The number of children living in high-poverty areas in Georgia has increased by 81 percent since the year 2000, with 264,000 Georgia children living in areas of concentrated poverty.
Last week the U.S. Department of Education granted Georgia’s waiver from the requirements of the No Child Left Behind law. That doesn’t mean Georgia won’t be held accountable for student progress and teacher effectiveness.
Patrick McCarthy says, in a blog entry he posted this week, that in nearly two decades with of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, he has never seen the landscape for America’s at-risk children and families quite so alarming as his past two years as president and chief executive.
Because low-income students can’t afford SAT prep classes, they may be less prepared than their more affluent peers to score high enough on the SAT to qualify for a full scholarship.
Enrollment in rural schools is growing faster than in any other geographic area. Here in Georgia, nearly 575,000 students attend rural schools. This surge has given rise to disparities. Poverty and mobility rates in Georgia—and the percentage of minority students—are among the highest in the United States.
If you missed Gov. Nathan Deal’s State of the State address last night, you can still watch him lay out his plans for the coming year.
Due to a recent vacancy, Community Support is hiring a Community Support specialist to join the team providing technical assistance and support in the Central to South Ga. area. Travel is required.
The 2012 legislative session begins Monday, Jan. 9. Since this is the second year of the 2011-2012 session, legislation that didn’t pass in 2011 is eligible for action in 2012. Here is a list of carry-over legislation and pre-filed bills that may have an impact on the children and families in your county.
Washington Learning Systems has made available—for free—parent-child early literacy activities in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Somali, Burmese, and Russian.
School-based health clinics provide affordable, quality medical care in a welcoming community setting for students and their families. There are 2,000 school-based health clinics in the nation, but only three in Georgia.
Access to fresh, nutritious, affordable food is essential for the health and well-being of children and families. Yet data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service show that residents in 87 of Georgia’s 159 counties healthy food.
Residents in Marion County have improved their quality of life thanks to a nutrition and fitness program that focuses on effective weight loss by combining healthy eating habits and exercise.
Often times, the focus is on high-school graduation rates, although critical, people forget that if a student doesn’t have a strong beginning, focusing on the efforts to help children succeed at the end of the process will be in vain.
According to new poverty data the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey released this week, Georgia’s poverty rate was the third highest in the nation in 2010.
According to a new report by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), Georgia has the nation’s 16th highest rate of households with food hardship.
Watch “The Town That Jobs Forgot” on Dateline NBC on Sunday night. The story features Jenkins County Family Commission.
The No Child Left Behind Act is up for reauthorization this year, so now is the time to explore the critical areas our legislators need to address.
We often discuss teen pregnancy and high-school dropout rates together because they’re so closely related. We can tie a lack of education to teen motherhood. Georgia Family Connection is applying a variety of strategies to address our challenges.
The Give Kids a Boost campaign begins July 18 in each of the state’s public health districts and will continue for three weeks leading up to the start of the new school year to raise awareness of Georgia’s new booster seat law—and to encourage children to get back-to-school immunization and booster shots.
Representatives from Region 7 recently visited the state Capitol to thank their legislators for supporting our work on behalf of Georgia’s children and families.
Calhoun County Family Connection Collaborative is pairing up senior citizens with at-risk youth in a mentoring project that promotes education, while capturing the stories of its most venerable residents in a book.
Pre-K is not daycare, but an academic learning experience that prepares children to be successful in kindergarten and beyond.
ACCG supports the development of a comprehensive continuum of services for families and children, and continued and permanent state funding for prevention and intervention programs such as Family Connection and PeachCare for Kids.
Georgia Family Connection collaborative coordinators and chairs from southwest Georgia recently converged on the state Capitol to talk about the families they serve and to thank their legislators for supporting their work.
GaFCP Executive Director Gaye Smith provided testimony on the FY12 budget this week before the House Appropriations sub-committee on Human Resources.
This is a great resource for counties working on a child abuse prevention or juvenile justice strategy.
GaFCP Executive Director Gaye Smith asked a Senate Appropriations sub-committee on Human Development, at a public hearing this week, to remove language from the FY12 budget that would transfer Family Connection dollars from an established nonprofit—with proven results—to a newly created state agency with an unproven track record.
Legislators in both the House Appropriations Subcommittees on Human Resources and General Government expressed their concerns about defunding Georgia Family Connection. Budget talks move to the Senate this week and GaFCP has been invited to testify at the Senate Appropriations committee meeting.
Gaye Morris Smith releases statement regarding the governor’s FY12 budget recommendation to move GaFCP and Family Connection to the Governor’s Office for Children and Families.
In communities across the country, innovative leaders are coming together to make children our top priority. Ready by 21 is an unprecedented coalition of prominent national organizations whose members touch the lives of more than 100 million children and youth. We’ve been invited into this national partnership.
2020 Georgia is a new alliance of non-profit and community leaders who are working together to pursue a balanced approach to the state financial crisis.
When I read Charles Blow’s column in The New York Times last week—a poignant commentary urging us not to forget about America’s most vulnerable children—I began to think about the counties in Georgia mired in persistent poverty and all the children we must remember.
I often find, when I go into communities to share Georgia KIDS COUNT data and information about best practices, that you are overwhelmed by what appear to be insurmountable challenges in your work to improve the well-being of our children and families.
Gaye Smith, our executive director, was quoted in an article that ran in the fall issue of Insight, Grantmakers for Children, Youth & Families’ (GCYF) quarterly magazine.
You’d probably agree that it’s easy to point out a homeless person in the the city. But what does rural homelessness look like?
TIP Georgia recently convened schools, courts, nonprofits—anyone with a vested interest in the education and success of Georgia’s children at its first conference, Reinvesting In and Reengaging Georgia’s Youth.
The Special Council on Tax Fairness for Georgians was established during the 2009-2010 Legislative Session (HB1405) to conduct a thorough study of the state’s current revenue structure and report its findings and recommendations for legislation to the speaker of the House and lieutenant governor by Jan. 10.
The obesity crisis in this state has reached a dangerously high level. Georgia has the second largest population in the nation of children 6-19 who are obese. Obesity affects not only a child’s health and self-esteem, but academics and behavior as well.
The key to breaking the cycle of poverty that has kept communities and schools in bondage for so long is a child with a strong educational foundation. That’s why investing in pre-k is critical to the success of future generations.
You have amazing stories about how Georgia Family Connection, and our partners have impacted the lives of children and families in every one of Georgia’s 159 counties. We want to share your story. Please let us know about your work and how you’ve made a difference. If you would like to tell your story, please e-mail us.
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