February News 2025

The January Collaborative Meeting centered on Early Childhood Opportunities in Georgia and our local area. We examined local data indicators regarding Children Primed for School in Whitfield County. One concerning statistic is that 70.9% of children aged 3 or 4 in our community are not enrolled in one of our childcare centers, putting Whitfield significantly behind the state average.

Moreover, we learned from DECAL representative Clayton Adams that among the 6,490 children under five, our local licensed daycares, Pre-K programs, and licensed family child care homes can only accommodate 2,132 children. To better understand why children might not be enrolled in childcare, our Community Assessment Steering Committee plans to gather insights from families. We aim to investigate whether families prefer having one caregiver stay home to cherish these early years, if there are insufficient daycare slots, or if childcare costs are too high for their budgets. We seek anecdotal evidence that numbers alone cannot reveal.

Regardless of the reasons, it is crucial to recognize that 90% of brain development occurs within the first five years of life! Providing caregivers and parents with knowledge on how to optimize these early years is one way we can support our youngest learners. Our community offers various resources, including the Dalton/Whitfield Public Library, Basics Workshops, Head Start Programs, the DPS Little Cats Program, WCS Summer Power Lunches, and both districts' Summer Transition Programs, to help bridge this gap!

Families who signed up for Basics Insights text messages at the WIC Clinic participated in a Basics Class at the Dalton-Whitfield County Public Library on Saturday, January 25th! Parents participated in interactive strategies on the Basics Principles: Maximizing Love & Managing Stress and Talking, Singing, & Pointing.

In the FY25 Annual Plan, a focus on promoting these strategies is underway, including partnerships with the Health Department, Women's Enrichment Center, DPS Little Cats, and more. More classes are planned for the spring with these families, and we are excited to continue the learning to ensure their children are primed for school! Community partnerships support this initiative, aiming to replicate successful strategies in other sectors. Reach out to Dalton/Whitfield Family Connection Coordinator if you work with families with young children and would like to offer classes to their caregivers.

Click HERE to read the full article.

Another focus of our FY25 Annual Plan is to strengthen the Collaborative by Providing trauma, poverty and mental health awareness trainings to Collaborative members and the community in general through trainings. These trainings helps build a common language associated with our Building a Region of Resilience initiative.

There are several training opportunities and topics available for local agencies and providers with different time commitments.

Optional Trainings:

• Connections Matter- (3 hours) A training that discusses ACE's, Trauma, Brain Development and how positive Connections can mitigate effects of trauma.
• Resilient Parenting- (2 hours) A parenting class geared towards caregivers that discusses how trauma, stress and adversity affect brain development and resiliency tips for parents.
• Trauma 101- (1 hour) Training to increase awareness and understanding of trauma and its effects on children, brain development, behavior, families, and our communities.

• Poverty 101- (1 hour) Training to increase awareness and understanding of the root causes of poverty and the perspective and communication styles necessary to create resilience in families and our communities.

If you would be interested in hosting a training at a staff meeting or for professional development, reach out to me at malisa.pedro@dalton.k12.ga.us to discuss dates and topics.

Dalton/Whitfield Family Connection is looking for vendors to set up tables at our Community Pre-Kindergarten Registration event. If you are an agency that provides services or has resources for families with young children, we invite you to join us! To register to apply to be a vendor click HERE, or scan the QR Code below.

Teen Dating Violence & Annual Planning

Thursday, February 20th

1:00pm-2:30pm

Mack Gaston Community Center

Community Pre-Kindergarten Registration

Dalton Public Schools, Head Start, & Whitfield County Schools

Tuesday, March 18th 7:30am-6:00pm

Wednesday, March 19th 7:30am-4:30pm

Mack Gaston Community Center

The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) is Georgia's leading force of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. 988 is re-imagining crisis response by helping to connect a person in a mental health crisis to a trained professional responder who can help address immediate needs and connect them to treatment opportunities.

In the case of an immediate emergency, 988 responders can dispatch mobile crisis teams and assist in helping individuals find an open crisis or detox bed in Georgia. 988 can also help to link individuals to urgent appointment services. To learn more about these services, visit the website or view the video below.