September News 2024
Youth Mental Health
At our kick-off Collaborative Meeting in August, we spent some time looking at local data around children and family well-being. The indicators around adolescent depression and anxiety were concerning for all participants. Many of our Collaborative members expressed a desire to dive deeper into those data indicators.
Each year, the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) surveys students in 6th-12th grades on a variety of areas including: school connectedness, peer social support, adult social support, drug and alcohol use, mental health, and more. To access survey data by district and even by individual schools, click HERE or on the image.
Some of the data points I was especially drawn to were questions around self-harm, thoughts of suicide, and suicide attempts. The survey dives deeper to question students about what types of circumstances are most likely to cause them to want to harm themselves. The data is heart-breaking. On this spreadsheet, they are numerical figures, but to realize that each number represents the face of a child or youth in our community, causes me to say what can we do as a Collaborative to help our children?
The highest ranked causation for both Dalton Public Schools and Whitfield County Students that contributed to thoughts of self-harm or actually harming themselves were family reasons. The same causation was true for students who thought about suicide and actually attempted suicide. Family reasons can encompass a variety of situations. However, every member of our Collaborative is working with children or families, and this tells me your work is important. This data reveals to me that strengthening and supporting families is vital for the mental health of our children, a factor that contributes to school success, and should be a priority of our community.
Please plan to join us at our next Collaborative Meeting on September 19th as we hear from Suicide Prevention Specialist & Mental Health Awareness Trainer Noelle Beard. We can’t afford to miss this training!
Sharing is Caring Parent Classes
Join our Collaborative community-wide initiative as local agencies, Dalton Public Schools, Whitfield County Schools, and local daycares offer a variety of parent education classes from September 9th to November 5th. Topics include Resilient Parenting, Financial Literacy, Teen Dating Violence, and more, with classes held at convenient locations like Mack Gaston Community Center and Dalton/Whitfield Library. Parents who complete 3 hours of classes will be eligible to apply for the Sharing is Caring Christmas Store sponsored by Salvation Army, opening December 21st at the North Georgia Fairgrounds. The program, supported by our generous community, provides clothing, gifts, and food support to families. Learn more about classes, volunteering, or donating at the updated Sharing is Caring website.
Read the Article to Learn More:
Collaborative Vitality Survey
For any of our active Collaborative Partners who regularly attend the Collaborative meeting or partner on projects from our Annual Plan, we have a Vitality Survey we would like you to complete! We need 20 responses from our community partners to give us adequate data about how you see our Collaborative working together. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey linked here FY25 Collaborative Vitality Survey or use the QR Code.
Latin American Association
Dalton/Whitfield Family Connection collaborates with various agencies dedicated to supporting children and families. This month, we want to shine a spotlight on our Collaborative Partner, The Latin American Association also known as the LAA!
Although the LAA has been operating for over 50 years in Atlanta, the Dalton Office was opened in 2019 as a partnership with Mohawk. The Atlanta Latin American Association Branch offers a variety of services with the goal of empowering Latinos to adapt, integrate, and thrive in the community. Services are categorized in four areas: family stabilization and well-being, immigration services, economic empowerment, and youth services.
The Dalton LAA Office has started their focus in the community with the primary goal of offering services for family stabilization and well-being. Some of the services the local office helps with is SNAP benefit enrollment, homelessness prevention, and food distribution. Other benefits LAA staff assist with are enrolling in WIC, Medicaid, CAPS, and TANF.
In addition to helping with family well-being and stability, the local LAA office has also started offering programs geared towards economic empowerment. One such program is the Dalton/Whitfield Latino Leadership Institute which trains 20 local leaders each year. They will have a new cohort starting in January of 2025. If community members are interested in this leadership training opportunity, they can reach out to the LAA. Last year, LAA partnered with both school systems to provide English classes for parents of WCS and DPS schools at Eastbrook Middle School on Saturdays. Lastly, they have started a program for Latino women in the community called Avanzando Juntas (advancing together). This program helps support Latina entrepreneurs with a variety of supports.
The LAA is a vital agency for our community whose main objective is to strengthen families. We are grateful to collaborate with them. For more information, visit their website https://thelaa.org/dalton/.
