Published: September 19, 2008 02:23 pm      

Visions of Hope effort under way

Submitted by the North Georgia Health District



There is a new coalition in North Georgia called Visions of Hope, a group of concerned citizens, including parents, local business leaders, churches, schools, social services organizations, physicians, elected officials, teens and others who are concerned about the health and well-being of youth in both Whitfield and Murray counties.

The coalition’s tag line sums it up: “Impacting Youth for Tomorrow!”

Visions of Hope (VOH) started when a group of area providers met in the fall of 2007 and talked about issues concerning local youth, looked at the statistics, mapped available resources and surveyed 2,186 local kids. What they found was that both Murray and Whitfield counties have high rates of school dropouts, teenage pregnancy, child abuse and child neglect.

They also found there is a lack of programs for area youth and that most programs that do exist are either concentrated around downtown areas, focus only on specific needs, depend on volunteer availability or cost money to participate. Barriers for kids to participate in these activities include transportation issues, family responsibilities, costs and lack of parental involvement.

As a result, the coalition sponsored 23 youth scholarships for summer programs this year, varying in scope from school band camps to sessions at the Creative Arts Guild.

Becky Croft, VOH executive committee chair, said, “The coalition includes five focus groups — Youth Involvement, Advocacy, Community Education, Resource Development, and Parental Involvement and Education — and each group shares the vision of hope that, together, they can chip away at these barriers that might prevent children in the North Georgia region from meeting their full potential.”

One of the major concerns for VOH and parents is how children spend time from 3 to 6 p.m. after school and during school breaks. In Georgia, more than 1 million kids, at least half of Georgia’s school-aged children, go home to an empty house each day and may spend time unsupervised between 3 and 6 p.m.

A properly designed after school program or structure of programs can have strong positive effects on children’s academic, social and emotional lives. They provide a safe and enriching environment for children while allowing parents to focus on work, ultimately improving the lives of the whole family.

These programs also allow parents to balance work and home life — 60 percent of parents who have their children in such programs reported missing less work. Without out-of-school-time programs, employee productivity drops and absenteeism costs employers from $496 to $1,984 per employee per year. Child care related absences cost U.S. companies an estimated $3 billion each year.

By working together with the community, VOH will focus on developing creative solutions to these challenges and will help achieve the goal of structuring out-of-school-time programs that are affordable, appropriately located and age appropriate.

For more information about Visions of Hope, contact Becky Croft at (706) 295-6733 or Jennifer Moorer at (706) 280-9115. A Web site will be available soon: www.whitfieldmurrayyouth.org.

Original Youth Development Committee: Gallman Consulting of Murray County, North Georgia Health District, Whitfield County Health Department, Heartland Ranch, Murray County Department of Family and Children Services, NWGA Family Crisis Center, Teen Resource Center, Girl Scouts, Family Support Council, Murray County and Whitfield County Boys & Girls Clubs, Dalton Education Foundation, Dalton Parks and Recreation, Whitfield County Schools and Murray County Schools, United Way, The Council on Alcohol & Drugs and Dalton State College

Visions of Hope Afterschool Listing

• Girl Scout Council of Northwest Georgia, (706) 226-1435

• Whitfield & Murray County 4-H, (706) 278-8207/(706) 695-3031

• Teen Resource Center, (706) 272-2791

• Dalton Parks & Recreation Department, (706) 278-5404

• Boys & Girls Clubs of Whitfield, Murray & Gordon, (706) 529-5032

• Heartland Ranch, (706) 935-8453

• Creative Arts Guild, (706) 278-0168