GaFCP Releases Digital 30-Year Impact Report
Georgia has made significant strides in the past three decades to improve conditions for our most vulnerable children and families because leaders from both the public and private sectors recognize that Georgia can prosper only when our families and communities thrive.
Georgia Family Connection Partnership’s Expanding Our Perspective, Unlocking Our Potential—Georgia Family Connection 30-Year Impact Report features interactive data, stories, videos, and resources to demonstrate how we’re learning from the past to inform our actions in the present as we plan for the future.
“The heavy truth of our situation in Georgia is that low birthweight babies, mental illness, suicide, maternal mortality, and youth homelessness are pervasive,” said Gaye Smith, GaFCP executive director. “Georgia Family Connection—as a unified statewide network—is committed to finding solutions together.”
This fully digital report examines three areas: where we’re making things measurably better; where we’re stuck—and strategies to get us unstuck; and where breakthrough opportunities to change systems that benefit all Georgians are emerging. Here are some key findings:
Though success is defined differently in each county, Georgia has seen a steady overall decline in children living in poverty along with an increase in adult educational attainment.
Interventions to foster maternal and infant health are expensive, and there’s limited access to prenatal care across rural Georgia along with disproportionate quality of care for women of color.
Investing in academic achievement leads to economic prosperity, but a lack of data from birth through kindergarten puts school systems at a disadvantage.
Third-grade reading proficiency is the leading predictor of high-school graduation, and a holistic approach is critical to contend with systemic, entrenched issues.
The pandemic disproportionately hurt families of color, and we must analyze data disaggregated by race and ethnicity to inform decision-making.
The data show that mental health will be our next pandemic unless we make addressing it a statewide priority.
Grounded in Georgia Family Connection’s mission, vision, and core values, guided by the most current and reliable data, and strengthened by local decision-making connected to our unique statewide network, we continue to learn from the past as we face a constantly changing landscape.
“We’ve been learning, adapting, improving, and innovating for 30 years,” said Smith. “We’ve built strong partnerships and have continually responded to our communities’ needs—and to the data—and we’ve bridged the silos so we can learn from each other. We’re constantly daring ourselves to find the better way, the more efficient way, the most informed way to work toward measurably better outcomes for our children, families, and communities.”
Contact: Bill Valladares GaFCP Communications Director 404-739-0043 william@gafcp.org
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Georgia Family Connection Partnership (GaFCP) is a public-private partnership created by the State of Georgia and investors from the private sector to assist communities in addressing the serious challenges facing children and families. GaFCP also serves as a resource to state agencies across Georgia that work to improve the conditions of children and families. Georgia KIDS COUNT provides policymakers and citizens with current data they need to make informed decisions regarding priorities, services, and resources that impact Georgia’s children, youth, families, and communities. Georgia KIDS COUNT is funded, in part, through a grant from The Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private charitable organization dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the United States. For more information.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation creates a brighter future for the nation’s children by developing solutions to strengthen families, build paths to economic opportunity and transform struggling communities into safer and healthier places to live, work, and grow. For more information, visit aecf.org. KIDS COUNT® is a registered trademark of The Annie E. Casey Foundation.