About Us
Wilkinson County Family Connection is a partnership of several organizations working with families to research the needs of children and families in our community, and to work together to address those needs.
Our Over-Arching Goal: All Children Will Succeed in School and in Life
We pursue that goal by addressing the root causes of problems, building on cultural and other strengths, pooling resources, engaging an extraordinary diversity of community members, and committing to a long-term process of planning, implementation, and evaluation.
Using a family-centered approach, schools, health and human service agencies, business, the faith community, law enforcement, nonprofit organizations, civic clubs, and others work together with families, focusing on academics, physical and mental health, nurturing parenting, economic success, and community service. We tap existing resources, streamline systems to be more efficient and effective, and initiate new projects like those listed below.
Learn more about some of our results and our plans for the future.
Our Partners
Our organizational partners include Department of Family & Children Services, Public Health, Athens Housing Authority, Department of Juvenile Justice, Chamber of Commerce, individual businesses, Juvenile Court, Police Department, Sheriff, Department of Leisure Services, Department of Labor, Catholic Social Services, YMCA, YWCO, Boys & Girls Club, Council on Aging, Child Abuse Prevention Council, Sexual Assault Center, Court Appointed Special Advocates, Department of Human & Economic Development, and many others.
Our most important partners are the families whose children we are serving.
Some of the projects that have been initiated through this process:
- Pre-K Program
- Even Start family literacy program
- Early Head Start
- Homeless Education program
- Anti-truancy initiative
- Nutrition and health insurance outreach
- Summer Youth Program
- Community Partnership for Protecting Children
- Various welfare-to-work strategies
- Community Education Summit
- Unified Government, and School District
Our History
The Georgia Family Connection County Collaborative Authority for Families and Children was created under the authority of Act 677, adopted March 27, 1998 and amended May 1, 2002 by the General Assembly of the State of Georgia.
Designated as the local decision making body for prioritizing the needs of families and children, the Georgia Collaborative brings community partners together to develop, implement, and evaluate plans that address the serious challenges facing Georgia County’s children and families.
The Collaborative has positioned itself as a non-profit focusing on networking and relationships; connecting both the general public to partners and partners to each other. While there is no one sentence to explain what Georgia Collaborative does, the tag line says it all, “Helping People Help Others.”
About Georgia Family Connection
Georgia Family Connection is the only statewide network of its kind in the country with partners in all 159 counties working toward measurably better outcomes for our children, families, and communities. This gives us a unique vantage point—not only to see the big picture—but also to operate effectively at a local level.
We disentangle the mess of barriers, service gaps, and inefficiencies obscuring progress for our most vulnerable families. We do that by connecting our partners to resources, helping coordinate and manage efforts, and empowering our communities to craft local solutions based on local decisions.
Georgia Family Connection Partnership (GaFCP) represents and promotes Georgia Family Connection’s work, provides expertise in planning and governance, administers the state-appropriated funds for the local Collaboratives, sets standards of excellence, and helps Collaboratives evaluate their progress.
The state’s designated KIDS COUNT grantee, GaFCP also provides state agencies and policymakers with current, reliable data they need to inform decisions about improving conditions for the communities they serve.
Our Work
At Georgia Family Connection, we work to ensure that all children are healthy, primed for school, and succeed when they get there; families are stable, self-sufficient, and productive; and communities are vibrant, robust, and thriving.
None of these result areas stand in isolation. They overlap. By collaborating across sectors to address them, we nurture children and families who thrive in vibrant communities—everywhere. Because we work toward measurably better outcomes for everyone.
