About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (June 8, 2011)
EMMA HETHERINGTON Hiking the Next Step Whatever It Takes Pushes Toward Its Goals O ne could feel the excitement permeating the room at the Classic City Performance Learning Center on the evening of May 26. Parents and children with happy faces, greeting familiar and new friends alike, buzzed about the room, shaking hands and giving hugs while never losing the skip in their step created by the anticipation of upcoming possibilities. Whatever It Takes Athens, still fresh from a recently granted $500,000 for planning purposes from the federal govern ment, was about to reveal its "Drafts of Proposed Solutions for Childhood Success" at a community meeting intended to solicit ccmrpunity input on the program's strategic plans. WIT is a community initiative that seeks to promote the health and safety of children in Athens, and to set them on a course for graduation from institutions of higher learning. More than 200 participating community members are charged with the purpose of creating potential solutions that will promote the organization's overarching goals. They are divided into six strategic action teams: Neighborhood Engagement, Early Care and Learning, K-12, Post-Secondary and Career, Safety and Juvenile Justice, and Health and Wellness. At the meeting—one in a series of WIT "Community Conversations"—each team presented potential solutions to the myriad problems in Athens-Clarke County that affect the success of children in the community. Currently, the high school drop-out rate for students in the Clarke County School District is about 33 percent. In a report issued in January 2010, the Georgia Family Connection Partnership listed the teen pregnancy rate in ACC at about 27 percent, and stated that around 29 percent of babies born here were born to mothers with less than 12 years of education. The report also stated that 26 percent of children in Athens live in poverty, and that-33 percent of Athens families with children receive annual incomes of less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level. The staff members of WIT looked at the outcomes of chil dren in Athens and came up with a main solution: to imple ment a community program similar to the Harlem Children's Zone in New York City. During their initial presentation at the Community Conversation, WIT Executive Director Tim Johnson and Lewis Earnest, the WIT board president, showed the attendees a short message from Geoffrey Canada, the Harlem Children's Zone president and CEO. Canada described the main goals of his organization that would be transferred to Athens, including rebuilding the community, creating a pipeline from early childhood to college, accountability and data collection, and a change in community attitudes. Every speaker emphasized that parents are the most effec tive teachers, and that parental involvement is key to a child's success. Other central priorities of WIT include early child hood learning (the WIT website highlights that "the odds of completing high school rise from 39 percent to 53 percent for children exposed to preschool"), high expectations for chil dren, neighborhood leadership, focusing resources in a limited geographic area and creating a culture of success. "If it'c cool to raise your hand in class, then you'll raise your hand in class. It has a domino effect in the community," explained Earnest. The staff members and community leaders of WIT are not simply coming up with solutions from thin air. The organiza tion uses research studies to help formulate solutions. During the meeting, Johnson urged community members, "Please read the information at your tables and scattered throughout the room. The packets include research and reports we are using to come up with solutions. If you want a copy of any of the reports, please let us know and we will send them along." WIT is also implementing a longitudinal data system to track its progress in the community. Earnest used the example of public health data to illustrate how the system will work: "Right now we're working with two-year-old data. With the new data system we will know clusters of data immediately. For example, instead of knowing the teen pregnancy rate in Athens from two years ago, we will know the percentage from within the last two weeks." WIT will be tracking 48 data indica tors, and six key indicators—teen pregnancy, readiness for kinder garten, childhood obesity, third grade reading, juvenile crime and the high school graduation rate- will be published once a month in Flagpole and the Athens Banner- Herald. Speakers at the meeting emphasized that the organiza tion is a community effort. WIT is composed not only of a board and staff members, but also of the more than 200 committee volunteers, the U.S. Department of Education, Harlem Children's Zone, CCSD, and more than 70 other community partners. WIT has also chosen 16 neighborhood leaders to help gain community support and maintain close ties with each neighborhood in Athens. Earnest and Johnson played a video of one neighbor hood leader pronouncing, "We are all full of information that we have to share. We just have to tap in." » The remainder of the meeting was dedicated to the pre sentation of WIT's proposed solutions. A common theme— taking existing community services, expanding them, and adding new elements to complement existing structures—ran throughout each strategic plan. For example, the Neighborhood Engagement team proposed to improve on neighborhood pro grams such as the Boys and Girls Club and Head Start early learning programs, while expanding their reach to include new classes such as those in parenting or job training. The Early Care and Learning team proposed establishment of family resources centers, where existing services would be combined in order to provide central offices where families would know they could access all needed information. The Safety and Juvenile Justice team proposed an expansion of mental health services to include a more comprehensive juvenile counseling and assessment program, and other mental health services in schools. With little time remaining at the end of the meeting for a community discussion, WIT provided community input forms for attendees to respond to the proposed solutions and to offer additional ideas. The Draft of Proposed Solutions is available on the WIT website, and WIT staff encouraged further input, which can be made through a contact form on the website. Whatever It Takes is a community effort driven by the unique needs of the Athens-Clarke County community, with goals and proposed solutions backed by data and research. Its leaders and staff have issued a call for community involve ment, and many have answered. Yet, the organization hopes to generate still more excitement and input from the entire com munity, in order that, when its strategies are implemented, the program may truly hit the ground running. Emma Hetherington For more information on WIT and how you can help, visit www.witathens. org. The next WIT at-large meeting will be held on Friday, June 10 from 9 a.m. tu a0:30 a.m. at Classic City Performance Learning Center, 440-3 Dearing Ext., Athens. Tatiyana Webb (right) and Emmanuel Obi fill out community input forms at the WIT Community Conversation on May 26. 285W. 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