Frequently Asked Questions

Why care?

Today less than ¼ of families reflect the “traditional” family image of one full time caregiver and one full time worker. The gap between school and work schedules amounts to as much as 25 hours per week. 87% of working mothers say the hours after school are when they are most concerned about their child’s safety. Employee productivity drops and absenteeism cost businesses from $496 to $1,984 per employee per year. Child care related absences cost employers $3 billion annually.
Why two counties?

Murray and Whitfield Counties decided to work together in the System of Care approach because the two counties are similar in demographics, most child serving agencies serve both Murray and Whitfield Counties, and Murray and Whitfield are economically linked.

What have we accomplished?

In the summer of 2008, over $4,500 was raised, 100% of the money was used to provide a positive summer activity for a Murray or Whitfield County child with 23 children assisted.

The Visions of Hope coalition continues to meet monthly with five active workgroups-

The coalition has adopted a governance structure with an executive committee, steering committee, and ad-hoc grant committee in addition to the workgroups.

A community wide assessment of programs has been identified for all aged children to identify gaps and overlaps.

Five youth leaders have been identified who represent all of the area high schools to work in the area of advocacy. These youth have traveled to Atlanta as well as Washington, DC to receive training as youth advocates.

Training was held to begin implementing the 40 Developmental Assets. Over 35 community partners took part in the training. These assets were developed by the Search Institute supported by 30 years of research and focuses on building strength based assets centered on youth.

What is next?

A new workgroup will be added to work on Wellness and Prevention

The Visions of Hope coalition is actively pursuing grant opportunities to bring funding into the community.

Youth will be infused into the coalition structure with a goal to have youth representation on all of the workgroups as well as the governance committee with full voting power.

Twenty additional youth have been identified who will be given various training and leadership opportunities.

Each workgroup will develop a mission statement to define the work in conjunction with the overall mission and vision of the coalition.