Georgia Family Connection Executive Summary

Chatham-Savannah Youth Futures Authority
Community Three-Year Strategic Plan
FY 2010 – FY 2012

Goal 1:  All youth will experience school success and avoid negative behaviors that will adversely affect their life.

Strategy #1.1:  Promote positive youth development and provide services and supports to underserved youth in higher risk environments. 

There are various programs and approaches that will address this strategy.   The Savannah CARES Mentoring Initiative is a network of concerned, committed adults who are recruiting family members, friends, and colleagues to serve as mentors, and are identify mentoring organizations through the Chatham-Savannah Youth Futures Authority.  We propose to supplement, and ultimately strengthen, the current health curriculum in the public school system with a scientific, research-based, comprehensive Health Curriculum.  The 21st Century Community Learning Centers is a network of after school programs in public schools that provide educational enrichment and family literacy activities to improve students’ academic performance and behavior.

Target groups:

1. Public school students participating in 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC)
2. Public school students at-risk of drop out due to one or both of the following indicators: absent from school 15 or more days (truant); and/or over age for grade
3. Youth having a juvenile delinquent offense

Indicators:   

• 21^st CCLC students who are over age in the 3^rd, 6^th and 9^th grades
• 21^st CCLC students who are absent more than 15 days (truant)
• All public school young girls (ages 10-17) who become pregnant
• All public school youth committing delinquent offenses

Related Benchmarks:

• Reduce the number of public school students over age in the 3^rd grade from 56 students in 2006-2007 to 52 in 2011-2012
• Reduce the number of public school students over age in the 6^th grade from 138 students in 2006-2007 to 127 in 2011-2012
• Reduce the number of public school students over age in the 9^th grade from 479 students in 2006-2007 to 441 students in 2011-2012
• Reduce the number of public school students who are absent from school more than 15 days from 4,935 students in 2006-2007 to 4,641 students in 2011-2012
• Reduce the teen pregnancy rate for girls (ages 10-17) from 16.2 in 2006 to 14.2 in 2012 (Note: Data year would actually be for 2010 since health data typically runs two years behind)
• Reduce the total number of juvenile delinquent offenses from 4,650 delinquent offenses in 2007 to 4,557 total delinquent offenses in 2012

Strategy #1.2:  Support interventions with at-risk youth to ensure more of them receive intensive services and supports when required.

We will employ the Youth Engagement Steering (YES) Team and the Caring Communities System of Care (SOC) to address this strategy.  The YES Team is a two-tiered approach to identify and provide supports and services to the most at-risk youth and their families.  The team also looks at policy barriers in an attempt to impact system change.  The SOC is a local initiative that provides a coordinated system of care for youth identified with a severe emotional disorder (SED) and their families, thereby reducing duplication of services and providing more cost effective service delivery.

Target groups:

1. Youth and their families referred to and screened by KidsNet System of Care (SOC) with a Severe Emotional Disorder (SED)
2. 25 youth and families involved with the YES Team

Indicators:

• All public school students who are over age in the 3^rd, 6^th and 9^th grades
• All public school students who are absent more than 15 days (truant)
• All youth committing delinquent offenses

Related Benchmarks:

• Reduce the number of public school students over age in the 3^rd grade from 56 students in 2006-2007 to 52 in 2011-2012
• Reduce the number of public school students over age in the 6^th grade from 138 students in 2006-2007 to 127 in 2011-2012
• Reduce the number of public school students over age in the 9^th grade from 479 students in 2006-2007 to 441 students in 2011-2012
• Reduce the number of public school students who are absent from school more than 15 days from 4,935 students in 2006-2007 to 4,641 students in 2011-2012
• Reduce the total number of juvenile delinquent offenses from 4,650 delinquent offenses in 2007 to 4,557 total delinquent offenses in 2012

Goal 2:  All FRC neighborhood youth and families will be strengthened and economically self-sufficient.

Strategy #2.1:  Provide at the St. Pius X Family Resource Center a place-based strategy that provides a variety of programs, supports and services to assist residents in that neighborhood (comprised of census tracts: 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27) to strengthen youth, families, and the community.

The St. Pius X Family Resource Center (FRC) is a one-stop facility where various programs, supports, and services are co-located in one building to help strengthen the youth and families that reside in that neighborhood.  The major components at the FRC presently are: a case management and information and referral service to assess consumers, identify supports and services needed, refer to programs and services, and monitor the desired outcomes; Early Head Start and Head Start provides early childhood development for children from infancy through age 4; a Youth Development component provides both structured after school programming and summer camp opportunities for area youth; Employability and work readiness services are provided through three components that provide services ranging from GED completion, resume preparation, job success sessions and job matching. The FRC is also a Center for Working Families whereby services in the areas of employment and career services, income and work support, and financial and asset building, are bundled to assist low-income families in improving their economic condition and to move out of poverty.

Target groups:

1. Neighborhood families with children (ages 0-5) who are in need of early childhood development opportunities to prepare them for school
2. Neighborhood youth (ages 8-19) in need of structured after school programming to increase school success and reduce behaviors that lead to delinquency or crime
3. Neighborhood young adults/adults in need of employability skills and support services to help stabilize their economic condition and improve their quality of life.
4. Neighborhood residents eligible for Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and child tax credit.

Indicators:

• Neighborhood residents securing employment with a livable wage.
• Neighborhood residents assisted through coordinated supports and services.
• Neighborhood youth in need of quality after school programming
• Neighborhood youth not involved in delinquent activity
• Neighborhood youth not becoming teen parents
• Neighborhood families in need of quality early childhood development and day care for children (ages 0-5 years)
• Neighborhood families that qualify for Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and child tax credit.

Related Benchmarks:

• Continue to provide 45 quality early childhood development slots to FRC area families
• Increase the number of FRC consumers who improved their employability and/or work readiness from 304 2008 to 400 in 2012
• Increase the number of FRC consumers who received employed from 55 in 2008 to 85 in 2012
• Increase the number of FRC youth who benefit from structured after school programming from 0 in 2008 to 150 in 2012
• Decrease the number of FRC youth involved in delinquent activity
• Decrease the number of FRC youth becoming teen parents
• Increase the number of FRC families with Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and child tax credit from 0 in 2008 to 300 in 2012

Goal 3:  All segments of the community will be aware of the significance of early childhood development and education.

Strategy #3.1:    To establish and implement an Early Childhood Development Initiative to improve early childhood health, school readiness, and family functioning. 

This is a developing and emerging strategy that will organize the Chatham community around the significance of all children (ages 0-5) having access to and benefiting from early childhood development and education.  An Early Childhood Development Symposium was held in April 2009 to assemble all aspects of the community and engage in constructive dialogue and strategizing to determine feasible and effective methods of educating our community around this issue and to foster an environment whereby more of our children have access to early childhood development.

Target groups:

1. All families with children (ages 0-5) who are in need of early childhood development opportunities to prepare them for school, and to promote proper development up through young adulthood
2. Parents, businesses, educators, child care providers, faith community and others who need to be educated on the significance of early childhood development

Related Benchmarks:

This is currently under development and the collaborative will have more information to address the benchmarks after the Early Childhood Development Symposium to be held in April 2009, however, some anticipated benchmarks could consist of:

• Create a community vision statement around Early Childhood Development (ECD)
• Engage and implement a community collaborative process that will serve as the ongoing entity for the initiative
• Develop a Three-Year Strategic Plan for the ECD Initiative
• Identify the key players and community partners that will support the collaborative process