About Us
All Children Will Succeed in School and in Life.
We strive to achieve 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, our local schools, health and human service agencies, businesses, the faith community, law enforcement, nonprofit organizations, and civic clubs work together—with families—to focus 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.
We focus on networking and relationships, connecting our most vulnerable children and families to partners and partners to each other. While no one sentence can adequately articulate what our Collaborative does, this one says it all: “Helping People Help Others.”
Our History
Cusseta-Chattahoochee Family Connection 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 Family Connection Collaborative brings community partners together to develop, implement, and evaluate plans that address the serious challenges facing our children and families.
Our Partners
Cusseta-Chattahoochee Family Connection, together with Communities In Schools, partner with organizations that support families to research the needs of children and families in our communities, and work together to address those needs.
- Department of Family & Children Services
- Public Health
- Athens Housing Authority
- Department of Juvenile Justice
- Chamber of Commerce
- 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
Our most important partners are the families whose children we are serving.
Some of the projects that have been initiated through this process:
- Prekindergarten 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 Results
Working in partnership with families, we’ve tackled intractable problems like teen pregnancy, child abuse and neglect, school dropout, and physical and mental health disparities. Working together, our partners have achieved remarkable results:
- After increasing for years, teen pregnancy began moving downward when our partners developed and implemented a comprehensive, holistic plan starting in 1992, and is now 42% lower.
- We pulled together our partners to strategize about truancy, and within three years of implementing the strategies, the number of students absent more than ten days declined by 23%.
- With the leadership of Public Health in collaboration with other partners, childhood immunization has increased by 15%.
- The percentage of babies born healthy (as defined by Public Health) is up by 31%.
- Child poverty is down by 12%.
Our success is our partners’ success. We bring them together so that together we can develop and implement the strategies to improve outcomes for all children and families.
About Georgia Family Connection
Georgia Family Connection, a statewide infrastructure for aligning efforts across sectors, comes together through two distinct but connected change-makers: a statewide network of Collaboratives in all 159 counties and Georgia Family Connection Partnership (GaFCP). Each strengthens the other—and together, they form Georgia Family Connection.
We work toward measurably better outcomes across five key result areas:
The Georgia Family Connection statewide network—the only one of its kind in the country—works alongside children, families, and communities to help them thrive by crafting local solutions that maximize resources and make systems more effective and efficient. This network cultivates collaboration among community service providers, reducing duplication of efforts and allowing everyone to do more with the resources available.
Collaboratives equip local service agencies and organizations with the tools and methods they need to be more effective, helping them develop and work together on integrated strategies to improve child, family, and community well-being. We fill in service gaps in our communities by functioning as an incubator for direct services to families and children when a need isn’t being met. We also respond to urgent situations by maintaining strong relationships and the infrastructure necessary to deliver timely support.
GaFCP unites the statewide network in a shared framework that promotes consistent, ongoing collaboration and peer learning—equipping Collaboratives to draw on communities’ collective wisdom and experience across the state. GaFCP develops effective partnerships with state leaders, private enterprises, and other stakeholders to link the network with public and private funding, resources, talent, and innovation. GaFCP also empowers leaders across Georgia by making data accessible and providing practical tools, training, and technical assistance to support informed decision-making.
