Archway’s Readers to Leaders Fuels “Power Lunches” at County USDA Free Lunch Sites

This summer, the Archway Partnership’s Readers to Leaders initiative is giving out free books to children at eight of our neediest USDA free lunch sites in Whitfield County.  Children without access to books typically regress academically in the summer when compared to their peers who do have access.  Research has proven that book access can make a tremendous difference in preventing the drastic learning slide. 

Readers to Leaders is providing books collected from donors and book drives, and Whitfield County Food Services is making sure the books get in the hands of kids. The Chamber of Commerce, Dalton State College’s School of Education, AmeriCorps VISTAs, and several churches are conducting reading circles and extra learning opportunities at some of the sites. This initiative would not be possible without Alice Ensley with Big Red Reads who has assisted with best practices and book donations.

Locations serving as a host site for children to receive their free lunch and book are: Mountain View Subdivision, Dawnville Meadows, Pleasant Grove Elementary School, Cedar Ridge housing area, Swamp Creek Baptist Church, New Haven United Methodist Church, Margaret Circle, and River Bend housing area.

We anticipate giving out around 1,000 books (or more) a week between now and the week of July 28.  Volunteers are needed to pass out books, encourage kids to read, and read to children at the sites. Books are also needed to accommodate the thousands of children receiving books over the coming weeks.

Pictures of the Power Lunches can be viewed here on our Facebook photo albums page. 

18 Book Nook Locations in Whitfield County!

Limited access to books is a barrier to reading for many Dalton-Whitfield families.  To facilitate children and parents reading together, the Archway Partnership has placed bookshelves, or “Book Nooks,” filled with children’s books at sites around the community where youth typically wait with their parents. Sixteen total Book Nooks have been placed around the community including local non-profits, banks, school enrollment offices, and doctor’s offices. The remaining two sponsored Book Nooks have been constructed and will soon be delivered to Juvenile Court and Dalton Public Schools Enrollment offices. The Rotary Club, Community Foundation of Northwest Georgia, and Dalton State Athletics have sponsored all 18 Book Nooks thus far.  Books are supplied courtesy of an ongoing book drive managed by Readers to Leaders VISTA Melissa Morrison. Site hosts have noted a huge interest among clientele. Vonda Bledsoe, branch manager at the Georgia United Credit Union host site recently noted that, “Our Book Nook is a great hit! The kids are loving it. Thank you again!” One of the banks is attempting to start a statewide program based off the success of their local Book Nook. Photos of some of our most recently placed Book Nooks can be viewed below. 

Community & Southern Bank staff were delighted to receive this Book Nook! 

Barbara Martin with a Book Nook at the Dalton branch of the Department of Labor.

Tom Bartley smiles proudly in front of Family Support Council’s new Book Nook.

Design, Engineering and Manufacturing Camp Wraps up its Fourth Year with 77 Attendees

From June 2-5, 2014, 77 local middle school students attended the fourth annual Design, Engineering, and Manufacturing (DEM) day camp at the Northwest Georgia College and Career Academy. The goal of the free camp was to spark an interest in manufacturing among local youth and show them the wide range of jobs and skills demanded in modern manufacturing, particularly in the floorcovering industry. 

At the camp, students had the opportunity to build and design wooden cars, create their own carpet designs, build a full scale hovercraft, use computer-assisted design (CAD) to create projects, explore career options, tour local floorcovering plants, and participate in team-building activities. 

The idea for a Design, Engineering & Manufacturing Camp emerged during Archway’s Higher Education Issue Work Group sessions in spring 2011.  At the meetings, citizens talked about the need to expose students at an early age to the variety of career options available to them.  A Leadership-Dalton Whitfield survey conducted during fall 2010 revealed that students had very low perceptions of local opportunities and did not understand the highly-skilled nature of many jobs.  Thanks to the vision and hard work of leaders Barbara Ward (Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce) and Brian Cooksey (Shaw Industries), the dream of DEM Camp became a reality in 2011 and continues to grow each year.

Photos courtesy of the Daily Citizen Newspaper can be viewed below. More about this year’s DEM camp can be read here. For more about the Dalton-Whitfield Archway Partnership’s involvement with the DEM day camp, click here.  

 Chris Forscutt drops an egg in an apparatus constructed by students during an engineering camp at the Northwest Georgia College and Career Academy. Student teams were given a paper bag with three drinking straws, cotton balls, tape, chewing gum, a length of string and a small balloon and were tasked with creating a device which could protect the egg in an 8-foot drop. (Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen)

 Audrey Webb, 11, Braeden Gallman, 11, and Nicholas Ruiz, 11, participate in the egg drop challenge at the Northwest Georgia College and Career Academy. (Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen)

 Brad Johnson with Mohawk demonstrates the use of a beam array as students use it to measure various objects at the Northwest Georgia College and Career Academy. (Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen)

Rachel Climer, 12, and Will Wright, 11, work to create a Lego object identical to one on a table across the room, obstructed from their view at the Northwest Georgia College and Career Academy. Students were separated into groups of “spies” and “builders.” The spies could look at the object and then had to run back across the room and describe it to the “builders.” (Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen)

The Latest at Lakeshore Park

At the end of 2011, UGA students Rachel Johnson and Justin Crighton teamed up with City-County Planner Kevin Herrit to host a planning event for the local Lakeshore Park. Prior to the event, Rachel and Justin prepared three different concepts for the park. Community members had an opportunity to view these proposals and then make comments about what they would like to see in the park. Over the next year, the Archway Partnership Executive Committee realized how important improving the park was and made it one of their top priorities. Today, a small team continues to work with local elected officials and property owners in the area to determine how changes can be implemented.

First Five Coalition: An Update

First Five Coalition Visits Prenatal Health Clinic Model in Hall County
In an effort to examine a successful model of prenatal healthcare to uninsured community residents, First Five Healthcare Subcommittee members visited the Long Street Clinic in Hall County on April 17. Longstreet Clinic is a large, physician-owned specialty group. The Hall County Health Department, local hospital, and the Longstreet Clinic combine forces to offer prenatal care at the Health Department for undocumented/uninsured women. The hospital provides two nurse midwives, and 600-800 women/year are seen. The cost is $450 up front, with a total cost of $1,200 for care (a 10% discount is given to women who pay the full $1,200 up front). 

Archway Partnership First Five Facilitates Meeting with OB-GYN’s

A few of the First Five Healthcare Subcommittee members recently met with some of the local OB-GYN’s  to discuss private care of women who need full-term care and get released early from the Health Department (currently the Health Department only offers partial-term prenatal care). At the meeting, subcommittee member and owner of a local clinic, Stephen Miracle, presented a proposal. Local OB-GYN, Dr. Tidwell, suggested that the Health Department extend their care to 32 weeks as opposed to the current 28 weeks. Then, private care could take over. The Health Department was open to the idea. Other local OB-GYNs were open to that same idea. The committee will continue to work towards finding a solution for all women in the community to obtain optimal prenatal care. 

March of Dimes Grants

First Five Healthcare Subcommittee member, Dr. Luis Viamonte, set up a meeting with the March of Dimes Regional Director on May 7 to discuss prenatal grants. One of the models discussed at a previous First Five Healthcare Subcommittee meeting, group prenatal care – Centering Pregnancy, is a top 3 priority for March of Dimes grants this coming year.

After the meeting, Dr. Viamonte invited the March of Dimes staff to visit the Dalton-Whitfield Health Department women’s clinic and the Hospital NICU area.  

Grant writing entities, including the Whitfield County Health Department, Hospital, Northwest Georgia Healthcare Partnership, and Georgia Mountains Health were all in attendance. Archway will continue facilitating these meetings to collaborate on the grant writing process.

It was such a positive meeting, and we look forward to seeing how all this plays out in the next few months. The March of Dimes grants are due at the end of the July with funding occurring January 2015.