About Us
The Murray County Family Connection Collaborative is the bringing together of state and local agencies as well as community, county and business leaders, and individuals who have the well-being of families in mind.
Our History
Murray County Family Connection was incorporated in 1991 as one of the recipients of the PEW Charitable Grant that year and operates in the community under the name Murray County Family Connection. The county has long recognized the importance of focusing on the welfare of children and their families. Agencies who have historically participated in the development of the collaborative over the past 20 years include the Department of Family and Children Services, Department of Juvenile Justice, Murray County Schools, Head Start, Early Head Start, Red Cross, Murray County Sheriff’s Department Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.), GA Legal Services, United Way, United Methodist Children’s Home, and various other agencies, industries, and business representatives.
Goals and Strategies
Economic Development and Employment
Provide Murray County residents with programs and support that promote safe, adequate and affordable housing and family stability through increased family income.
Types of programs, activities and support include: Housing Stability Coalition – addresses community housing issues. Dalton-Whitfield Community Development Corporation (DWCDC) – facilitates the ability of all Dalton and Whitfield County residents to acquire and maintain safe and decent housing. Financial education is an integral an integral component. GED/ESL classes – provide avenues to achieve educational goals and find better jobs.
Education
Provide Murray County students with an array of programs and activities that promote school success.
Programs and Activities include: Early intervention programs DARE After School Programs: tutoring, mentoring, support for graduating seniors Boys and Girls Clubs.
Risky Behaviors
Build protective factors in youth and create opportunities for activities that increase self-esteem and life skills for avoiding risky behaviors.
The Whitfield, Murray Drug Free Coalition is committed to addressing the issue of alcohol and substance abuse by teenagers, pre-teens and young adults and the related consequences in our two-county area. It will increase awareness, provide education, and give support to activities and events that involve local citizenry in a sustainable effort to address this escalating problem. For teen pregnancy prevention/support for parenting teens, The Family Support Council offers support groups for parenting teens. A group of concerned citizens is attempting to find an acceptable curriculum to reduce teen pregnancy that can be utilized in both school systems. Child abuse prevention education activities include such programs as Kids on the Block, Pinwheels for Prevention, Heroes Against Child Abuse, training for mandated reporters, Camp AIM, etc. Enrichment opportunities for youth are provided by such organizations as the Boys and Girls Clubs, which provides a safe place for young people to grow and develop their personal skills as well as Big Brothers/Big Sisters which provides both in-school and out of school mentoring.
GED/ESL classes – provide avenues to achieve educational goals and find better jobs.
About Georgia Family Connection
Georgia Family Connection is the only statewide network of its kind in the country with partners in all 159 counties working toward measurably better outcomes for our children, families, and communities. This gives us a unique vantage point—not only to see the big picture—but also to operate effectively at a local level.
We disentangle the mess of barriers, service gaps, and inefficiencies obscuring progress for our most vulnerable families. We do that by connecting our partners to resources, helping coordinate and manage efforts, and empowering our communities to craft local solutions based on local decisions.
Georgia Family Connection Partnership (GaFCP) represents and promotes Georgia Family Connection’s work, provides expertise in planning and governance, administers the state-appropriated funds for the local Collaboratives, sets standards of excellence, and helps Collaboratives evaluate their progress.
The state’s designated KIDS COUNT grantee, GaFCP also provides state agencies and policymakers with current, reliable data they need to inform decisions about improving conditions for the communities they serve.
Our Work
At Georgia Family Connection, we work to ensure that all children are healthy, primed for school, and succeed when they get there; families are stable, self-sufficient, and productive; and communities are vibrant, robust, and thriving.
None of these result areas stand in isolation. They overlap. By collaborating across sectors to address them, we nurture children and families who thrive in vibrant communities—everywhere. Because we work toward measurably better outcomes for everyone.
