Funding Doubled for Resilient Middle Georgia Efforts
Print This Post“Resilient Georgia’s funding and support has created more accessible training and educational opportunities to inform providers and the overall community of the importance of understanding trauma and its effects on individuals, families and the larger community,” said Jill Vanderhoek, executive director of Community Partnership Bibb County Family Connection.
Dr. Meyer Stinson and Vanderhoek are co-leads on the grant, which is managed through the Community Foundation of Central Georgia. According to Vanderhoek, “Bringing this information to our community has allowed providers to serve the community in better ways, and it is also helping the community become more resilient.”
By organizing focus groups, awareness presentations, coalition meetings and training sessions, as well as serving as a resource center for its members, Resilient Middle Georgia is informing and empowering community champions to enact long-term change.
Future projects include expanding trauma-informed trainings for the community, building community champions and collaboration in rural areas, creating a trauma/resilience ambassador program for neighborhoods in need, partnering with law enforcement and schools to establish the Handle with Care model, providing financial support for projects aligning with Resilient Middle Georgia’s goals, supporting new family justice center One Safe Place in Macon and more.
“Two additional years of funding is a great sign that the work Resilient Middle Georgia is doing has been a success,” said Patty Gibbs, executive director of the Family Counseling Center of Central Georgia. “It’s wonderful that we get to use this momentum to build more networks, conduct more training and empower the change we need. Without a doubt we are becoming a more resilient community, and this additional funding will help move the needle on our communities’ growth.”
For more information about Resilient Middle Georgia, visit resilientmiddlegeorgia.org.
Read the post on den.mercer.edu.
Read “Empowering and Connecting Middle Georgia Communities” to learn more about Bibb Community Partnership’s efforts with Resilient Middle Georgia.