Author Archives: Sheltering Arms

Blythe Keeler Robinson, President and CEO, Sheltering Arms It has been a year and a few months since the pandemic hit, and families with little to no resources, including here in Atlanta and the state of Georgia, are still trying to recover. Some of the most vulnerable Sheltering Arms families continue to rely on us […]

Blythe Keeler Robinson President and CEO, Sheltering Arms “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin Our nation continues to grapple with racism or the unfair treatment of people of a different race.  Over the last month, we saw the serving of food to white children […]

Blythe Keeler Robinson, President and CEO, Sheltering Arms During the month of February, Sheltering Arms kicked off our Race & Equity initiative. The year 2020 was less than ideal with one tragedy after another. There was a racial reckoning, which moved the vast majority of decent Americans to protest against institutional racism in America. When […]

Blythe Keeler Robinson, President and CEO, Sheltering Arms As an early childhood education provider, more than half of Sheltering Arms families we serve live at or below the federal poverty level. One thing we know is that children who grow up in low-income households face many challenges that others don’t. They are more likely to […]

Blythe Keeler Robinson, President and CEO, Sheltering Arms The year 2020 caused many disruptions in different areas of our lives, including education. The way we teach, the way children learn, the way we go about our everyday lives has forever changed. Now, we’re in the new year, and as an early childhood education provider, Sheltering […]

By Blythe Keeler Robinson, President and CEO, Sheltering Arms As we prepare to close out this unprecedented year, there’s no argument that the pandemic has presented challenges no one could have ever expected. The impact to the economy and key industries, like healthcare and education, has called for major shifts unlike anything else we’ve experienced […]

By Blythe Keeler Robinson, President and CEO, Sheltering Arms We are eight months into the pandemic and are continuing to make shifts in how we live, how we communicate and how we learn.  Although businesses and schools have reopened, many people are still working from home while trying to figure out how to manage virtual […]

By Blythe Keeler Robinson, President and CEO, Sheltering Arms Earlier this month, early learning centers and organizations across the state participated in the 10th annual celebration of Georgia Pre-K, a lottery-funded program available to four-year-olds. This special week-long event highlights the important work that goes on in Pre-K classrooms to get children ready for future […]

By Blythe Keeler Robinson, President and CEO, Sheltering Arms In high school I had to read “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens. It begins with a memorable first sentence that captures the current state of affairs in our country, our state and more specifically, our city, as we grapple with a global pandemic […]

By Blythe Keeler Robinson, President and CEO, Sheltering Arms “Education either functions as an instrument, which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity, or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with […]

By Blythe Keeler Robinson, President and CEO, Sheltering Arms It’s been a year like no other. In the midst of a global pandemic, child care centers and schools across the country shut their doors with three months left in the school year. Although everyone’s circumstance is different, families and educators alike have done their best […]

By Blythe Keeler Robinson, President and CEO, Sheltering Arms  Over the past few weeks, people across the entire country have had to make adjustments as we settle into a “new normal.” Many families have had to adjust to the new household arrangements of turning spaces into make-shift offices and homeschool classrooms.  Families went from juggling […]

Blythe Keeler Robinson President and CEO, Sheltering Arms As destabilizing as the virus is for many people, it is devastating for underserved families with little or no savings. Hourly wages are halted, and there are very few resources to continue meals for the children and utilities for the household in times of crisis.  At Sheltering […]

By Blythe Keeler Robinson, President and CEO, Sheltering Arms By 2025, more than 60% of jobs will require some form of post-secondary education, according to Learn4Life’s State of Education in Metro Atlanta Report. That can be alarming when you consider the fact that two out of every 10 students in the metro area are dropping […]