Category: Securing Atlanta’s Future

By Nicole Bush Turkeys, hams, and yams. Those were just some of the items we distributed this past weekend to families at our inaugural fall festival for the Carver cluster, in partnership with Purpose Built Schools Atlanta. This five-year and counting partnership with Communities in Schools of Atlanta and Purpose Built Schools Atlanta continues to […]

By Charlotte Terrell, Talent Management Specialist and Past President of The Junior League of Atlanta, Inc. (2003-2004) “The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated.” – William James This year has been one like no other. It started as most do with celebrations of a new year and the innumberable possibilities […]

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 Mindy Binderman, Executive Director, GEEARS Georgia, more than any time in recent memory, is one of the nation’s hottest political battlegrounds. The Presidential candidates made multiple visits to the state recently, while voters were inundated with campaign ads and media coverage about the 2020 election.   But after Election Day, our newly elected members of Congress and the Georgia General Assembly will stop campaigning and start legislating. And […]

By Renika Robinson Two weeks ago, one of the students on my caseload ran away from home. I had checked in with her just days before. She had expressed frustration with returning to in-person classes while her sibling’s school would continue with remote learning. I took a mental note. When the school’s social worker and […]

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 Melissa R. Brogdon, MS.Ed, CFRE The pursuit of equity in Atlanta has remained perpetually elusive. Leaders from every nonprofit and many corporations have continuously convened and collaborated to provide solutions that bring us steps closer to helping all Atlantans truly access the promise of our resurgent city. The problem is big and for the […]

By Stephanie Blank, GEEARS Board Chair In the midst of a global pandemic, who doesn’t welcome an excuse to celebrate? Georgia Pre-K Week may look a little different this year, but now more than ever, it’s a necessary chance to herald and highlight the importance of Georgia Pre-K In its 10th year, the annual event […]

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 – Oct. 15), Communities in Schools of Atlanta is proud to feature a guest column from Jonathan Peraza Campos, site coordinator at Cross Keys High School in DeKalb County.   Georgia is one of 12 states in the union with at least 1 million residents of Latin American […]

By Yvette T. Dupree, Ph.D., Operations Consultant and Volunteer for Internal Operations Council, The Junior League of Atlanta, Inc. Literacy starts before a child meets their first teacher. This is why talking, reading and singing with young children at home is crucial; it forms the connections in their brains that help build literacy skills (American Academy […]

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 Katie Landes, Director, Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network  &  Mindy Binderman, Executive Director, GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students  Imagine facing the day with a grumbling belly and an empty refrigerator. And imagine if you’re a young child, missing your teachers and friends while struggling to focus on a computer screen.  That is the situation facing many children in Atlanta right now, as bureaucratic barriers have made the delivery of food […]

Featured Image: CIS of Atlanta Site Coordinator Toriano Parker works closely with students at Creekside High School in Fulton County to support their academic journey and to thrive in spite of the pandemic. By Dorothy Styles In times of natural disasters, we rely on organizations like FEMA or the Red Cross to respond to emergencies […]

By LeKeisha D. Jackson, Ph.D., Peachtree Papers Editor, The Junior League of Atlanta, Inc. Service remains at the heart of The Junior League of Atlanta, Inc. (JLA) amid these unprecedented circumstances. As the world experiences the pandemic’s strain on the public’s health and healthcare systems, JLA sought to fill the gap through supporting local hospitals through philanthropic efforts. […]

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 GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students Normally at this time of year, parents of young children would be preparing for the start of the school year. They might be shopping to the back-to-school sales, or simply easing their young ones out of their summer routines to prepare to meet their new teachers and classmates. But these are […]

By Eric White Summer is typically filled with so many fond memories: Sun-filled family vacations, delicious backyard barbeques, and sleeping in after long nights of laughter with friends,  The summer of 2020 is one I’ll never forget. Instead of taking my usual two-month break, I was asked to stay on in my role as a […]

By Christine Brodnan, Advocacy and Initiatives Vice President, The Junior League of Atlanta, Inc. The Junior League of Atlanta, Inc. (JLA) prioritizes Early Childhood Education (ECE) as one of its three primary Community Impact areas. JLA has an extensive history of both direct community work and advocacy within Atlanta’s ECE efforts. From founding the Atlanta Speech […]

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 Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students Uncertain. Unprecedented. Unsettled. No matter how one might describe the times in which we live, one thing is for sure: our youngest Georgians are living through a summer unlike any we’ve seen in recent history.   With schools closed since March, and many caregivers having to take on teaching duties on top of their […]