October 2019

Advocating for Your Child: October 16 RSVP today: http://bit.ly/AdvocateOct16 You’re the expert on your child. Now learn more about legal rights, community resources, and innovative strategies that can help you be the best advocate. Georgia Appleseed is partnering with Chris 180  to offer information about how to get help for your child at school and in the community. The conversation will touch on educational rights, resources, and how best to support our children. When : October 16, 2019, 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Where : Adamsville Health Center , 3700 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Atlanta, GA 30331 Additional Details: This event is free and open to the public. Children are welcome to attend, but childcare will not be provided. Pizza and drinks will be provided! Transportation: Take Marta to the HE Holmes train station and then the 73 Fulton Industrial bus to Adamsville Health Center. Funding provided in part by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, under the guidance of the Fulton County Department of Community Development. If you can't make it, check out our Help Guides for Children with Behavior and Learning Challenges to get you started.

Southwest Georgia School-Based Behavioral Health Forum On September 13, 2019, more than 130 educators, administrators, social workers, and caregivers gathered at Albany State University for the Southwest Georgia School-Based Behavioral Health Forum. One of six regional events to be held throughout Georgia in 2019 and 2020—co-hosted by Georgia Appleseed, The Carter Center, and Voices for Georgia's Children— the forum's goal was to bring together stakeholders to talk and learn about school-based behavioral health in Georgia. Panelists discussed the current status of school-based behavioral health in Georgia, model approaches to implementation, and overcoming barriers.  “The nation is at a tipping point to address children’s mental health and well-being,” says Talley Wells, executive director at Georgia Appleseed. “Events like this are important because, although Georgia has made important progress, we need to work together to increase the capacity of our schools provide mental health supports and services to children and their families." Watch WFXL Fox31's coverage of the forum. Read more and find resources from the forum at The Carter Center website. (Scroll down to "Resources.") See more photos at the Georgia Appleseed Facebook page.

Keeping Children in Foster Care in School! Georgia Appleseed is continuously working to enable children in foster care to have representation before they are expelled or suspended for long periods of time.  Georgia Appleseed is also working for system improvements to ensure foster children have what they need to succeed in school and to reduce out-of-school suspensions and expulsions. Executive Director Talley Wells spoke to the Georgia Supreme Court Justice for Children Committee on September 20, 2019, about strategies and work happening across the state to enable more children in foster care to stay in school.

Advocating at Caminar Latino Georgia Appleseed is working to make more of our work accessible. One way we're doing that is by translating our work and presentations into different languages. Recently, Director of Projects Michael Waller and a volunteer, Adriana Gardner, presented "Advocating for Your Child" in Spanish for the first time at Caminar Latino , an Atlanta-based nonprofit that helps Latino families affected by violence to transform their lives and their communities.

Ways to Give Back this Fall: ACYL Campaign and GAgives! Traditionally, fall is a time to practice gratitude, and with that comes giving back. We've got a couple of ways coming up that you can give back to support Georgia Appleseed in our mission to increase justice in Georgia. Atlanta Council of Younger Lawyers Campaign : This campaign , led by the ACYL section of the Atlanta Bar, was started as a grassroots effort by local attorneys to promote pro bono awareness and participation. Give by November 21 to participate in this campaign and help them reach their goal of raising $35,000. GAgives : Mark your calendar! GAgives is the state affiliate of the national #GivingTuesday movement, which encourages people to give back on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, this year December 3. After a week of family, food, and holiday shopping, there's nothing like showing some love to the organizations that work hard to make our communities better places . Give by December 3 to participate. Thank you for your generosity!

Announcements: Upcoming Events

October 16 — Advocating for Your Child : Georgia Appleseed presents on how to get help for your child at school and in the community. Free to attend. Pizza and drinks will be provided. Details and register online: http://bit.ly/AdvocateOct16 November 21 — GAgives kicks off! Give by December 3 (the Tuesday after Thanksgiving) to participate. November 7 — Clayton County Healthy Housing : Save the date for this housing event at Hearts to Nourish Hope . Georgia Appleseed will be sharing information about the new law against retaliatory evictions. More details to come.

Additional Resources Want to learn more about some of the ideas and issues we've been thinking and talking about? We got you covered! Last month, Governor Kemp announced nine new appointees to the Georgia Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission, which is charged with examining how the state can improve access to and delivery of behavioral health. The full list of 24 appointees can be found in this Daily Report piece: "Lawyers, Judges and $20M--Working to Improve Behavioral Health." This blog post by the Annie E. Casey Foundation shares juvenile justice resources, including a guide to supporting youth who are reentering their community and a review of America's mental health system: "Resource Roundup: Juvenile Justice Publications" A new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that young people who attend schools with high suspension rates are more likely to be arrested and incarcerated later in life: "Study Links High-Suspension schools with Incarceration Later in Life" This feature-length documentary, produced in a collaboration between Lone Wolf Media and Lives in the Balance, looks at what works—and what doesn't—when it comes to children with behavior challenges: "The Kids We Lose"

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