More teachers and health workers, greater access to mental health services, improved literacy and affordable housing options are among the pressing community needs televised by a group of community leaders on Friday.
They met at the Golden Isles Association or Real Estate Agents’ Classroom on Gloucester Street in Brunswick to inform the United Way’s Community Investment Board about the challenges facing Glynn, McIntosh and Camden counties. The idea was to allow committee members to hear directly from those working to overcome these challenges. This allows the committee to make smart decisions about where to invest the money raised during the annual United Way fundraising campaign.
“This funding is raised within and for the community, so it’s important to hear from the community,” says Janelle Harvey.
The United Way of Coastal Georgia works with nonprofits to support projects and programs aimed at promoting the common good of the community, according to its website.
United Way of Coastal Georgia President and CEO Justin Callaway said:
Lieutenant Michael Robinson of the Glynn County Police Department suggested investing in youth programs. When young people have more to do, they are less likely to fall into gangs and a life of crime.
“We have to start engaging the school system more effectively and more often, and do it in a way that hopefully acts as a deterrent,” Robinson said. I was.
The department and school system recently launched the GREAT program, which stands for Gang Resistance Education Activity Training. We hope that this program will work with elementary and middle school students as early as possible to prevent them from joining gangs.
“You can’t do it in just one year,” Robinson said. “It has to be long-term.”
Glyn County School Superintendent Scott Spence said employees are essential in all areas of the school system. The difficulty in securing support staff and teachers has become a nationwide problem.
“Something has to be done to turn that tide,” Spence said.
A study by the Carl Vinson Institute of Public Administration at the University of Georgia found that the number one reason people quit teaching is because of difficulty dealing with parents and bureaucratic red tape.
McIntosh County School Superintendent Jim Pross agreed with Spence, adding that mental health and parental indifference are also challenges.
But literacy is at the top of the important pyramid for Pulos. That’s why the Mackintosh school system is addressing this issue with Mackintosh Read, a program that promotes literacy in young children and literacy in parents.
“The end of third grade is the transition from learning to read to learning to learn,” Pulos said. It’s a problem.”
Coastal Georgia Area Community Action Authority Inc. CEO Torres Hamilton said she sees the same challenges in recruiting and retaining teachers in the Early Head Start and Head Start preschool programs run by the organization. She wants people to know that the staff at these programs are professional teachers, not babysitters.
She also said that getting children involved in a variety of extracurricular activities early on can have a positive impact later in life.
Parental involvement, literacy, and activity discovery can affect a person’s mental health. This needs to be addressed as well as educating people on how, where and how health care is accessed, he said Dr. Kavanaugh Chandler, CEO of Coastal Community Health. Be professional in your work and job hunting. As with education, finding qualified personnel to work in healthcare remains a challenge.
Greg Gann, vice president and administrator of the Southeast Georgia Health System’s Camden campus, faces the same problem as Chandler. Finding nurses and other workers continues to be a problem. The hospital has partnered with the College of Coastal Georgia and the Coastal Pines Technical College and offers in-house training, but workforce challenges remain.
Mental health services in particular need to be addressed. St. Mary’s Hospital is experiencing more and more problems every day, putting additional strain on its limited staff.
Hamilton also spoke about how difficult it is for families in coastal Georgia to find affordable housing. Rents have doubled, and in some cases tripled, in the past few years, making it harder for people to maintain housing, she said.
“This is one of the biggest things we see, and the basic need that everyone has, affordable housing,” Hamilton said. There are families who can never afford where they live.”
She pointed out that Glynn County does not have temporary housing for families to recover from.
Chandler said relationships are the most important way to overcome any problem.
“Any issue raised by this committee is our issue,” Chandler said. “The challenges are big and difficult, but I think continuing these relationships and interactions will help us leverage existing resources.”
Callaway said the panel’s discussions will be used to inform the Community Investment Board’s recommendations on how United Way will use the funds it raises.
