Quarterly newsletter, 2011 July

Governor's Office for
Children and Families

QUARTER 1 JULY 2011

Meet Our Staff
Jen Bennecke Executive Director
Cora Alexander System of Care Coordinator
Dahlia Bell Research Analyst
Robert Clark Special Projects
Coordinator
Sarah Dempsey Family Violence Training Specialist
Heather McDaniel Youth Development Program Coordinator
Quincie McKibben Grants Monitor
Frances Milton Financial Operations
Alicia Parks Abstinence Education
Grants Monitor
Danielle Ruedt Family Violence Program Coordinator
Helena Schneider Administrative Assistant
Susan Smithgall Budget Officer
Carole Steele Prevention Programs
Coordinator
Joe Vignati Justice Programs
Coordinator

Quarterly Newsletter

GOCF and your communities work hard to strengthen Georgia's children and families. So, the intent of this publication is to keep you updated with recent events, new trends and research, and upcoming opportunities that are being provided by GOCF and your communities. We hope that it will be a useful resource for you!

Congratulations Joe Vignati!
-Juvenile Justice Programs Manager for GOCF
On May 22nd the National Coalition for Juvenile Justice presented the 2011 Tony Gobar Outstanding Juvenile Justice Specialist Award to Joe Vignati for his:
"demonstrated passion and dedication to bettering the juvenile justice system, advocacy for detention alternatives and service as a leader and a voice for juvenile justice specialists from around the nation in his role as the CJJ National Juvenile Justice Specialist. By exemplifying leadership through service, he reminds us all that every child is indeed special."
Community Highlight
Committed Fathers Alliance Honors Jai Dowdy, a father involved with the Rome MELD program with National Father of the Year

DATES TO REMEMBER:
17th Annual Statewide Family Violence Conference presented by the Georgia Commission on Family Violence Sept. 12&13, 2011
11th Annual Child Abuse and Neglect Conference presented by Children's Health Care of Atlanta Oct. 24&25, 2011
GOCF Advisory Board Members

Jai Dowdy was awarded the National Father of the Year Honor in Washington DC by the Committed Fathers Alliance in June of this year! The twenty-nine year old father of three traveled to Washington DC for the first time all the way from Rome, Georgia to accept the honor and give advice to other fathers.
To read more on this story, click here or to find out more about the Committed Fathers Alliance click here.
Picture of Jai Dowdy with his
son, Jai Dowdy Jr. 6, and two daughters Jayla, 6, left, and Jamya, 7.

Judge Steve Teske, Chair Steve Lowe, Vice Chair
Susan Allison Andy Barclay John Bowden Gaylyn Cole
Ken Dobbs Rachel Ewald Marquis Harris Brittany Jean Carole Kaczorowski Shaquita Ogletree Linda Parker
Gene Pope Dan Provence Kathy Schrader Michele Smith Duane Whitley

We Unite and Empower Communities So They Can Unite and Empower Families

We Unite and Empower Communities So They Can Unite and Empower Families

QUARTER 1: PAGE 2

New Research and Publications
Weekly Grant Writing Tips are Live on the GOCF Website! The Governor's Office for Children and Families is pleased to introduce weekly grant-writing tips on the homepage of its website. The goal for the tips is to support communities in locating grant writing resources, enhance grant writing skills and increase funding to provide services and ensure program sustainability.
Here is one of this week's grant writing tip - Action Words The effective use of verbs, adjectives, and adverb will bring an otherwise drab proposal narrative alive by adding sights, sounds, feelings, and a distinct bias. The right verbs, adjectives and adverbs throughout your proposal will make it both interesting and compelling.
Please click here to see all of this week's tip and those to come!
Violence Against Women: A Lifespan Perspective The latest white paper, Violence Against Women: A Lifespan Perspective, provides an overview of how violence against women is perpetuated across the lifespan and presents perspectives from the literature on effective and appropriate approaches for responding to it. Each section presents the types of physical and sexual violence experienced by girls and adolescents, as well as by college-aged, adult and elderly women and then concludes with a discussion of the prevention and intervention approaches specific to each stage of life. The paper concludes with a discussion on how exploration of the research has pointed to the importance of an ecological approach to address violence against women, and provides recommendations for its use.
To view the white paper, please click here or visit GOCF's Family Violence page on its website at www.children.ga.gov.
HB 200: Freedom From Human Trafficking Act HB 200 was passed by the General Assembly on April 14, 2011. A revision to the Georgia Human Trafficking Statute (O.C.G.A. 16-5-46), HB 200 was introduced to improve outcomes for trafficking victims and enhance accountability for traffickers. Governor Deal signed the bill into effect on May 3, 2011. Please click here for more information on this landmark legislation.
HB 185/SB 94: Runaway Youth Safety Act A revision of Title 16 of the Georgia Code, HB 185/SB 94 was introduced to address the issues that runaway and homeless youth have with regards to finding shelter and services. This bill allows service providers the ability to offer food, shelter and counseling to runaway and homeless youth within a 24-72 hour window. Governor Deal signed the bill into effect on May 11, 2011. Please visit GOCF's website to view the information on this bill.
Grant Awards
System of Care: Community Strategy Year 2 Continuation Grant Program Awards The Governor's Office for Children and Families announced ten (10) Year 2 Community Strategy Grant Program Awards with a beginning date of June 1, 2011. The Educated-focused grant awards totaled $592,236 and are located in communities all across Georgia.
Berrien County Board of Education: $65,761
Coastal Coalition for Children Inc.: $69,858
Columbus Consolidated Government: $41,542
Cordele Housing Authority: $36,075
Georgia College and State University: $64,826
Hall County Board of Commissioners: $70,737
Laurens County Board of Commissioners: $73,743
Prevent Child Abuse Athens: $59,156
Thomasville Community Resource Center: $63,495
Towns County Board of Education: $47,043

We Unite and Empower Communities So They Can Unite and Empower Families

QUARTER 1: PAGE 3

Trainings and Conferences
Upcoming trainings hosted by GOCF that are not listed on this newsletter can be found by visiting GOCF's training calendar at http://gocfweb.com. Be sure to check them out!

Upcoming Events
17th Annual Statewide Family Violence Conference - Presented by the Georgia Commission on Family Violence
There's No One Solution: Integrating Prevention and Intervention Against Domestic Violence September 12-13, 2011 Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel Atlanta, GA
Registration: June 15 - September 7, 2011
To register, please click here.
11th Annual Child Abuse and Neglect Conference Presented by Children's Health Care of Atlanta
Help A Child When It Matters Most October 24-25, 2011 (the 24th will be dedicated to commercial sexual exploitation of children) Omni Hotel @ CNN Center, Atlanta, GA
Registration: Begins August 15th, 2011
To Register, please click here or visit www.choa.org/annualconference Contact: Elizabeth Williams, cpctraining@choa.org
Online Training Series for Georgia Medical Professionals on CSEC This web-based training series is presented by the Governor's Office for Children and Families and The Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Stephanie V. Blank Center for Safe and Healthy Children. The series aims to educate Georgia medical professionals on the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). The series includes four individual modules on CSEC-related topics which will be presented via live webinars.
For a training schedule or more information on the webinars and how to access them, please contact Jennifer Felner at Jennifer.Felner@choa.org.
Early Childhood and Family Engagement Trainings The Governor's Office for Children and Families is sponsoring the following August - September on-site trainings provided by Sheltering Arms Georgia Training Institute:
Authentic Relationships with Diverse Families Communicating with Skill and Heart Engaging Men Caring for the Caregiver: Loving Ourselves for the Sake of Our Children
Please visit our GOCF's training calendar for more information or click here.
Online Training Opportunities GOCF is providing free online trainings in partnership with Care Solutions, Inc. Three new training topics are available each quarter. Please click here to view the available on-line courses during July September, 2011.