Learnings
- Quality early learning opportunities are critical to preparing children and families for educational success. There are insufficient resources available to meet all the demands for early learning.
- Children who receive high-quality care and learning opportunities during the preschool years tend to be more successful in school and later in life than those who do not.
- The quality of parental care during the child's early years is the main reason for a child's school success.
- There is a high correlation between education level and income level.
- Our schools do not do a good job of teaching children living in poverty
- Only 28.6% of African American males who enter ninth grade graduate on time four years later.
- Many teachers, parents and students have low academic expectations for children coming from poverty.
- Students who are reading below grade level in 3rd and 4th grades are more likely to drop out of school.
- Students who are retained once are 60% more likely to drop out of school, while students who are retained twice are 90% more likely to drop out of school.
- Parents and mentors are critical to a child's education.
- There are mentoring programs in the community but these programs do not have sufficient resources and volunteers to meet the demand.
Recurring Themes and Challenges
- The notion that there exists a welfare system that "pays people not to work" is a myth. Welfare reform has required that low income families with dependent children must be transitioning to employment in order to receive benefits.
- The total number of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families cases in Clarke County has decreased by 40% over the past two years.
- High levels of poverty are a burden to those who live in poverty and work to undermine the economy of the entire community.
- Our institutions and systems have failed to develop collaborative strategies that adequately address the challenges of poverty.
- There is a culture of poverty in Athens that passes from generation to generation.
- There is little innovation in developing new programs, opportunities and collaborations to break the cycle of poverty.
- A good education is one of the major factors in helping to overcome poverty.
- An incomplete education -- lack of high school diploma, GED, literacy in English, workforce skills, etc. -- is a serious challenge to decreasing poverty in Athens.
- Persons who drop out of school have few job options in Athens-Clarke County.
- Athens has an unskilled workforce that is a barrier to economic development.
- There is a lack of effective coordination and collaboration among faith-based organizations, non-profits, schools, universities and government agencies.
- There are serious problems getting information to the public about existing assistance programs.
- There is a lack of specialized support for immigrant populations.
- There are gaps in services.
- Effective strategies to address racism and class issues are lacking.
- In Athens-Clarke County the consequences of poverty fall mostly on African Americans and, increasingly, on our growing Latino population.
- There is a hesitancy, by all races, to have honest dialogue about the impact of race and class as they relate to poverty.
- There are disincentives built into various systems that make it difficult to break the poverty cycle.