Organization Details:

Catoosa Family Collaborative

All children in Catoosa County will be born or placed into a stable, self-sufficient family and achieve healthy, mature, and productive citizenship.

Description:
•The Catoosa Family Collaborative is the bringing together of state and local agencies as well as community, county and business leaders, and individuals who have the well being of families in mind. This group brings issues and problems to the table and works collaborative to solve or plan solutions to those problems and issues. By working together, we are able to more effectively remove barriers that previously limited our accomplishments as an individual or an agency working alone.

History:
The existing Catoosa Family Collaborative grew from three previous partnerships. Both the Pre-K Program and the Crossroads Academy Alternative School had community committees. Realizing that most of the same people were involved in both collaborative endeavors, these two merged into one. At the same time, a social services agency collaborative had been meeting separately. After several years of co-existing, these groups joined forces, applied for, and received the first Family Connection grant in 1997. That enabled them to hire a full-time coordinator and begin expanding.

In 1997, only 12 people attended the August monthly Family Collaborative meeting. In August of 2008, the number of attendees had reached 101. There is an email list of over 200 partners with 77 separate entities represented. Each meeting includes a speaker with a brief presentation of resources available to members. We encourage each strategy team to meet at the end of the monthly collaborative meeting to network and review how their strategies are progressing. In addition to Strategy Teams, other committees evolved to form around programs: a CPPC Advisory Board, a Coalition for At-Risk Behavior, a Ferst Books Committee, Prevent Child Abuse Catoosa Council, and special committees for community-wide events. That method has been successful in accomplishing a wide variety of programs and activities.

Contact people:

Phil Ledbetter, Program Coordinator, (email) Phil Ledbetter, Program Coordinator, (email) Danielle Hooper, (email)

Office fax number: (706) 965-2369

Address:

145 Catoosa Circle Ringgold, GA 30736 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.catoosafamily.com

Directions:

From I-75 take the Battlefield Parkway Exit (2A). Turn heading west on Battlefield Parkway. You will travel a few miles and see a large electronic sign on the right which reads "The Collonade". Turn right here and follow the signs. . . (more)

Last updated on March 18, 2009