About Us
Dalton/Whitfield Family Connection, as part of the Georgia Family Connection statewide network, promotes a family-based, community partnership environment that strategically plans around and advocates for children and family needs and challenges in Whitfield County.
We’ve developed relationships with numerous agencies and organizations over the past three decades to research the needs of children and families in our community, and to work together to address those needs. In our county, Family Connection is fortunate to be housed in the Dalton Public Schools school system, where we can work closely with students and families. The Dalton Public Schools Board of Education serves as our fiscal agent.
Our Collaborative strives to partner with local agencies and school systems to promote programs that improve school success. We pursue that goal by determining areas of need using local data, building on community and family strengths, pooling resources, working with diverse community members, and committing to a long-term process of planning, implementation, and evaluation.
Dalton/Whitfield Family Connection is governed by a local board, coordinator, and community partners that together bring to the table decades of experience in working with children and families in Whitfield County, including our most vulnerable and underserved populations. The leadership team covers the fields of prevention, education, public service, and faith-based organizations.
Our Collaborative partners consist of community and regional stakeholders from:
- faith-based organizations,
- local government,
- various health care sectors,
- nonprofits,
- boards of education,
- businesses,
- colleges and universities, and
- early care and learning.
Dalton/Whitfield Family Connection—recognizing that collaboration and collective effort yield collective impact—is committed to improving outcomes for our children and families by identifying and bridging gaps in community resources and services, creating system changes, and eliminating barriers.
Check out our Strategy Diagram to learn how we’re working to improve school success from birth through grade 12.
About Georgia Family Connection
Georgia Family Connection is the only statewide network of its kind in the country with partners in all 159 counties working toward measurably better outcomes for our children, families, and communities. This gives us a unique vantage point—not only to see the big picture—but also to operate effectively at a local level.
We disentangle the mess of barriers, service gaps, and inefficiencies obscuring progress for our most vulnerable families. We do that by connecting our partners to resources, helping coordinate and manage efforts, and empowering our communities to craft local solutions based on local decisions.
Georgia Family Connection Partnership (GaFCP) represents and promotes Georgia Family Connection’s work, provides expertise in planning and governance, administers the state-appropriated funds for the local Collaboratives, sets standards of excellence, and helps Collaboratives evaluate their progress.
The state’s designated KIDS COUNT grantee, GaFCP also provides state agencies and policymakers with current, reliable data they need to inform decisions about improving conditions for the communities they serve.
Our Work
At Georgia Family Connection, we work to ensure that all children are healthy, primed for school, and succeed when they get there; families are stable, self-sufficient, and productive; and communities are vibrant, robust, and thriving.
None of these result areas stand in isolation. They overlap. By collaborating across sectors to address them, we nurture children and families who thrive in vibrant communities—everywhere. Because we work toward measurably better outcomes for everyone.
