COMMUNITY COORDINATORS

Community Coordinators are the heartbeat of all youth and adult programming at Uplift Georgia. Dedicated to supporting and cultivating community among residents, Community Coordinators live on partner properties as invested members of the apartment community. Every apartment complex that partners with Uplift Georgia is staffed with a Community Coordinator skilled with facilitating and providing year-round events, activities, and support to residents on site. They visit and welcome all new residents when they move in, organize and host all events, and advocate for residents of the property. Community Coordinators walk alongside residents in times of need and offer them support by connecting them with organizations, resources, and information from the larger, surrounding community area.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Uplift Georgia’s first objective is to increase the levels of interaction between neighbors. We want neighbors to:

→ see each other around the apartment complex more frequently;

→ recognize one another;

→ feel more comfortable around each other; and,

→ have common experiences to which they can refer back to when seeing each other again.

We accomplish this aim by getting neighbors out in the community together and engaging them in monthly events.  Some of our favorite events include Fall & Spring Festivals, Concerts on the Courts, Family Game Nights, Glow Dance Parties, S’mores by the Bonfire, and Community Cookouts.

CHILDREN/YOUTH PROGRAMMING

We believe that children should be exposed to a variety of opportunities and experiences to not only help build their background knowledge, but to also allow them to explore their interests and their strengths. Engaging in these activities also helps to build character, begin conversations on what it means to be a good friend and citizen, and promote positive social skills and conflict resolution. Some of the weekly activities that we currently offer resident children include: Fun Fridays, Teen mentoring, and Kid’s adventure day.

SERVICE EVENTS

As an organization we are passionate about connecting our residents to the multitude of available resources that exist in their community. We work hard to identify needs in our community and connecting residents to the right resource! Whether a resident wants to learn English, find affordable healthcare or childcare, needs financial assistance, or even needs spiritual care or support our job is to connect them to the people in their community who are doing this work. While there are many barriers to accessing resources, we work to connect organizations to our residents by bringing them onsite, hosting monthly service events, and developing strong partnerships with organizations we trust. Some of the partnerships we have established are: the McCleskey East Cobb YMCA, The Church at Dwell, Citytakers, Garments of Grace, Marietta City Schools, StoneBridge Church, Fellowship Christian School, Grace Community Church, PAW Kids, Grove Park Renewal, Cobb Collaborative, Children 1st, AND more!

ADULT ACTIVITIES

The more neighbors get to know each other, the more they will trust each other and rely on each other in times of need. At Uplift Georgia, this is what we believe. We aim to facilitate the deepening of relationships and levels of engagement between neighbors by offering opportunities for adults to regularly get together through monthly activities and events, such as Game Nights, Fitness Groups, Mom’s groups and much more. Neighbors who trust each other will call on one another to watch their children during an emergency, offer a hand carrying a heavy object, fix a flat tire, or just provide a listening ear during difficult times. As relationships develop, neighbors will build friendships and networks will begin to bloom.

SCHOOL BREAK & SUMMER CAMPS

Finding and affording childcare during school breaks and summer break is often difficult for parents. Off- site camps are often expensive or do not provide transportation. Because Uplift Georgia believe that children should have opportunities to engage in meaningful activities and play during their school breaks, we offer a variety of half day camps for children during summer and school breaks, such as:

→ Swimming Lessons

→ Art Camp

→ Theatre Arts Camp

→ Dance Camp

→ Soccer Camp

→ Basketball Camp

Camps also include scheduled Field Trips to local sites such as Kennesaw State Mountain, The Atlanta Zoo, and special programming at community libraries. During all camps we provide healthy snacks, an emphasis on building community and positive character development, and loads of fun!

SCHOOL BREAK

& SUMMER LUNCHES

Most of the resident children we service qualify for free breakfast and lunch at school, which means when they are not at school they may be going the entire day without food. Uplift Georgia makes sure children are not going hungry when they aren’t in school by partnering with organizations, donors, and individuals to provide sack lunches, healthy sandwiches, or hot lunches to our children during their breaks from school. To find out how you can help us make sure these children don’t go hungry during their school breaks, see ways you can get involved.

 SUMMER READING

At Uplift Georgia, we understand how important it is for kids to have access to books at home. Summertime is a time when many students tend to stop reading or engaging in academics. Our Summer Reading Program provides children with the opportunity to choose and take home new books each week. By the end of the summer, each child will have had the opportunity to collect up to 10 new books to add to their home library collection. We provide a variety of choices in terms of reading levels, genres, and topics. We also encourage children to keep reading logs, host raffles, and offer prizes to students who engage in reading during the summer months.