CUMMING, Ga. — Seven local ladies met for lunch at Coal Mountain Park in Cumming on Monday afternoon, but this was not your typical picnic in the park.
“We have government agencies, non-profits, the school system,” Katie Newman, a board member with Forsyth County Community Connection, said. “We have our juvenile court, our DFCS office, all coming together to see how we can address these issues together as a whole.”
The issues she’s referencing involve children and family welfare cases.
“We are trying to find gaps in children and family services and then make sure we get the right people to the table to fill those gaps, so if there's a need or if there's something that's going on, we want to be able to address it and hopefully prevent it from happening if it's something that can affect children and families,” Sarah Pedarre, executive director of Forsyth County Community Connection, said. “The three big issues in the majority of communities is transportation, affordable housing, and mental wellness and substance abuse, so we did spend a little bit of time on that and how we could potentially find programs and services that can adjust those things.”
Pedarre says, when she started two years ago, only a couple dozen people came to the meetings. The numbers are now closer to 60.
“We feel like this is a great opportunity to really do some good in the community and spread awareness about issues that we're facing,” she said. “So today was a planning session and our next meeting will be October 28th and that's when we'll have a speaker come in, and then everyone will be here.”
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