FAIR OAKS, Ga. — A metro Atlanta non-profit received a $1 million grant to help expand its services in Fair Oaks in Cobb County.
That money, provided by the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, will help the organization Ser Familia provide families access to physicians, food security, and child care, among others.
Those are services that CEO Belisa Urbina said are not easy to find, especially for Latino families in Fair Oaks.
"With the amount of people - and so many of them being uninsured - it's going to take both of us and more to really make a dent," she said, referring to the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and her organization.
Ser Familia will now be able to expand its services for the community of 9,000. Urbina said over 50% of residents there (4,595) are Latino and have trouble finding resources.
"Many of those families coming from specific countries, usually the men are documented, maybe with TPS, but in most cases, the women and children are not. So we have a larger number of kids in the community that are uninsured or undocumented temporarily or permanently," Urbina added.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median income in fair oaks is $53,106, significantly lower than Cobb County's average of $86,013. The website adds that about half of the population has health insurance.
"Unemployment in that community is very low, it's just that the families earn so little that it's difficult for them to get ahead," she said.
This money would also help start an after-school program at Fair Oaks Elementary; Urbina said currently, there are no after-school programs. Students who want to partake in one have to go to another school.
"Usually the kids are taken to another school but the problem is the parents don't have transportation to go to that other school to pick up the kids after work," she said. "The resources are not there for them to go to that other school."
"We are hoping that in 20 years there's going to be a transformational effort that's going to improve the outcomes of the families, that we're going to have children raised in families that are emotionally stable, financially secure," she said.
Though this funding is a big help, Urbina said they are still looking for more funding to carry out this program for years to come.
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