Atlanta Bar Community Partners
We talked to TIP , AVLF , ALAS , and GAIN on special challenges the organizations are currently facing in this time and how we , as Atlanta Bar members , can help .
Truancy Intervention Project
1 ) Are there any special challenges that you are currently facing that you want our members to know about ?
Connecting regularly with our clients has been a challenge during the pandemic . Clients often have unstable or nonexistent internet connections and changing phone numbers . Some of our usual methods of reaching clients , such as going through school social workers or teachers , are unavailable during virtual school .
To address this challenge , TIP has leaned into our core value of meeting our clients where they are . While this is usually a figurative expression , in the pandemic , it has become literal as TIP staff have proactively gone into the community to reach clients . Our staff have dropped off supplies and paperwork at client ’ s houses and participated in sociallydistanced school drives in the community . We have also implemented additional ways of getting information to clients , including a Facebook group with resources and a textmessaging application .
2 ) In addition to contributing money , what can our members do to assist or support you in your work ?
The pandemic has taken the gap between low-income students and their higherincome peers and turned it into a chasm . Recent data from an online math education provider showed that the academic progress of low-income students since the summer has regressed significantly , while highincome children have actually been making academic gains over the same period .
Bridging this gap will require significant funding and resources dedicated to remedial services for children who have fallen even further behind . The entire community will need to support the effort to reach these children and ensure educational equity across our metro area .
Additionally , once students return to school in-person , we anticipate a significant increase in referrals due to the loss of good attendance habits during virtual school . TIP will need many more volunteers to meet this need – we hope you will consider volunteering with us !
Finally , our clients and their families always need hygiene products and basic household supplies - toothpaste , soap , dish soap , towels , deodorant , and feminine hygiene products . With schoolwork happening at home , our clients also need school supplies like paper , notebooks , pens , and crayons .
3 ) Please tell us about a special initiative or success ( or both ) that you would like to share .
In the initial months of pandemic-related closures , we quickly realized that what our clients needed was material support . Many of our clients didn ’ t receive a stimulus check in the spring because they didn ’ t have banking information on file with the IRS , but their budgets were still affected by reduced hours or layoffs , as well as children eating meals at home instead of school breakfasts and lunches . In partnership with King & Spalding , we launched a grocery gift card drive that raised more than $ 30,000 to provide Kroger gift cards to our clients . We distributed over 100 gift cards , along
32 October / November 2020