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redefinED atlanta Provided $100k to Two Atlanta Parent Groups for COVID Relief Fund

redefinED atlanta, a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring that every student in Atlanta has the opportunity to attend a high-quality public school, announced that it recently awarded a $100,000 grant to two parent groups, The Atlanta Thrive and the Latino Association for Parents in Public Schools (LAPPS), in order to create a COVID-19 relief fund that assisted metro-Atlanta families struggling with housing, food insecurity, and other basic needs during the pandemic.

“Many of Atlanta’s families faced food and housing challenges even before this health crisis,” said Ed Chang, executive director of redefinED atlanta. “COVID-19 has further exacerbated these inequities while amplifying other stressors, potentially causing increased childhood trauma that will affect the ability of their children’s future learning.”

Study: Up to 29,000 Metro Atlanta Students Falling Behind Due to Shift to Online Classes

A study released by two organizations states about 21,000 less students in English language arts and about 29,000 fewer in math are on track for grade-level proficiency than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools shifted to online classes.

In a June 16 news release, redefinED Atlanta and Learn4Life announced the release of a new study, “Quantifying the Impact of School Closures on Metro Atlanta Student Proficiency.” The report covers eight school districts: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties and the cities of Atlanta, Decatur and Marietta.

Atlanta and Sandy Springs Residents and Businesses Continue Acts of Kindness Amid the COVID-19 Outbreak

With federal Paycheck Protection Program loans running out this month, two parent organizations are stepping up by providing $100,000 to hundreds of metro Atlanta parents affected by the outbreak.

Atlanta Thrive, a parent-driven organization that empowers families to disrupt inequities in the education system, and the Latino Association for Parents in Public Schools, a support network to empower Latino parent voices within schools, are awarding grants to help Atlanta Public Schools families who may be struggling with housing, food insecurity and other basic needs.

WITHOUT SUPPORT FOR THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES, ATLANTA’S WORST SCHOOLS MAY NEVER CATCH UP

The days of the true neighborhood school are nearly gone. But not at Thomasville Heights Elementary.

Everyone walks. There is no bus. That’s because 95% of the students live inside Forest Cove, the sprawling Section 8 housing development across the street. The staff often accompany the pre-K-fifth graders directly past armed drug deals and filth, straight to the front doors of their apartments. There are rarely police, unless the complex’s most recent murder, mold and vermin infestation or massive brawl catches the brief attention of media.

In many ways, Thomasville is the center of the Southeast Atlanta community – especially since the Boys & Girls Club closed. The other most prominent institutions? The federal prison, a landfill and the Starlight Drive in.

June Newsletter — In Service to Community

With schools closed for summer and our district in heavy planning due to uncertainties in the wake of COVID-19, we are grateful for the opportunity to reflect on our mission and the ways we show up in and for the community we serve. When students go back to school this fall, they will return impacted by the compounding effects of bearing witness to protest brought on by racial injustice and heightened inequity worsened by the pandemic.

The American People Have this Lesson to Learn

“The American people have this lesson to learn: That where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons or property will be safe.”

– Frederick Douglass
“Southern Barbarism” speech on the occasion of the 24th Anniversary of Emancipation, Washington, D.C., 1886