MONDAY MEMO #36

Resilient Georgia
Jun 29, 2025
5 min read

Happy Monday, partners! Welcome to another edition of the Monday Memo. This week features exciting opportunities for caregivers, funding sources, upcoming professional development and event opportunities, and valuable resources for self-care and youth well-being. Before we dive in, here are some updates and reminders from the RG Team:

RG UPDATES

Regional Coalition Events Reminder: Thanks to everyone who has continued to submit their scheduled coalition events for 2025! This calendar is housed on the RG website and is a great way to showcase upcoming trainings, summits, and partner activities across the state. As a reminder, please submit your coalition events here. We appreciate your support in keeping this webpage up-to-date!
Connections Matter Georgia Virtual Training: Join Alex English and Nikki Warner on Monday, July 28 from 9AM – 12PM for a free virtual Connections Matter workshop, hosted by RG. This 3-hour, evidence-informed training engages participants in building caring connections to boost resilience, prevent childhood trauma, and support healing. CEUs are available for LPC, MSW, MFT, Bright from the Start, SCEL, and POST (attendance for the full session required). Open to all community members—register today to receive the Zoom link!
New Blog! Transforming Grief into Impact: The Origin of MentalFit by Derrick McElroy : In honor of Men’s Mental Health Month, our June Power of Healing blog highlights Derrick McElroy, Cobb County resident and founder of MentalFit, a mobile app supporting whole-person mental wellness. After losing his mother to suicide at 17, Derrick transformed his grief into action—creating MentalFit to help others navigate their mental health journeys. The app offers easy access to emotional, physical, and social well-being tools, whether you're just starting out, maintaining progress, or seeking professional support. Read the full story and explore MentalFit in our latest blog!

Coalition Highlights

Cobb Collaborative Move Towards Resiliency Booklet: Developed by Cobb Collaborative, this youth-focused booklet introduces six practical skills from the Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® to help manage stress, build emotional strength, and stay grounded during life’s ups and downs. Designed as a hands-on tool—it helps to empower youth to better understand and regulate their nervous systems using evidence-informed techniques. Feel free to share widely!

Resilient Gwinnett: Resilient Gwinnett has introduced a new training fee structure to support the sustainability of its trauma-informed training and consultation services for corporate partners and businesses. Developed in collaboration with Vira Salzburn of Resilient Coastal Georgia, the model includes tiered pricing based on training length and number of facilitators, with all proceeds reinvested into local resilience-building efforts. This structure can serve as a model for other coalitions seeking to sustain similar initiatives.

Caregivers

Georgians for a Healthy Future Caregivers Advisory Group: Family caregivers across Georgia are invited to join a new coalition focused on shaping policies and improving support for those caring for loved ones with disabilities, aging needs, or complex health conditions. Members will share their experiences, engage in policy discussions, and receive compensation for their participation. Apply here and help spread the word!

Funding

Partners are encouraged to explore the Safe and Loved Foundation (SLF) grant process and consider collaborative proposals. Potential opportunities include joint applications between CJCC and Family Justice Centers, IT-related grants for law enforcement, or training-focused proposals to prevent child sexual abuse (CSA) and support first responders. Aligning proposals to demonstrate a unified, statewide approach to CSA prevention is highly encouraged. If you or your partners plan to apply, please notify the Resilient Georgia team so we can support your efforts! Please share widely!

Professional Development & Events

CompassionCon 2025: Join Compassionate Atlanta and Georgia Public Broadcasting for this year’s Compassion Con and Be My Neighbor Day on October 26th at Historic Legacy Park in Decatur. This inspiring event celebrates compassion, connection, and community by bringing together nonprofits and changemakers to share their work, build relationships, and grow in partnership. It’s a chance to meet fellow mission-driven neighbors and uplift the collective impact of compassionate action. Early bird registration with discounted pricing is open through July 18—nonprofits should select "CA Partner - Non-profit Registration" on the form to receive the discount. Register here or contact Leanne at leanne@compassionateatl.org.

Call for Proposals: 27th Annual GACSB Leadership Conference: The Georgia Association of Community Service Boards (GACSB) is now accepting proposals for its 27th Annual Leadership Conference on October 26th–28th at Legacy Lodge at Lake Lanier. With the theme “Empower, Engage, Evolve: The Future of Inclusive Leadership,” the event invites proposals focused on leadership, clinical innovations, workforce resilience, governance, and more. Presentation formats can include workshops, panels, and spotlight talks. Submit proposals by July 10th to Cynthia Summers at summers.cyn@gmail.com.

Self-Care and Support

How to Stop Being So Hard on Yourself: Published by the New York Times, this article advises readers on ways to stop being our own harshest critics, which can lead to greater resiliency over time. The article emphasizes the transformative power of self-compassion—treating ourselves with kindness, recognizing shared humanity, and practicing mindful awareness—especially during difficult moments. Research links self-compassion to greater resilience, reduced anxiety and depression, and improved well-being. By embracing this compassionate mindset, individuals can foster emotional growth and navigate life’s setbacks with greater grace. Check out the full article on how to be more compassionate towards yourself and others!

Building Personal Resilience: Managing Anxiety and Mental Health: Learn practical tools to manage stress and anxiety with Harvard’s free online course! Led by Dr. Luana Marques, this self-paced, 6-week course draws on cognitive behavioral therapy and teaches science-backed skills to help you build resilience, confront challenges, and boost well-being. Free to audit on edX, with an optional certificate available. Learn more and register here!

Youth

PARTNERS 2024 Annual Report: The 2024 Annual Report for PARTNERS for Equity in Child and Adolescent Health highlights a year of significant progress toward advancing health equity for Georgia’s children and adolescents. Key accomplishments include expanding school-based health centers (SBHCs) to over 125 sites, launching the Center for Family Resilience, enhancing a family-centered primary care model, and continuing impactful programs like Reach Out and Read and Project R.E.A.C.H. The report also showcases training efforts through Emory’s pediatric residency and the PEACHES advocacy track. Guided by strong partnerships and philanthropic support, PARTNERS remains committed to improving health, education, and outcomes for children in under-resourced communities statewide.

Building The Goodness Web: How a Philanthropic Collaborative is Transforming Youth Mental Health: Launched in 2022 and composed of nearly 200 foundations, The Goodness Web is dedicated to investing in evidence-based solutions to support youth mental health services, donating more than $10 million to organizations focused on youth mental health support and wellbeing. Grants focused on on-campus awareness, prevention and early intervention, insurance parity and equitable access to mental healthcare, service provision in primary care offices for youth and parents, and policy change to advance youth mental health. The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation of Georgia made a sizable contribution to TGW to support mental health philanthropy.