MONDAY MEMO #64
- Feb 13
- 6 min read
Happy Monday! This week’s Memo highlights resources on the impact of childhood trauma for parents and professionals, funding opportunities, a variety of professional development events and trainings from our coalition and statewide partners, and rural health resources. But first, here are some reminders and highlights from the Resilient Georgia team:
RG Highlights
Regional Coalition Events Reminder: Please submit your scheduled coalition events for 2026! 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!
February Lunch & Learn: Join us this Thursday, February 12 from 12–12:45PM for a virtual Lunch & Learn featuring Jesse Kohler of the Center for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP). This session will highlight practical strategies and resources to help coalitions and community partners advance trauma-informed workplaces across sectors, including nonprofits, schools, courts, local government, and employers. Participants will be introduced to CTIPP’s Trauma-Informed Workplace Toolkit and learn actionable ways to foster healthy organizational culture, staff wellbeing, and trauma-responsive policies. Email Alex English to request an invite at aenglish@resilientga.org.
Attention Metro ATL partners! Silence the Shame is launching Restoring Hope, a trauma-informed pilot beginning in March to support Atlanta-area youth ages 16-24 transitioning out of foster care or involved in the juvenile justice system. The program helps youth navigate adult and behavioral health systems, build trauma awareness, and access care, while offering virtual Parent Cafés for caregivers. Youth receive $200 for completing all sessions, with transportation assistance/vouchers available. Please share widely to boost awareness and recruitment! Application for youth ages 16–17 Application for ages 18 and up
Coalition Highlights
Resilient North Georgia is hosting their Reaching Teens Summit 2026 February 26–27th at the NGUMC Conference Center in Duluth. Designed for youth-serving professionals, the summit offers practical, trauma-informed, and strength-based tools grounded in the Reaching Teens framework, with a keynote from nationally recognized adolescent resilience expert Dr. Ken Ginsburg. Breakout sessions will cover youth resilience, de-escalation, restorative practices, suicide prevention, trauma-responsive care, motivational interviewing, youth voice, human trafficking prevention, and practitioner well-being, led by clinicians, advocates, and youth advisors. Endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, registration is $50 and includes 8 CEUs, lunch, and a Radically Calm t-shirt. Space is limited, so please register by Thursday, February 12th!
Building a Region of Resilience NWGA: We wanted to remind our network that BRRNWGA developed self-guided online trainings to create more trauma-informed communities and professionals. These accessible modules are designed for community members and professionals alike and include Trauma 101 (foundations of trauma-informed care), Poverty 101 (understanding the impacts of economic hardship), Self-Care 101 (tools to support personal and professional well-being), and Systems Change 101 and 201 (strategies for advancing sustainable, community-level change). Perfect for teams looking to deepen shared understanding and strengthen impact. Please share with your networks!
Resilient Gwinnett will host Strong Bonds, Strong Communities, a three-part virtual workshop series designed to empower families and strengthen community resilience. The series covers knowing your rights during encounters with law enforcement or ICE (Feb. 12), creating family safety and contingency plans (Feb. 19), and building self-care and stress management skills to navigate fear and anxiety (Feb. 26). All sessions are 7-8pm. While hosted by Resilient Gwinnett, the content is broadly applicable and open for sharing across the Resilient Georgia network. Sessions are offered in multiple languages, and registration is now open. Additionally, the coalition will be hosting their Resilient Gwinnett in Action Summit on March 26th from 8AM – 5PM. Save the date!!
Childhood Trauma
Resources for Talking With Young Children About ICE: This resource from Defending Early Years offers guidance and age-appropriate tools to help parents, caregivers, and educators talk with young children about ICE, immigration enforcement, and violence. It recognizes that children are exposed to news and adult conversations and may feel confused or fearful without support. The page curates conversation guides, practical strategies, and children’s book recommendations aimed at helping adults explain complex and distressing topics in ways that are developmentally appropriate, reassuring, and grounded in care. It also includes trauma informed guidance from trusted organizations to support conversations about violence in the news while promoting emotional safety, understanding, and compassion.
Childhood Trauma and the Path to Incarceration: An article from The Imprint examines the “childhood trauma to prison pipeline,” showing how children with extensive histories of abuse and neglect are frequently sentenced in the adult justice system without their trauma being meaningfully considered. Drawing on survey data from more than 2,200 individuals incarcerated for crimes committed as minors, the article highlights that 94% experienced multiple early childhood traumas, yet courts considered this background in only a small fraction of cases. It underscores the heightened risks children face in adult facilities, including increased exposure to abuse and solitary confinement, and points to trauma-informed reforms such as early screening, rehabilitative sentencing options, and “second look” provisions as more effective approaches to improving outcomes and public safety.
Funding
Improving Youth Mental Health Program: This funding initiative from The Cigna Group Foundation commits $9 million over three years to support the mental health and well-being of youth ages 5 to 18, with a focus on addressing post-pandemic stress and distress. The program funds evidence-informed, community-based nonprofit efforts that promote social-emotional skill building, strengthen the capacity of parents, caregivers, and youth-serving professionals, and expand pathways to early mental health intervention and access to care, particularly in underserved communities and school-based settings. Grant examples include trauma-informed after-school programs, school-based and virtual mental health supports, peer-led initiatives, and subsidized therapy. Apply here by March 12, 2016!
Professional Development and Training
PIN Fellowship 2026 Fellowship Application: The PIN Annual Fellowship is a
12-month, full time, in person opportunity open to adult professionals ages 18 and older with a high school diploma, GED, or higher education credentials. The fellowship places participants with innovative organizations to work on high impact projects across high demand sectors while gaining hands on professional experience. Fellows receive a stipend paid bi-weekly and taxed as income. The fellowship runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, and requires fellows to live within or near the communities they serve, work on site full time, and have reliable transportation. Applications are due by March 15, 2026.
Joyful Resistance: A Day of Storytelling, Solidarity, and Action is an in-person and livestreamed Justice Day event hosted by the Justice Reform Partnership on February 24, 2026, from 8AM-3PM in downtown Atlanta. The event brings together community members, advocates, and policy experts to learn about criminal legal reform, engage in storytelling and solidarity, and participate in advocacy at the Georgia State Capitol. Attendees will have opportunities to connect with lawmakers, learn about key justice issues, and explore ways to support incarcerated individuals and strengthen families. Register here!
Webinar: Functional Family Therapy in Foster Care: The Annie E. Casey Foundation will host a one-hour webinar on February 25, 2026, from 1 to 2PM as part of its Leading with Evidence series. The session will introduce the Functional Family Therapy (FFT) model and examine its application in foster care, highlighting research showing improved placement stability, safer environments for children and foster families, and potential cost savings for child welfare systems. Foster care leaders and behavioral health providers will also hear case examples from Connecticut and Florida, where FFT implementation has led to positive outcomes for both youth and foster parents, with insights from national FFT experts and system leaders. Register here!
Rural Health
The Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center at Mercer University School of Medicine offers Project ECHO series that create collaborative, peer-driven learning communities for healthcare professionals in rural Georgia. The Community Paramedicine Conversations & Voices ECHO (Feb–Oct 2026) supports Mobile Integrated Health and Community Paramedicine professionals with practical skills like motivational interviewing, resilience training, and patient-centered communication, offering free continuing education credits. The Rural Autism ECHO (Jul 2025–May 2026) equips physicians and providers with strategies for early detection, care, and support of autistic patients and families, addressing the unique challenges of rural communities. Both programs use the “all teach, all learn” model to share real-world experience, strengthen networks, and improve outcomes for patients and families.
Rural Opioid Harm Reduction Train the Trainer: Empowering Responders in the Opioid Crisis: The Institute for Health Logistics & Analytics and Georgia Southern’s Rural Opioid Harm Reduction (ROHR) program offer no-cost opioid harm reduction support to law enforcement, confinement facility staff, and first responders in rural Georgia counties, funded by the Georgia Opioid Abatement Trust. Services include direct shipment of naloxone (Narcan), fentanyl and xylazine test kits, drug disposal pouches, and other supplies; print, digital, and video educational materials; resource guides connecting individuals and families to local and statewide services; and training on opioid awareness, overdose response, and naloxone administration for responders and incarcerated individuals. The program also provides release or leave-behind bags stocked with naloxone, drug testing kits, and educational materials to support overdose prevention and successful reentry. Register here!
THANK YOU FROM THE RESILIENT GEORGIA TEAM!