Colquitt County
Colquitt County Archway Partnership Priorities
Priority = Decentralization and Coordination of Services & Graduation Rate
Grant writing assistance for the potential continuation of afterschool programs – The community has received a 21st Century grant for the past 5 years that has allowed them to offer afterschool programs free of charge at various sites throughout the county. That grant expires this year and the Family Connection Collaborative is seeking assistance from UGA to write and identify grant opportunities that would allow for similar afterschool programming to be offered in the future.
Priority = Graduation Rate
During the summer of 2008 a Safe-Schools Committee was formed by the Superintendent of schools to review policies currently in place and to make recommendations of changes that may be needed. The committee requested information relative to bullying in schools and contact was made with the UGA College of Education. A graduate student who was actively engaged in a research project on the same topic came to Moultrie and presented the study that was conducted and the results. She also shared recommended practices to put in place to reduce and bring awareness to bullying in schools.
Priority = Decentralization and Coordination of Services & Preparation for the 2012 SPLOST
The first Archway Leadership Summit was held in Colquitt County in 2008. The Archway Executive Committee for Colquitt County coordinated the event and invited all local partners to attend. The City of Moultrie, Colquitt County, Board of Education, Hospital Authority and Development Authority all participated. This event provided a forum for an open discussion about the various challenges that each of these partners will be experiencing in the next 3-5 years. After the event the Executive Committee spent the next few months reviewing the issues mentioned and put together a ‘Moultrie-Colquitt County Top 5’ list of priorities. This list was then presented to each of the local partners and all approved the list as a community wide list of priorities. Since that time Archway has focused on identifying resources that can be brought in to address these issues. A second Archway Leadership Summit is being planned for April 2009 and it will expanded to include all local partners plus the City Council members from each of the 5 smaller municipalities in Colquitt County.
Priority = Widening of Hwy. 133
Promoting the widening of Highway 133 from Albany to Valdosta has been identified as a priority for Moultrie and Colquitt County. A study proposal for an Economic Impact Analysis of the project has been presented by faculty members in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. This study will provide date that will be very useful as community groups throughout the region communicate the need for the widening of Highway 133.
Priority = Decentralization and Coordination of Services
The Southwest Georgia Regional Development Center received a grant to prepare a city-wide housing plan for the City of Moultrie. One component of the plan is a housing preference survey. Working with the City of Moultrie, Archway gathered resources from the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. Using these resources a survey was developed that is being presented to various community groups throughout Moultrie. The completed surveys will provide much needed input from local residents regarding the types of houses that they would prefer in their particular neighborhood.
