About Us
Harris County Family Connection (HCFC) is a partnership of 33 organizations working with families to research the needs of children and families in our community, and to work together to address those needs. We serve as the local decision-making body, bringing community partners together to develop, implement, and evaluate plans that address the serious challenges facing Harris County’s children and families.
Our Mission
To enhance and improve the quality of life for families and children in the community. The Harris County Collaborative will use its strength, found in the empowerment of agencies united by this one common goal, to ascertain the needs of families and children and to aid them in becoming self-sufficient.
Our Vision
All Citizens of Harris County will become healthy, educated, self sufficient, stable and family focused as a result of our united effort.
Our Over-Arching Goal: Improved Conditions for Children and Families in Harris County
We pursue this goal by addressing the the needs of the children and families in the community. Using a family-centered approach, schools, health and human service agencies, business, the faith community, law enforcement, nonprofit organizations, civic clubs, and others work together with families, focusing on academics, physical and mental health, nurturing parenting, economic success, and community service. We tap existing resources, streamline systems to be more efficient and effective, and initiate new projects like those listed below.
Our Collaborative serves as the local decision-making body, bringing community partners together to develop, implement, and evaluate plans that address the serious challenges facing Harris County’s children and families.
Our Collaborative is made up of representatives from the following agencies: the Harris County Board of Education, DHR/DFCS, HC Cooperative Extension Services, Department of Labor(DOL), Enrichment Services Program, CAFI Head Start, Harris County Chamber of Commerce, DJJ, Harris County Public Library, Harris County Health Department, New Horizons(Mental Health Services)and County Government as well as local businesses and faith based organizations. We work closely with partners to increase awareness of issues facing Harris County’s children and families.
Our Partners
Our partners include the Department of Family & Children Services, Harris County Health, Department of Juvenile Justice, Harris Chamber of Commerce, individual businesses, Police Department, Sheriff, Department of Leisure Services, Department of Labor, Boys & Girls Scouts, Area Agency on Aging, Court Appointed Special Advocates, Harris County Board of Education, DHS/DFCS, Private Citizens, The Southern Company, McKees Flowers & Gifts, Xerox, Friendship Baptist Church, Bethsda Baptist Church, 4-H, Harris County EOC, Adult Education/ GED, Enrichment Services Program, Workforce Investment Act., Harris County Library, FOCUS, CAFI Head Start, and many others.
Our most important partners are the families whose children we are serving.
Some of the projects that have been initiated through this process:
- Anti-truancy initiative
- Nutrition and health insurance outreach
- HC ” Back To School Rush”
- HC Community Resource Guide
- HC Community Wide Referral System
- Various welfare-to-work strategies/WIA/Job Fairs
- 8th Grade Math CRCT and Absenteeism Initiative
- Give Smoking the Boot
- Multiple Youth Leadership Projects
- Handy Helpers Elementary Schools
- Basic First Aid Elementary Schools
- Peer to Peer and other Mentoring Programs
- HC Scholarships Program
- Christmas In Harris
Working in partnership with families, we have tackled intractable problems like truancy, child abuse and neglect, school dropout, and physical and mental health disparities, with implementation by the partners (School District, Health Department, DFCS, Faith Based Organizations, Business and private citizens, et al.).
- Working together, our partners have achieved remarkable results. For example:
- Our 8th grade Math CRCT scores saw a 2.5% increase in the first year of plan implementation and students are present both in school and in our Math Boot Camp initiatives during the after school hours.
- We pulled together our partners to strategize about truancy; within the first year we have already seen a decrease in the number of days absent at the middle school due to the diligence of our partners.
- Our Community Wide Resource and Referral System will be fully operational this year allowing our service providers, school system personnel to refer families in need to the appropriate providers for services thus allowing the child to focus more in the classroom and ensuring a stable family.
- With the leadership of Public Health in collaboration with other partners, our annual “Back To School Rush enables all of Harris County’s children an equal and favorable start to the new school year. Last years event saw over 486 students who received free school screenings and immunizations in addition to a free school starter kit. All of our homeless students and foster children receive free back packs in addition to school supplies.
- Christmas In Harris is a great way to spend the holidays in service to others. We provided clothing, food, toys and gifts to over 507 HC residents including all of our homeless students, foster kids, seniors. Participation abounds throughout the community.
Our History
The Georgia County Collaborative Authority for Families and Children was created under the authority of Act 677, adopted March 27, 1998 and amended May 1, 2002 by the General Assembly of the State of Georgia. Designated as the local decision making body for prioritizing the needs of families and children, the Georgia Collaborative brings community partners together to develop, implement, and evaluate plans that address the serious challenges facing Georgia County’s children and families.
The Collaborative has positioned itself as a nonprofit focusing on networking and relationships; connecting both the general public to partners and partners to each other. While there is no one sentence to explain what Georgia Collaborative does, the tag line says it all: “Helping People Help Others.”
The Future
Our success is our partners’ success. We bring all of our partners together, to collaboratively develop and implement the strategies of the ideas created to benefit those of the community.
About Georgia Family Connection
Georgia Family Connection, a statewide infrastructure for aligning efforts across sectors, comes together through two distinct but connected change-makers: a statewide network of Collaboratives in all 159 counties and Georgia Family Connection Partnership (GaFCP). Each strengthens the other—and together, they form Georgia Family Connection.
We work toward measurably better outcomes across five key result areas:
The Georgia Family Connection statewide network—the only one of its kind in the country—works alongside children, families, and communities to help them thrive by crafting local solutions that maximize resources and make systems more effective and efficient. This network cultivates collaboration among community service providers, reducing duplication of efforts and allowing everyone to do more with the resources available.
Collaboratives equip local service agencies and organizations with the tools and methods they need to be more effective, helping them develop and work together on integrated strategies to improve child, family, and community well-being. We fill in service gaps in our communities by functioning as an incubator for direct services to families and children when a need isn’t being met. We also respond to urgent situations by maintaining strong relationships and the infrastructure necessary to deliver timely support.
GaFCP unites the statewide network in a shared framework that promotes consistent, ongoing collaboration and peer learning—equipping Collaboratives to draw on communities’ collective wisdom and experience across the state. GaFCP develops effective partnerships with state leaders, private enterprises, and other stakeholders to link the network with public and private funding, resources, talent, and innovation. GaFCP also empowers leaders across Georgia by making data accessible and providing practical tools, training, and technical assistance to support informed decision-making.
