Category: Community Action Café

Since its inception in 2008, YELLS has been fiercely committed to serving and empowering the youth of Franklin Gateway so that they see themselves as change-makers in their own community. While it hasn’t always been easy sailing, one of our saving graces has been the fact that our mission has resonated with so many funders who have remained committed to supporting our organization over the years. This month, we would like to spotlight longtime funder Lutheran Church of the Resurrection (LCR) in Marietta, along with church member and YELLS board member George O’Donnell!

YELLS’ partnership with LCR goes back all the way to 2014. By that point, George had been a member of the church for almost 20 years and was looking for new youth mentorship volunteer opportunities when he came across a local news article highlighting YELLS’ recognition by the Atlanta Regional Commission. He contacted Laura at the time to inquire how he and his church might get involved in supporting and uplifting our programs.   

“We found out that Laura was moving YELLS from an apartment community that was being torn down on Franklin Road into an office building, and she needed some work done to remodel and I think she had some struggles getting funding for the scope of what she wanted to do,” George said. “My group of retired gentlemen from our church pitched in and tore down walls and did electrical work and plumbing work and drywall work and within about six weeks, got YELLS finished out the way Laura wanted it and they were able to begin operation.”

That was 8 years ago, and in that time LCR has been one of YELLS’ most consistent partners, supporting our programs in many different ways!

Lutheran Church of the Resurrection 

George first joined Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in 1995, and he says that what drew him to the church initially was their strong focus on community service. In the past the church has been involved in various community programs aimed at mentoring youth, and when those programs were ultimately discontinued due to lack of funding, George turned to YELLS as a like-minded organization doing similar things for the Franklin Gateway community. What began as volunteer electrical work and building maintenance soon evolved into one of our most long-lasting and reliable partnerships!

“YELLS has been supported by our church financially every year since we first started working with YELLS, and we continue that financial support. We also have a tradition within our church every September to do what we call ‘God’s Work. Our Hands.’, and that’s a denomination-wide effort to energize congregations to help in their community, especially hands-on, helping to do a variety of tasks to help nonprofits or other things in the community. So we have a long tradition of doing touch up paint and painting walls and repairing things at YELLS on that second weekend in September every year,” George said.

LCR has also been known to show up throughout the year to perform maintenance work for our organization, whether it’s plumbing or drywall repairs, electrical work or technology support. George has been a member of the YELLS Board for a few years now, and he has often acted as a facilitator for volunteer opportunities between YELLS and LCR. Many of the retired gentlemen in George’s volunteer group have a wide range of skills and expertise from past careers that they draw upon to make a difference at our organization. All of the technology infrastructure that YELLS has was installed by members of LCR who were former electricians, including the WiFi and the security cameras throughout the building. A group of LCR folks even led a series of workshops that taught our YELLS Community Action Cafe teens how to design and build their own stage for their Cafe!

Remarkably, LCR’s involvement at YELLS still doesn’t stop there! At the beginning of the year, our Mentoring Program was in a bind because their usual meeting place would no longer be available to use. It was through George that we met Mr. Richard Leon, Director of Sales and Marketing at The Radisson Hotel, who opened the hotel doors for our Mentoring Bigs and Littles to meet every week. Richard is also a longtime member of LCR and a good friend of George’s, and this piece of hospitality was one of the most important ways a partner supported YELLS this year. You can learn more about Richard Leon and the Radisson’s involvement in the YELLS Mentoring Program here!

We are forever grateful for the ongoing support of Lutheran Church of the Resurrection and George O’Donnell. As the years go on and people come and go, it’s a beautiful thing to see that our mission of serving the youth of Franklin Gateway inspires other organizations to join us and stay committed to this cause! Thank you George O’Donnell and LCR! 

On May 10th, 2022, YELLS had the pleasure of hosting its first Marietta Police Department Town Hall in over 2 years! Led by Major Jake King, the town hall was a real opportunity for Franklin Gateway residents to come together and engage with city representatives about the needs and concerns of their community. It was also great to see our Community Action Café teens get involved in the town hall as YELLS hosts, introducing speakers and addressing their community in a formal setting!

Crime Report

After an introduction from our Café teens, Major King began the town hall by lauding the 10 year decline in crime rates in Zone 1 (where Franklin Gateway is located). Of the 7,110 “calls of service” made to the Marietta Police Department in April 2022, only 788 of those came from Zone 1, and only 4 burglaries in Zone 1 were reported to police during that time. When asked what he attributes to declining crime rates in the zone, Major King cited a combination of positive city council decisions coupled with efforts from community programs, schools, and residents to get involved and make their community safer. As the only youth-focused non-profit on Franklin Gateway, YELLS is proud to be one of the community partners impacting the reduction in crime for Franklin Gateway.  Since our daily youth programs began in 2011, crime has decreased by 59.42% in our neighborhood. Major King also praised the city’s new Public Safety Ambassador Program as an effective tool in handling the more innocuous and day-to-day issues affecting community members.

“Through the city council, they hired 12 (citizens as Public Safety Ambassadors), and we defer it like this: there’s some calls where you don’t need a gun Toter (police officer). Your tag was taken off your car overnight, you have no idea who took it, you just need a police report. Do you just need a report or do you need me to show up? You just need to report. So we have civilians that drive around in those silver Ford Escapes and they take all the reports for us, and direct traffic and stuff. So they are a force multiplier for us and help us and they also are really good crime scene technicians,” Major King said.

Play this audio to hear Major King’s thoughts on the decrease in crime rates, as well as new employment opportunities through the city’s Public Safety Ambassadors Program.

Community Members Engage With City Council Representatives

The town hall was also attended by City Councilmembers Joseph Goldstein (Ward 7) and Cheryl Richardson (Ward 1), who offered community updates and fielded questions from their constituents. Councilman Goldstein began by saying that overall the city is doing well and is about to enter a new fiscal year on July 1st. The city is looking at decreasing the millage rate slightly, possibly decreasing property taxes as well. He also touched on a new federal program called the Affordable Connectivity Plan, which could reimburse customers up to $30 per month on eligible internet plans (go to https://www.fcc.gov/acp for more information).

Many of the questions the council members received from community members in attendance had to do with the physical development of Franklin Gateway. When asked about the ongoing but slow-moving plan to construct an Ikea in the vacant lot across from Iguala’s Market, Councilman Goldstein said the city has not received updates from Ikea on that development in several years. 

Councilwoman Richardson was asked about the possibility of having a community center on Franklin Gateway.  FRCA co-president Antoinette Reed shared that YELLS is looking for a larger space that could provide even more opportunities for children and families, and the neighborhood has long been in need of community space that is publicly accessible to Franklin Gateway residents.  While she said there were no allocated funds in the current SPLOST for a community center, Councilwoman Richardson did mention the planning and development of the Rottenwood Creek Trail, which will link Franklin Gateway all the way to Kennesaw Mountain via a paved trail, although she mentioned it would be a few years before the trail opens for public use. 

Listen to City Council members Joseph Goldstein and Cheryl Richardson elaborate on the development of Rottenwood Creek Trail here:

“Seems like a lot of the questions were around infrastructure and the things that we can do to improve the physical nature of the community,” said candidate for Georgia House District 43 Ben Stahl after the town hall. “Not a lot of people were asking about crime or jobs or things like that, and those are kind of those intangible things that you can’t see. A lot of the questions were about those things you can see. Everyone was asking about the crosswalks, the buses, dilapidated houses, the IKEA spot, the spot on the north side of the road. And those all take time and money to fix those problems. And really, it starts at these kinds of events.”

Opportunities for Community Engagement

The Franklin Road Community Association (FRCA) co-president, Antoinette Reed, also raised a call to action for attendees to get involved and give back to their community. FRCA is a group made up of Franklin Gateway residents, and they are planning their annual Back to School Bash on July 23. Registration for this event is open now, and they are in need of neighbors and volunteers to join the planning committee to make this community-driven event possible!  If you’d like to get involved and attend our planning meetings, please reach out to Daneea Badio-McCray at dbadio@mariettaga.gov.

Community Action Café Teens Take The Lead!

It was especially exciting to watch our Community Action Café teens facilitating this town hall as hosts! Two of our teens, Amiyah and Evan, opened the meeting with a strong bilingual introduction of Major King, and Andrew closed us out with a series of YELLS updates and thanked everybody for coming out. We’re proud of the way our teens took the initiative to stand in front of their community and speak with confidence and intent, and this certainly was not lost on the adults in attendance. 

“I personally think it went well! It is always, in my mind, great to see the kids not only sitting in and asking questions, but also running it. So I’m always impressed with that.” said Councilwoman Richardson. “And this was a great turnout, attendance wise. I’ve been to places where we’ve had four people. So this is wonderful. It shows the interest in the community.”

All in all, the MPD Town Hall was an evening filled with engaging discussions between city representatives and residents of Franklin Gateway. YELLS is proud to be able to serve as a hub for the Franklin Gateway community, and we look forward to hosting more town halls in the future!

 If you’re interested in learning more about the topics discussed at the Marietta Police Department Town Hall, play the audio below for further community updates from Major King and the City Council members representing Franklin Gateway:

In our efforts to revive the Franklin Fair after a two year hiatus, we are blessed to have the incredible continuing support from Stablegold Hospitality! For years, the team at Stablegold have demonstrated their commitment to our work of empowering youth and families in our community, and this year they took it a step further!

This year’s Franklin Fair is being organized by the Bigs in the YELLS Mentoring Program as a way for them to give back to the community that they call home. Like any community event, there is a lot of planning and coordination that must go into making the day a success, and at times our Bigs have run into obstacles securing donations and supplies for the fair. Luckily for our Bigs, they can rest easy knowing that Stablegold has got them covered! 

Stablegold recently gave a generous contribution to be used to support the Franklin Fair and ensure that our Bigs have everything they need for a successful community event! On top of that, they have committed to providing and covering the expenses for food to be at the event, meaning that guests and community members can enjoy free food as they enjoy the day and interact with the different games and booths! There is no understating how huge this is; Stablegold’s multiple contributions will go a long way in supporting our Bigs and the Franklin Fair, making sure it will be an event to remember for a long time.

In the past, Mr. Ali Jamal and his team have shown that they truly care about giving back to and investing in the youth of our Franklin Gateway community.  On top of sponsoring our Tenth Anniversary Networking Dinner, they also engage in our youth-led events, give generously to our cause, and have even supported YELLS families in crisis through temporary housing. With these most recent contributions, it is only right that Stablegold Hospitality has been chosen to be our Funder Spotlight this month! A massive thank you to everyone at Stablegold who believes in the YELLS mission!