MAY IS NATIONAL FOSTER CARE MONTH
ICM CALLS UPON FAITH COMMUNITIES TO SUPPORT THE "CELEBRATION OF EXCELLENCE"
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 The "Celebration of Excellence" is an annual statewide event that honors and recognizes youth in Georgia's foster care system who will graduate from high school, vocational school, GED programs or college. This year's event will celebrate some 300 foster care youth and will be held Wednesday, June 10 at 6:30 p.m. at Georgia State University's Rialto Center for the Arts in downtown Atlanta.
ICM is calling upon faith communities to help us support this joyous occasion by participating in the following ways:
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
1. Join the ICM COE Volunteers Team and commit to assisting at the event on June 10.
2. Donate gift cards and gift certificates that can be placed in the students' "graduation packets."
3. Come to the celebration and give love and support to these well-deserving youth. It is free and open to the public.
Let us help make June 10, 2009, an especially positive and memorable day. Please contact Pamela Perkins at 770-498-2141 or send an e-mail to info@interfaithchildrensmovement.org to sign up as a volunteer and to find out more information about donating gift cards and gift certificates. We will hold an ICM volunteers session on June 6 at 10:00 a.m. to ensure that the ICM team is ready for duty on June 10.
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STEVEN'S STORY -- FROM FOSTER CARE TO FAITH
The story you are about to read is the personal account of a childhood to which thousands of foster children can relate. Steven, a local seminary student who served as an intern to ICM, wanted to share his story so that children would know that they're not alone and that faith communities and advocates would know that the work we do for our children and the services, nurture and care that we provide to them are important not only in Georgia, but across this nation.
"...Ohio Child Protective Services was now alerted to our situation. And I have to admit that at this point, it didn't look good. We had fled from a pending investigation in Hawaii, where investigators believed my mother had been complicit in our abuse; we were living with another family; we weren't going to school; Mom probably didn't have a job. Police officers and a social worker came to take us away. They had no place for us to go that night, so we spent it in the county lock-up. At this point, I was six, and I was a foster child."
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JUVENILE JUSTICE MATTERS:
A NEW JUVENILE CODE FOR GEORGIA
SB 292, which will be carried by Senator Bill Hamrick (R-30th), along with 23 other co-sponsors carries with it the hopes of many who have called for a re-write of Georgia's Juvenile Code that reflects best practices, scientific research and restorative justice for children who become part of Georgia's juvenile justice system.
As part of the JUSTGeorgia Coalition, ICM has been traveling across Georgia in an effort to educate faith communities about the need for a new Juvenile Code. ICM believes that all children should receive fair and equal treatment within the juvenile justice system; that children and families should receive the intervention assistance they need--which we believe would lower the recidivism rate. We also believe that a revised Juvenile Code, based on these principles, would enhance Georgia's social and economic futures through the productive growth of a healthy population of children, stronger families and safer communities.
You can find a summary of the key objectives of this legislation on our ICM Web site: SB 292 Key Objectives.
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SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE From Georgia Appleseed - When My Child is Disciplined at School: A Guide for Families "As part of its continuing focus on effective parental involvement to benefit students and schools, Georgia Appleseed is pleased to offer its new handbook, When My Child is Disciplined at School: A Guide for Families. The guidebook is intended as a tool to help parents and guardians throughout Georgia to become informed advocates for their children when dealing with school discipline policies." |
Please avail yourselves of this information. Share it with the parents and guardians in your faith community. Please contact ICM if you are interested in hosting a School to Prison Pipeline information session at your faith community. Please call 770-498-2141 or send an e-mail to info@interfaithchildrensmovement.org. |
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Spiritual Witness for Children |
One of the most important things faith communities can do for children is to pray for them.
Every child is a child of God and deserves justice and compassion. Every child deserves our prayers.
ICM encourages every faith community to become a spiritual witness for children. Hold a worship service in your church, synagogue, mosque or temple and invite others to join in praying for the well-being of all children. |
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 JOIN ICM and the effort to improve the well-being of Georgia's children. Make a tax-deductible contribution today. |
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HELP ICM STOP
CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND TRAFFICKING 
ICM'S
SAFE SUMMER 2009
IT IS OUR DUTY
AS THE FAITH COMMUNITY TO PROTECT ALL CHILDREN FROM UNNECESSARY HARM CONTACT ICM TO LEARN HOW YOUR FAITH COMMUNITY CAN BE A SAFE HAVEN! |
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Mark Your Calendar
Worthwhile Events by ICM,
ICM Partners & Others |
| Full ICM Calendar |
May 27 - 31, 2009
"Hard Love," by Israeli Playwright Motti Lerner, performed by Atlanta's newest Theater Company, Genesis Stage. May 27 and 28, 7:30 p.m., May 29 and 30, 8:00 p.m., and May 31, 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at the Lovett School's Woodward Theatre, 4075 Paces Ferry Rd. Atlanta 30327. This powerful drama is set in the Ultra Orthodox community of Meah Shearim in Jerusalem and tells the story of a couple forced to divorce when the husband turns his back on religion and follows the problems of their and their children's futures. For ticket information contact genesisstage@gmail.com.
June 3-5, 2009
"Washington DC: Summit to Reform Immigration for America"-- at the Kellogg Conference Center Gallaudet University, 800 Florida Ave N.E. in Washington, D.C. The Summit is being sponsored by the Reform Immigration for America Campaign, a national coalition of advocates and organizations from faith, labor and immigrant communities committed to winning the votes needed to enact a just and comprehensive immigration reform bill in this session of Congress. Please register today and commit to attend the Summit on June 3-5, 2009. Your participation will be invaluable and appreciated.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
StreetGRACE - Learn what you can do to bring an end to child sexual exploitation in Georgia at our Monthly MeetUp, this month on June 4th at 2pm at North Avenue Presbyterian Church.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
"Live B4U Die Summit," sponsored by the Community Council of Metropolitan Atlanta at Central United Methodist Church, 503 Mitchell Street, S. W., June 13. This timely summit will focus on our youth and teenagers, who are dying prematurely from violence, risky behavior and poor choices.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
ICM Advocacy Committee meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Frazier, Soloway & Poorack, P.C., 1800 Century Place, Suite 100, Atlanta.
Saturday, July 25
9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
and
Sunday, July 26
10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
16th Annual Asian Cultural Experience (ACE) at the Gwinnett Center, 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth, GA 30097.
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ICM Mission and Goals |
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The Interfaith Children's Movement was formed in 2001 as an intentional association of individuals and communities of faith from all religious traditions.
The Interfaith Children's Movement strives to be a voice for all Georgia children, but especially the poor and marginalized whose voices are often unheard.
ICM works closely with Georgia's policy-oriented child advocacy organizatons, such as:
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Voices for Georgia's Children,
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The Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic at Emory University,
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Georgia Appleseed,
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JUSTGeorgia,
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Prevent Child Abuse Georgia and
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A Future.Not a Past. (child prostitution prevention).
These organizations set the agenda for our advocacy work for children.
ICM's faith community members provide a megaphone to the legislature about what needs to be done for children.
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