United Way’s SPARK Prize Helps 5 North Fulton Non-Profits

The United Way of Greater Atlanta awarded five non-profit organizations serving North Fulton communities $35,000 in grants through the SPARK Prize. The five organizations made their pitches for the top prize in a “Shark Tank”-style format at Kimberly Clark Corp., one of the sponsors.

In the accompanying photo, Vision Warriors founder Kirk Driskell, left, offers his congratulations to Bob Rodgers of Street Grace, winner of the top SPARK Prize North Fulton 2018 of $15,000. The Atlanta-based, faith-driven organization uses technology to fight sex trafficking of minors.

Vision Warriors, a sober-living transitional community for adult men, was awarded a $2,500 prize for its training program for recovering addicts to become future mechanics.

Children in North Fulton on average do much better than children in Atlanta neighborhoods. Yet, statistics show that approximately 7,000 children in North Fulton rate low in well-being, according to Denise Townsend, regional director of the United Way of Greater Atlanta. The organization connects with two organizations to support and invest in improving life for these children: North Fulton Mental Health Collaborative and North Fulton Poverty Task Force.

The SPARK Prize North Fulton creates another way that United Way can reach these children.

A child’s well-being is something we all can support, Townsend said. “Families need to do well and need support from others.”

SPARK Prize North Fulton 2018 Winners

• Vision Warriors – $2,500
• Alchemy Sky Foundation – $2,500
• Be the Voice – $5,000
• Mimosa Collective Impact Project – $10,000
• Street Grace – $15,000

Vision Warriors

The non-profit will use its prize to help fund an auto service training program for people in recovery from addictions. Vision Warriors members support each other as they transition from recovery back to their families and the community. Staying in sober-living/transitional housing helps them make that transition to succeed as fathers, neighbors, employees and productive members of the community.

An existing two-bay garage will host the training site. Vision Warriors founder Kirk Driskell said mechanics from his NAPA AutoCare Center will help train the men using a curriculum created by NAPA. The 71 metro Atlanta NAPA AutoCare Centers will help support and be served by the training center.

Vision Warriors accepts car donations for the trainees to learn this trade. Some of the repaired cars will be bought by Vision Warriors for reliable transportation so they can get to their jobs.

Alchemy Sky Foundation

Jaye Budd founded Alchemy Sky Foundation to use music as therapy practices to help patients and clients reach non-musical goals. The group entered the SPARK Prize to raise funds for a program that reaches veterans. They set a goal of reducing veterans' suicides by 10 percent annually in North Fulton.

The program connects veterans identified with help from the Wounded Warriors Foundation. It gives them a sense of mission with a team they had been missing once their service ended. They get connected with a musician to write and record a song. At the end of the program they hold a release party. Therapists work with the veterans during and after the program, assessing them and any improvements. The intent is to develop connections among the veterans to keep them active even after their time in the program ends.

Be the Voice

Debbie Pauley’s brother faced bullies as a child, which made an anti-bullying campaign a natural for her. But when she researched existing anti-bullying methods, she found that they focused on the victim or the bully. None seemed to deal with the bystanders, though that has a better chance of ending a bullying session.

Be the Voice sets up programs in schools through student panels. Interact clubs, sponsored by local Rotary clubs, often serve as those panels. The program uses short videos done by celebrities, athletes and students to encourage students to put a stop to bullying by speaking out. The program teaches them to support the victims and helps them to ignore the bullies. Putting the program into a school costs $1,500. Students doing most of the work, such as surveys to measure the problem and the program’s success.

Mimosa Collective Impact Project

All rising third graders at Mimosa Elementary School will get help retaining or even boosting their reading skills level. The Mimosa Collective Impact Project wants to reverse the dramatic summer learning loss suffered by the students.

According to Geoff Smith, presenter for the organization, students who leave third grade at or above a third-grade reading level have a higher likelihood of graduating from high school. He shared that through third grade children learn to read; after third grade they read to learn.

The $10,000 will go toward the $42,500 cost to run the summer program for every rising third grader at Mimosa. With 95 percent of the children qualifying for free school lunches and 90 percent for whom English is a second language, reading and transportation are issues. The prize will help fund school buses to get the children to the school the month before third grade starts. And Mimosa Elementary teachers will run the program.

Street Grace

Bob Rodgers, president and CEO of Street Grace, said the organization already received the equivalent of $300,000 in pro bono work. They've collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, Kennesaw State University and BBDO.

One out of every four girls, and one out of every six boys becomes a victim of some form of exploitation by the time they reach the age of 18. A half million children born this year will be victims by the time they reach 18.

Street Grace developed an automated text chat system that plays the role of a minor in chats with people seeking to exploit minors. At the end of the conversation, the bot tells the caller the chat has been document and saved for potential use by law enforcement.

In a test of the concept with adults taking on the role of children, Street Grace saw a dramatic drop in repeat callers when the people thought they were caught. And 15 percent of the callers acted on the resources for help they sent by text at the end of the calls.

The prize enables Street Grace to publish the ads that will lead to phone calls and texts by potential sex offenders.