Big Fun at the YLD Happy Hour in November

We had a great turnout at Victory Sandwich Shop in downtown Decatur for the November YLD happy hour. Thank you to our sponsors Orange Duffle Bag Initiative, Premier Drug Screening, and Mark B. Fonseca/Fonseca Clothiers, Inc.

More About the Young Lawyers Division of the DeKalb Bar Association.

More About Orange Duffel Bag

Orange Duffel Bag Initiative Helps DeKalb County’s Homeless Youth and Foster Care Youth with Life Plans

Orange Duffel Bag Initiative serves Georgia’s youth in foster care, homeless youth, and youth in poverty (ages 12-24). Independently evaluated, our 501c3 nonprofit’s after-school programs provide at-risk youth certified life plan coaching with a strong focus on education and employment. We are the only nonprofit in the nation specifically providing this support. Our coaching is based on the principles in the multi-award winning book “My Orange Duffel Bag: A Journey to Radical Change” – the story of Sam Bracken, who was homeless while at Georgia Tech on a football scholarship and who is now a successful executive with FranklinCovey. Each ODB graduate is awarded a laptop computer to help close the technology gap and receives ongoing advocacy from our family of caring adult advocates. Additionally, an integral part of our strategic plan is seeking out, cultivating and engendering partnerships to utilize existing resources and create new opportunities for education and employment and systemic change to assist disadvantaged teens. Attorney Sam McCrae recently helped one of our ODB graduates when she encountered a problem with traffic court that had potential to derail her future plans.

Our partners include: UGA Fanning Institute, Clark Atlanta University, Georgia Tech, USG Board of Regents College Access Challenge Grant, Atlanta Tech, Middle Georgia State, Kennesaw State University, Georgia State University, Fort Valley State University, United Way, Macon Chamber, Department of Human Services, GA Department of Education Homeless Liaisons, GA Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs, GA EmpowerMEnt and Communities in Schools. Xerox, POS World, JE Dunn, Staples and Zaxby’s are community businesses recognizing and supporting our socioeconomic impact.

“What a great example of community effort around a worthy program!” Diane Hopkins, vice president, Partnership for Excellence in Education.

The need is huge: 86% of youth who age out of foster care in Georgia do so without a high school education, almost guaranteeing that they will experience homelessness, unemployment and/or incarceration. In Georgia alone, more than 3,000 high school juniors and seniors are currently homeless. Program findings include: “On average, youth interviewed agreed assignments improved their public speaking, writing skills, critical thinking and financial planning skills…”

On Dec. 7, we graduate class #13 with homeless students in a pilot program with Atlanta Public Schools. We’re also doing a pilot in partnership with Living Waters to help teenage girls who have been rescued out of sex slavery. United Way awarded us a collaborative grant with Carrie Steele Pitts Home to pilot the state’s first Coaching to College Completion program, designed to help college students who are homeless or aged out of foster care be successful in attaining their degrees. By yearend we will have graduated more than 300 students from our program – 90% of whom have graduated high school or are on track to do so. We are also working directly with the Governor’s Office to expand our reach.

Parade Magazine, which reaches 34 million readers, is featuring ODB in its December 15 issue as an example of a nonprofit taking a unique approach to helping our young people who many write-off as a lost cause. Gi’Nia Stone, 21, who resides in DeKalb County and was in Fulton County DFACs and now serves on the Governor’s Advisory Board for Family and Children, is being highlighted in the article.

If you are interested in becoming an advocate or helping our youth in some way, please visit www.theODBI.org. We will be launching a fundraising campaign on www.RocketHub.com in early December.