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Fulton County residents are invited to the third annual Joan P. Garner Walk and Health Fair on Saturday, October 5, 2019. This annual event, hosted by Commissioner Natalie Hall and the Board of Commissioners, celebrates the life of the late Fulton County Commissioner Joan P. Garner.

Participants will enjoy free and fun activities for all ages and abilities, including information booths and displays, refreshments, games, giveaway items, music and fitness activities, Kaiser Permanente health screenings, free produce from the Fulton Fresh mobile market, and job training and services with the Workforce Fulton mobile unit. Vendors include Fulton County Board of Health Census 2020, Water Education, Emergency Preparedness, Voter Education, Behavioral Health & Development Disabilities, the Fulton County Library, food trucks, and more. The Health Fair will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Washington Park, 1125 Lena Street, NW, Atlanta, GA 30314. 

At 10 a.m., Commissioner Hall will lead the 2-mile Walk/Run/Roll on the Atlanta Beltline Westside Trail.

“I am privileged to host this event for a third year in honor of my neighbor, mentor, friend, and late boss Commissioner Joan P. Garner. One way to honor her legacy is to keep Fulton County’s commitment to community health in the forefront. I am thankful once again to be in the position to engage our communities with this event preserving that part of her legacy”, says Fulton County District 4 Commissioner Natalie Hall.

Limited parking is available at Washington Park. Free shuttle service will be provided to the event from the Ashby MARTA station.

Residents can register online for the event at:
2019garnerwalk.eventbrite.com

For more information, call the Fulton County Department of External Affairs at 404-612-8300.

In the month of June, the National Association of Counties (NACo) selected Fulton County District 4 Commissioner Natalie Hall to participate in the National Economic Mobility Leadership Network, a new program that brings together diverse and bipartisan county leaders from across the country to explore the role counties can play to positively affect economic mobility. The network is run by the National Association of Counties (NACo) and is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “It is truly an honor to represent Fulton County for the National Economic Mobility Leadership Network. This is an important program and I believe collaboration is important to identify ways in which we can foster economic growth and mobility to improve our underserved communities. I look forward to sitting down with this diverse group of county officials from all areas: urban, suburban and rural to discuss this issue of economic mobility and recognize possible solutions”, says Fulton County District 4 Commissioner Natalie Hall.

The National Economic Mobility Leadership Network will travel to three counties that have made concerted efforts and demonstrated success in addressing economic mobility in their counties. Throughout the two-day convening, county leaders and experts will engage on a range of topics including: workforce development and opportunities, generational poverty, affordable housing, access to financial services, educational opportunities and attainment, transportation access, health care services and access, technology and information access, criminal justice reform, geographic mobility and data collection, use, and sharing. The leaders will also visit sites that demonstrate the program and meet local leaders and those impacted by these programs and services.

NACo is the only national organization representing county governments in the United States. NACo assists America’s 3,069 counties—including the nearly 40,000 county elected officials and 3.6 million county employees that serve counties—in pursuing excellence in public service to create healthy, vibrant, and safe counties.

For more District 4 news, sign up for the quarterly newsletter at www.fultoncountyga4.com. You can also connect with the Commissioner Hall and the District 4 office on Instagram @fulcod4, Twitter @fulcod4 or Facebook @fulcod4.

By a unanimous vote, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners approved the $120,000 in funding to start the Project Level Up, an endeavor to be administered by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Public Defender, Atlanta Judicial Circuit. The program seeks to reduce arrests and violence involving juvenile offenders by intervening in the lives of these young people.

“Our hope is that a program like this one can help address both the crime that plagues so many of our communities and the need for viable opportunities for our young people as an alternative to the streets,” says Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts. “Our hope is that this will yield tangible results in each of these areas.” 

“I am pleased that the District Attorney’s Project Level Up Juvenile Recidivism Intervention Program was approved unanimously today with my colleagues voting in favor of releasing the funding that I set aside for this program. Project Level Up is a program that will be used to combat the juvenile crime epidemic in Fulton County,” says Fulton County District 4 Commissioner Natalie Hall. “I am excited to see this program begin to help support the lives of our young people and their families” 

Project Level Up is an intervention program which would provide juvenile repeat offenders with three or more arrests with an aftercare program, mentoring opportunities, and family intervention.   If a young person is identified for participation in Level Up, the offender is assigned a caseworker and provided with services to aid the young person in staying away from a life of crime. If the juvenile graduates from Level Up, the charges currently pending against the offender would be dismissed. The funding approved would pay for the salaries of 4 staffers through the end of 2019 as the program is developed and planned.  

The Fulton County Division of Youth and Community Services and the Public Defender’s Office are among the agencies that would support family intervention efforts while several area houses of worship have pledged support for mentoring efforts for the at-risk young people targeted by the program. Among the organizations that have pledged to assist in aftercare, efforts are the Atlanta Police Foundation, the @ Promise Center, the YMCA, Boys, and Girls Club, as well as other community partners.

The Fulton County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to rename a branch of the Fulton County Library System in memory of the late Fulton County Commissioner Joan P. Garner. The branch is located at 980 Ponce de Leon Avenue NE,  

Atlanta, GA 30306 and the name change will go into effect upon the branch’s reopening following renovations. At the time of her death, Ms. Garner was serving as the Commissioner representing District 4.

“We are proud to provide our beloved colleague with this lasting tribute at a facility that means so much to our community,” says Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts. “Our hope is that her legacy lives on through this honor.”

“I believe this is a fitting tribute to my mentor, friend, and boss, the late Commissioner Joan P. Garner,” says Fulton County District 4 Commissioner Natalie Hall. “The Joan P. Garner Library will be a public reminder of her lifelong activism and heroic leadership fighting against social injustice and fighting for human, civil, and LGBTQ rights in Fulton County.”

“I think it’s honorable that a facility be named after an honorable person such as Joan,” says Fulton County District 5 Commissioner Marvin S. Arrington, Jr. “I am proud that it will be a library in my district.”

A noted activist on behalf of the LGBTQ community and advocate for those battling HIV/AIDS, Joan P. Garner joined the Board of Commissioner in 2011, representing a district that served primarily areas of the City of Atlanta. She worked tirelessly to fight against health disparities and co-founded the Fulton County Task Force on HIV/AIDS as she championed numerous other health initiatives. At the time of her death, Commissioner Garner served as Third Vice President of ACCG – Georgia’s County Association and was the past Chair of the National Association of Counties’ Healthy Counties Initiative Advisory Board, Chair of NACo’s Medicaid and Indigent Care Subcommittee, and as Chair of the Health Policy Committee.  

“We are pleased to honor the late Commissioner Joan P. Garner with this fitting tribute,” said Library Director, Gabriel Morley.   “Commissioner Garner was a steadfast library supporter who worked to ensure residents throughout Fulton County were able to enjoy state of the art library facilities, through her support of the Library Bond Program. We look forward to re-opening the Ponce Library as the Joan P. Garner Library and celebrating her legacy with our patrons.”

At the organization’s most recent national meeting, the National Association of Counties (NACo) commenced a presidential appointment to Fulton County District 4 Commissioner Natalie Hall as Vice-Chair of the Human Services & Education Steering Committee. The committee addresses children’s issues, foster care,  public assistance, and income support, services to senior citizens and individuals with disabilities, immigration policy, social services, and elementary, secondary and post-secondary education as well as the impact of each of these issues on localities.

“I am pleased to serve with colleagues from all over our country to address these key issues facing our communities,” says Fulton County District 4 Commissioner Natalie Hall. “Together, this group can assist one another in confronting these challenges.”

Commissioner Hall joins colleagues from Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Colorado, each of whom represents major metropolitan areas with experience in providing social services. Each NACo policy steering committee reviews and makes recommendations on federal policy issues and legislation in a selected subject matter area. The committee members are appointed by state associations and serve one-year terms. New committee appointments go into effect in August.

The committee assists counties in efforts to administer and fund ongoing projects to strengthen communities as well as protecting and enhancing families. As human services and health expenditures are significant parts of county budgets, NACo supports a wide-ranging array of services for families, children, individuals with disabilities and the elderly. The Human Services and Education Committee of the National Association of Counties (NACo) exists to support counties in this work passing along recommendations regarding issues to NACo’s Board of Directors as it considers the organization’s overall federal priorities.

“I am pleased to serve with colleagues from all over our country to address these key issues facing our communities,” says Fulton County District 4 Commissioner Natalie Hall. “Together, this group can assist one another in confronting these challenges.”

Commissioner Hall joins colleagues from Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Colorado, each of whom represents major metropolitan areas with experience in providing social services. Each NACo policy steering committee reviews and makes recommendations on federal policy issues and legislation in a selected subject matter area. The committee members are appointed by state associations and serve one-year terms. New committee appointments go into effect in August.

The committee assists counties in efforts to administer and fund ongoing projects to strengthen communities as well as protecting and enhancing families. As human services and health expenditures are significant parts of county budgets, NACo supports a wide-ranging array of services for families, children, individuals with disabilities and the elderly. The Human Services and Education Committee of the National Association of Counties (NACo) exists to support counties in this work passing along recommendations regarding issues to NACo’s Board of Directors as it considers the organization’s overall federal priorities.

At the organization’s most recent national meeting, the National Association of Counties (NACo) commenced a presidential appointment to Fulton County District 4 Commissioner Natalie Hall as Vice-Chair of the Human Services & Education Steering Committee. The committee addresses children’s issues, foster care,  public assistance, and income support, services to senior citizens and individuals with disabilities, immigration policy, social services, and elementary, secondary and post-secondary education as well as the impact of each of these issues on localities.

For more information on the National Association of Counties (NACo) Human Services and Education Committee, click here.

Guests Rafielle Kirkland, the founder, and creator of I Keep It Classic Music Group and a musical performance by Alex Marion

See full interview, here