By Sarah Meiselman, Mairen Brown, and Evyn Firestone
The Link recently opened in February 2023 here at North Springs. The Fulton County district has created this community resource center at three schools.
The official district name for it is the S.A.F.E. Center, which stands for Student and Family Engagement Center. The goal behind the centers is to create a one-stop shop of resources for students and families in need. It has already and will continue to support students’ mental health and physical well-being through its services, such as its full grocery store and its calm room to relax when stress becomes overwhelming. The process of how this incredible space came to be and the people working behind the curtain, as well as the purposes of the Link’s various rooms, can be found below.
North Springs is the only school in North Fulton with the services the Link provides. The Link is currently in the basement at North Springs, but this location is temporary as it will have a dedicated spot in the new building currently in the works for the school. It has been made possible through many collaborations with different companies and nonprofits in the community and with Fulton County. The grocery store was funded through federal funds that Fulton County received at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. These funds were given to support the “Bridge to Success” plan that aims to bridge the current state of students to future success. Every Metro Atlanta school receives this funding. Fulton decided to use the money to open two additional student and family engagement centers, also known as safe centers, and support one already in existence. One was opened in Tri-Cities, another was opened at North Springs, and the one already open is in Banneker, so that is now scaling up.
In terms of the jobs that work on the Link, there are three separate committees. One is focused on the students and their needs being met, one is focused on the staff and providing academic help, and the last is connecting with people in the community. Mrs. Pekatos is the chair of the academics, Mrs. Peyton is the chair of the student needs, and Ms. Smith and Ms. Weaver are the social workers.
The Link hallway has four rooms specifically for helping students, each its own purpose. It has a “grocery store” that has all types of food for students at North Springs and other students who might be in families struggling with providing food in North Fulton. It has an area with dry foods like cereal, a section dedicated to fruits and vegetables, and multiple refrigerators with meat, frozen foods, fish, and frozen treats. Additionally, towards the back of the room were feminine hygiene products and school supplies. Ms. Smith mentioned that everything in this room is the “essentials” that people need to meet their basic needs. Two other rooms in the Link are conversation based. This is where students can go to talk, express their needs, and get help from an adult and professionals like Ms. Smith and Ms. Weaver. These rooms have games, couches, blackboards, and more to create a safe space for collaboration, comfort, and security. The last room in the hall is the boutique, which has yet to open. In a conversation with Ms. Smith, she explained that it would be a room for students to go to if they are ever in need of clothes and other hygiene products that may not be in the main rooms of the Link. Hair products, socks, shoes, brushes, etc. will all be available in this room.
The Link’s grocery store gave out 40 bags of food the week of February 13th after being stocked for the first time and has continued to grow since then. All the Link’s rooms are close to a door that leads outside, so people can easily come in to pick up groceries and other necessities. Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Weaver find and direct families to the program and coordinate partnerships that could support the program in the future. Additionally, North Springs is currently in collaboration with community partners. For example, the Link has backpacks donated by Mercedes Benz. Right now, Fulton County is also funding the program, but the goal is that after two years, it will be sustained by the community.
Another future goal for the Link is to bring services like physical exams and dental care into the building. North Springs already has mental health services, and now it is keeping space open in the Link for future partners that can help provide other health services to students in need of them. The Link will also need help from teachers and students since it requires someone to monitor the rooms at all times to check people in as it gets busy.
Working under the supervision of Ms. Smith is Ms. Kristen Lawrence, a school social work intern from the University of Alabama. In this role, Lawrence had the opportunity to work with Smith to prepare for the Link’s grand opening, and now she continues to support the program. However, the process of creating this center was not easy. Lawrence said, “The hardest part of pulling this project together was making the vision for the spaces become a reality. Trying to make decisions on how to maximize the space and ensure it was welcoming to students presented a great challenge.”
The Link was no small feat to complete, but it is essential to the well-being of students. Lawrence explained, “Programs like the Link are important because they provide resources to enhance those that already exist within the school. The more support the students are provided inside and outside the classroom, the more successful they can be.”
Lawrence currently assists Ms. Smith with all the social media posts and flyers for the Link and establishes forms for data collection. She also facilitates Mindful Moments in one of the new spaces in North Springs called the Gathering Spot. Mindful Moments provides an additional calm and chill space for students to come during all lunch periods every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month.
Despite having to put in a lot of time and effort into North Springs, Lawrence thoroughly enjoys her work here. She said, “My favorite part of working at North Springs is having the opportunity to interact with such a diverse group of students. During my time here at North Springs, I have learned so much from the students, and that will be helpful as I start my career.”
Mrs. Pekatos, along with Ms. Lawrence, helps make the Link a reality. Although she did not originally volunteer for the job, she explained that it had become a valuable and rewarding opportunity, especially with the positive feedback she has been receiving. One major task that she and Mrs. Peyton do is work with students and teachers to learn how they feel about the school. They gather data on what things people consider useful at school already and what things they feel are not needed. Mrs. Pekatos understands the importance of giving students the resources they need. She said, “So many expectations are placed on students, and not just in academics anymore. We have all these expectations for students without the resources to help them in all those different areas. I think the Link can help those students meet those needs that aren’t already being met, so they have support for these skills that aren’t just math and English.”
Mrs. Pekatos explained that the Link is also a great opportunity for schools to connect with the community. She said, “[Because of the Link] we start to see that people who go to the school start to feel a part of the Sandy Springs Community and the people in the Sandy Springs Community feel like they know what’s happening in North Springs.”
Additionally, Mr. Hanson, the principal of North Springs, is involved with the Link. He meets with the Link’s coordinator and a social worker, who both manage and operate its day-to-day functions, to see what assistance they need. He explained that the Link is so beneficial because, “Before the Link, lots of individual people had different parts to play in delivering resources to students and families, but with this, it is all in one place. Things like job assistance, mental and social counseling, translating services, food, clothing, and some medical assistants are all resources that can be delivered to students from this one source.”
As principal, he knows the needs of North Springs students. He said, “North Springs is a unique school with unique needs. North Springs has incredibly wealthy parents and middle-income parents but also parents who are struggling to make ends meet. Those students and families are the ones that have struggled to get a cohesive response of resources available [before the creation of the Link].”
The Link will allow students to focus on academics because it will fulfill their physical needs. Mr. Hanson explained, “Right now, I think students see school as an 8:00 to 3:00 endeavor where they are given lessons to help them be successful. But the things that might get in the way of being successful at school aren’t necessarily school related. So, the Link allows us to provide resources to students to help them focus on school. There is a saying that kids that come to school hungry aren’t thinking about school, they are thinking about their next meal. Imagine a time when that isn’t the case. That is why the Link exists.”
Mr. Hanson’s favorite part of the Link is the partnership with Goodr, who provides the grocery supplies for The Link. He said, “The food available has a lot of variety and quality to help support the families that are food insecure.”
Overall, the Link offers much-needed support to all types of students. It has a safe and comfortable environment with an abundance of mental and physical health services. There is no doubt that it will give a ton of additional care to students, but it has been no small or easy task. The large number of teachers that brought this extraordinary operation into reality have worked hard to help the community, something that can serve as a reminder to everyone that it is essential to build up and support one’s neighbors and peers.
