There’s always something happening in the Hostess City. Stay in the know about upcoming events and the latest information with our periodic News & Notes.
Upcoming Events
City to hold job fair for summer rec positions
Who: The City of Savannah Human Resources department
When: Wednesday, March 20, Noon to 7 p.m.
Where: First floor, Savannah Civic Center, 301 West Oglethorpe Ave.
What: The City of Savannah Human Resources department will hold a job fair for the Recreation and Leisure department.
The Human Resources Department is currently seeking to fill summer recreation positions. Vacancies include Junior Camp Counselors, Recreation Service Leaders, Pool Monitors, Pool Assistants, Lifeguards, and Senior Lifeguards.
Attendees are encouraged to submit applications prior to the event. The department will be conducting on-the-spot interviews. All applications can be found at savannahga.gov/jobs.
AKAs host a line dance party to support Greenbriar
Who: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Gamma Sigma Omega Chapter (GSO)
When: Friday, March 22 from 6–8 p.m.
Where: Greenbriar Gym at 3709 Hopkins St.
What: AKAs will host a Line Dance Party to support Greenbriar Children’s Center. All proceeds will go to Greenbriar’s Windy’s Preschool. Romeo Entertainment will be the DJ and will instruct on some of the dances. This is a great opportunity for seasoned and new dancers to learn steps that are beneficial to your heart health. The Line Dance Party entry fee is one pack of markers, crayons, glue sticks, chubby pencils, or construction paper.
Soror Nicole S. Fields, GSO President, stated, “we are thrilled to announce our partnership with Greenbriar Children’s Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing comprehensive services to children and families in need. Through this partnership, we will be working together to offer support and resources to those who need it most. We believe that every child deserves the opportunity to grow and thrive in a safe and nurturing environment, and we are committed to helping Greenbriar Children’s Center achieve this goal. We invite you to join us in supporting this worthy cause and making a positive impact on the lives of children and families in our community. Together, we can make a difference.”
This event is open to the public.
Community invited to celebrate Healthy Savannah’s four years of healthy walks
Who: Healthy Savannah
When: Tuesday, March 26 at 7:30 a.m.
Where: Scarborough Sports Complex, Skidaway at Bona Bella Ave
What: A grass-roots initiative that started as a pandemic solution for people to escape isolation has become a popular early morning routine for many Savannahians. Every Tuesday at 7:30 a.m., Healthy Savannah’s Paula Kreissler and Armand Turner don their walking shoes and lead participants on Healthy Walks around Savannah and Chatham County. Now, after having since offered more than 150 Healthy Walks over the past four years, the organization is celebrating the initiative by encouraging the community to join them at a special anniversary walk.
The public is invited to meet up with members of Healthy Savannah, the YMCA of Coastal Georgia and Friends of Tide to Town to celebrate the 4th anniversary of Healthy Walks. This will be a low-impact two-mile walk along a portion of the Tide To Town Urban Trail system known as the Truman Linear Park Trail, which is level and accessible, with wide, paved walkways and highly visible pedestrian crosswalks. The walk will last about an hour and end back at the starting point.
“At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when so many people were isolated and homebound, this activity grew from a need for folks to get out and participate in a safe social setting that also encouraged physical fitness,” said Turner, deputy director, Healthy Savannah and board president, Friends of Tide to Town. “It was also a way for people to experience our local trails and parks and see areas of our city and county from a different perspective.”
Founded in 2007 by Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson with the aim of making Savannah a healthier place to live, Healthy Savannah has since grown into a dedicated coalition of over 200 partner organizations with which the organization leads, collaborates and innovates equitable solutions for the sustained health of all Savannahians.
Together with the YMCA of Coastal Georgia, Healthy Savannah currently administers a five-year $5.1 million Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant to foster sustainable health equity among racial and ethnic minority populations in low-wealth neighborhoods in areas of nutrition, physical activity and the reduction of chronic diseases. A portion of the grant funding supports the development and use of the Tide to Town urban trail system. The Friends of Tide to Town was founded in 2018 to lead the community-based engagement, implementation and stewardship of Tide to Town, through the lens of health and equity.
“While these walks do encourage physical activity, we also want weekly walkers to have fun while exploring activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations all around our community,” said Kreissler, Healthy Savannah’s executive director. “We might invite someone who knows about the history of the area to walk along and tell the story behind the trail or point out significant landmarks of the area we’re visiting. It gives you an entirely new perspective of places you might have always known but never really knew.”
Kreissler says the March 26 anniversary walk will take walkers along a section of the Truman Trail which has newly planted camellias.
Savannah City Council recently approved an over 8 million dollar contract for the second phase of the Truman Trail construction. The first three miles, completed during the pandemic, run from Lake Mayer to DeRenne Ave. The next segment will run for about three miles picking up at DeRenne Ave. near Jenkins High School to 52nd St. and Bee Rd. Construction is expected to get underway later this year. Once completed, it will fully connect the Lake Mayer Park Trail Loop to the Daffin Park Trail Loop, creating nine miles of continuous off- and on-road bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure through the heart of Savannah.
“In our most recent Healthy Savannah survey, which we have conducted each year since 2014, respondents said they would walk or bike to work, school and shopping if there were bike paths and sidewalks,” said Turner. “That’s precisely what we’re striving to accomplish through the Tide to Town urban trail project.”
Almost all (87%) of Healthy Savannah’s 2023 survey respondents said that sidewalks/paths in areas for walking to work, school, and businesses are fairly or extremely important. A majority (70%) further indicated that they use the city and county parks at least once a month or more and (75%) participate in physical activities a few times a month or more.
“Our observational data also shows that Black and white residents use the trail in nearly equal numbers,” said Turner. “The trail system is creating a safe, stress-free place to walk, jog, skate or bicycle for all.”
Turner says the Tide to Town project is also gaining greater momentum now that the City has brought a project manager on board. The group is additionally working with City staff on an official agreement between Friends of Tide to Town and the City of Savannah that outlines how the two entities can work together to ensure the trail system is constructed and maintained with equity and health in mind.
When completed, Tide to Town will include a network of 30+ miles of bikeable and walkable trails connecting more than 60 neighborhoods and 30 schools in Savannah and Chatham County, from downtown to the marshes and waterways.
“We encourage everyone to get out and get healthy, whether you join our Healthy Walks or explore these routes on your own, using the Healthy Walks map,” said Kreissler. “You can also watch live streams and recordings of our walks on Healthy Savannah’s Facebook page.”
The next healthy walk is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. on April 2 at Whitemarsh Preserve, 68 Johnny Mercer Blvd, Savannah, GA 31410. To learn about upcoming Healthy Walks, click on Healthy Savannah’s Healthy Activities calendar, healthysavannah.org/healthy-activities/, and to watch live streams of their walks every Tuesday morning, visit Healthy Savannah’s Facebook page, facebook.com/healthysav and Healthy Savannah’s Instagram page at instagram.com/officialhltysav/
Chatham County Native Plant Sale & Tree Giveaway celebrates native species with community event highlighting the importance of native plants and trees through family-friendly environmental education activities
Who: Savannah Tree Foundation; State Farm®; Arbor Day Foundation; Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens; Chatham County; UGA Extension Chatham County; Savannah Victory Gardens; NatureScapes of Beaufort; Florabundance Gardens; City of Savannah; and the Georgia Tree Council.
When: Saturday, March 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens, 2 Canebrake Rd.
What: Chatham County residents are invited to the third annual Chatham County Native Plant Sale & Tree Giveaway, a free spring event with a focus on the importance of native plants and trees.The spring event focuses on the importance of native trees and plants to our community and will host kid-friendly educational activities by Chatham County’s Stormwater Program and others.
Chatham County and the City of Savannah will host a Stormwater Quality & Water Wise Landscaping station. The Chatham County Master Gardener Extension volunteers will have an Ask a Master Gardener booth. Jonny Boy Cookies will be on site with treats for purchase. Local plant vendors, Savannah Victory Gardens, NatureScapes of Beaufort, Florabundance Gardens, and the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens will have a selection of species for sale that will thrive in our coastal environment.
Local nonprofit, Savannah Tree Foundation, will have 600 trees native to the coastal Georgia region to give away for FREE! Residents can come learn about the benefits of trees and pick out up to 2 trees for their own yard! The trees provided are sponsored by State Farm® through the Arbor Day Foundation Community Tree Recovery Program and by the Georgia Tree Council.
All sale plants and giveaway trees are first come, first served. Limit two trees per person.
Local Updates
Mediation Center presents community partnership award to Resilient Coastal Georgia
Resilient Coastal Georgia, an initiative of the Coastal Georgia Indicators Coalition, has received the Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire’s Community Partnership Award.
The award was presented at the 2024 Anchored in the Community fundraiser on February 8 at Savannah Bottle Works in Savannah.
“We’re so thankful for all Resilient Coastal Georgia does to cultivate a trauma-informed community and build resilience in our community,” said Jill Cardenas, executive director of the Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire. “We were grateful to celebrate with them on this special evening and thank all those who help us live our mission of increasing our community’s capacity to be conflict-resilient.”
The Resilient Coastal Georgia initiative serves to improve community well-being by engaging and leading the community to work collectively with a focus on building resilience and a trauma-informed community across the coastal counties of Chatham, Effingham and Bryan Counties.
In collaboration with the Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire, Resilient Coastal Georgia has supported peacebuilding initiatives, including the inaugural Peace in the Park event in September 2022 and Savannah’s Day of Peace 2023, held in October. The 2023 event included 45 community resources and over 500 community members who engaged at the event.
Award winners recognized at the 2024 Anchored in the Community event include:
Domestic Mediator Award – Robert Rodatus
General Civil Mediator Award – Carol McCarthy
Lifetime Achievement Award – Jeanne Dent
Innovator Award – Kelly Crosby
Stellar Advocate for Youth: Guardian Ad Litem – Gwendolyn Fortson Waring
Stellar Advocate for Youth – Janie Brodhead
Attorney Appreciation Award – Jack Strother, Attorney at Law
Attorney Appreciation Award – The Law Offices of Joseph J. Steffen Jr.
Community Partnership Award – Resilient Coastal Georgia
The Mediation Center of the Coastal Empire Board Service Award – Adam Kirk
Coastal Georgia Indicators awarded a $50K operational grant from the Arthur M. Blank Foundation
Coastal Georgia Indicators Coalition (CGIC), a Savannah area organization focused on improving community well-being by engaging and leading the community to work collectively, has been awarded a $50,000 operational grant from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.
CGIC will use the grant money to develop an enhanced communication plan leveraging various channels and media outlets to share information about upcoming activities, stakeholder engagement, and community support.
“We are grateful to the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation for this generous grant, which we will use for our day-to-day operations to foster active engagement and collaboration among local organizations and government agencies to help our community’s well-being,” said Roberts.
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation 2023 grant portfolio included more than $8 million to direct service providers working in the foundation’s primary geographies of Georgia and Montana, as well as nonprofits such as Coastal Georgia Indicators, which drive influence in community well-being and catalyze collective action through philanthropy.
Roberts says CGIC will use the funds in specific areas to assess the needs of the Chatham County community to align initiatives with the most pressing issues encompassing economy, education, health and quality of life indicators.
“As our county is slated for substantial industrial growth, building strong community connections is crucial for identifying and addressing shared concerns effectively.” said Roberts. CGIC works with over 120 partners.
According to data provided by U.S. Census Bureau and Casey Foundation, key areas of interest could include poverty rates, educational attainment levels, health/care access, and environmental quality. Census Bureau data shows Chatham County has a diverse population 52.5% White, 41.3% Black or African American, 7% Hispanic, 3.2% Asian, and 2.5% two or more races, with a mix of urban, suburban and rural areas.
CGIC will also use the funds to evaluate the effectiveness of its programs and initiatives, helping identify areas for improvement.
This article appears in Connect Savannah I March 2024.
