Engage Rossville partners schools and churches to help each other

School social worker Tia Gitgood, left, and mission support specialist Scott Harden are working on Engage Rossville. One example of the types of things they try to support is the repurposing of track, baseball, football and soccer Rossville Athletic Center Director Carthell Rogers gets, said Harden, who then works with local student Ivy Boehm to disseminate it to Rossville Recreation or Chattanooga Valley Recreation. Sports and after-school activities have been shown to increase student success.

Engage Rossville leaders Tia Gitgood and Scott Harden are working to gather community resources to support alternative ways to keep students on track to graduation.

Gitgood, a Walker County Schools social worker, founded Engage Rossville in August 2015 after surveying needs in the community. She believes Jesus is the only hope the community has, so partnering with churches to help support Rossville was a logical step, she said, adding that she noticed there are 15 churches in the area she serves.

"Since the churches started supporting the schools' work, the volunteers have multiplied," said Gitgood.

She said McFarland United Methodist Church operates a free store once a month, and through Engage Rossville, she was able to spread the message and solicit donations of clothes. There was a great need for youth clothing, she said.

Harden is Ridgeland High School's mission support specialist and said the school has started a shop called Callaway's Closet to give kids access to essentials.

"Ms. Callaway, our head secretary, runs it," he said. "Literally, people go in and shop if they need it. It's a way for kids to get clothing, feminine products, soap, washing detergent, toothbrushes and toothpaste. Several students use our facilities and shower, too."

Such efforts are an extension of Engage Rossville's original incarnation: block parties to bring the community together while offering needed services.

"The block parties' goal is to connect people with resources they need," Gitgood said. "We went into neighborhoods and did free haircuts with Dana Jenkins. We partnered with Primary Health Care Center. We've started helping people apply for jobs at parties. The fire department went around and did inspections of fire alarm detectors.

"Through all of these things I hope to see truancy decrease."

Now the group is casting its net even wider, to help with things that might otherwise fall under the radar. For example, Gitgood said Engage Rossville plans to hang a basketball goal at Stoney Point Community because a student says his life is bad because he has nowhere to play basketball.

The group also started a movement at Rossville Middle School called "Your presence is enough" to help students connect with their parents in meaningful ways.

"We surveyed kids at Rossville Middle School and the No. 1 result of what they wanted was to spend more time with their parents," said Gitgood. " Sometimes parents feel like they are not enough, so we started 'Your presence is enough.' We are changing the culture to be less materialistic and more emotionally whole and parents made ornaments with words of affirmation for their children."

By becoming a certified Community of Hope, the group hopes to expand its reach even further. An outreach of Casey Family Programs, which seeks an end to the need for foster care, the program aims to strengthen children and families in every ZIP code through collaborative efforts that reach beyond the standard resources in place.

"It will give us resources and allow us to apply for grants," Gitgood said of the designation. "They only choose a certain amount of communities in a state so it's a big deal."

Through it all, she upholds the mantra "It takes a village"

"The No. 1 thing that reduces child abuse and neglect is increasing community," Gitgood said. "Engage Rossville shows the community cares. To see the community coming together is really neat."