By Belisa Urbina, CEO and Stephanie Watson, director of strategy and sustainability, Ser Familia
One of the major sources of strength in Atlanta is its rich diversity. Over the past 10 years, Latinos have led a strong population growth trajectory. This trend will continue to eclipse all other areas of demographic growth.
In fact, the projected numbers are staggering. According to the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), the area will see an almost doubling of Latinos within the northern part of the state, to about 1.8 million or 20.7% of the entire population from 11.9% by 2050 (some areas higher). Suburbs are seeing school enrollment percentages rapidly spike with some systems touting a 33% increase of students identifying as Latino, indicative that families are not transient, but part of the community’s fabric.
Some county growth projections:
Forsyth– 270% (from 24,286 to 89,886)
DeKalb– 237% (from 65,191 to 219,826)
Cherokee– 169% (29,474 to 79,405)
Fulton– 147% (76,973 to 190,131)
Cobb– 118% 9 (101,921 to 222,132)
Gwinnett– 90% (208-149 to 394,749)
Source: Atlanta Regional Commission (complete county list available on website)
This growth leaves the area in a precarious situation and in need of essential infrastructure and services to meet the needs of this new face of the developing community. Culturally proficient resources and the capacity to address needs are already sparse. Mental health and family services are scarce-to-none in most counties. Major studies indicate that Latinos both young and adult present a disparately higher rate of mental health issues and other negative outcomes associated with social drivers of health than other ethnic communities.
Alarm bells should be sounding throughout the Metro Atlanta area. A virtual five-alarm fire is developing through the compounding effects of many factors, including:
- Rapid and disproportionate Latino population growth continuing – as outlined above – on top of the rapid growth in the 10 years prior.
- Georgia’s Latino population is presently underserved. The area does not have prepared agencies to serve current numbers, let alone the growth. Only a few organizations exist, including less than 100 clinicians to serve the close to 1 million individuals already in the area.
- Increased overall incidences of need for services – e.g., teen mental health crisis, rise in domestic violence cases, the crushing numbers of suicide across the board, and the deepening of poverty and the issues it brings.
- Increased mounting severity and complexity of cases in need of services. More needs in higher combination are recognized in more people and families than ever before, and they continue to become denser and more involved.
- Georgia infrastructure is highly underdeveloped. Unlike medical healthcare, mental healthcare necessitates cultural and linguistic competence and trust. In Georgia, there are only eight culturally proficient, Spanish-speaking psychiatrists serving adults and only one serving youth. And there is essentially only one culturally proficient mental health service provider agency in the entire state serving the Latino community.
Ser Familia is addressing these issues in a BIG way and doing all it can to stave off worsening conditions, through both its 1) unique, proven effective service model that accounts for individual differences, and 2) plans for infrastructure development, starting in the state of Georgia.
Ser Familia was founded in 2001 and is ‘answering the call’ from all angles. Recognized at the national and international levels, Ser Familia has always taken a ‘run toward the fire’ response to the vast, multi-layered, emerging needs of the Latino community. It is the largest human services organization in Georgia serving Latino families and the only agency to provide a comprehensive array of multidisciplinary, culturally specific, and linguistically proficient social, family and mental health services for the Latino population throughout the greater Atlanta area. Accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), Ser Familia equips Latinos with the tools, resources and skills they need to move from crisis to thriving by providing preventative and therapeutic family services for all family members. All programming is evidence-based and strengthens Latino families to achieve transformational outcomes.
Building the infrastructure required to effectively and impactfully address these circumstances is not only necessary for population explosion in the Latino community but is absolutely vital to the overall economic and community development in the Metro region and beyond. This means more resources, funding and support from all areas of the community – philanthropic, businesses, places of worship, government agencies, elected officials, and more – are crucial and exceptionally merited. All of us have a part to play in preparing Atlanta to thrive economically, educationally, and socially. It will take ALL of us to ‘lean in!’
Ser Familia partners with the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta to improve outcomes for residents of the Fair Oaks community of Cobb County. To learn more about Ser Familia’s work, visit https://serfamilia.org.
This is sponsored content.
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