Georgia Gives Day 2016 is on Thursday November 17th, and Four Athens is excited to be participating this year. The annual fundraiser Georgia Gives Day unites the state to raise as much money and awareness as possible for Georgia nonprofits during a 24-hour flash mob of online giving through the website at www.GAgivesday.org. In the past three years, these events have raised over $9 million for nonprofits across the state of Georgia. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit working to improve economic outcomes in Athens-Clarke County, Four Athens is focusing its first-time involvement with Georgia Gives Day on raising funds to support and expand its tech education programs for kids and adults in Classic City.
   
To quote Karen Beavor, President and CEO of the Georgia Center for Nonprofits – the organization presenting Georgia Gives Day - “Nonprofits touch nearly every part of our lives. We are very excited to give Georgians an opportunity to truly recognize the nonprofit organizations in their community and give where they live.” Since launching its tech education initiatives in 2014, Four Athens has coordinated 45 classes of 4 code languages reaching 285 students with 12 participating organizations, as of October 2016. Code Clubs for kids have been established in many area after school programs, both public and private, including Athens Academy Middle School, Barnett Shoals Elementary, Barrow Elementary, the Boys and Girls' Club, Chase Street Elementary, Clarke Middle School, Hilsman Middle School, Jefferson Middle School, Timothy Road Elementary, Waseca, and Whit Davis Elementary.

The funds raised from the Georgia Gives Day effort will contribute to the ongoing support for these efforts, as well as new professional development and training to prepare local educators and youth service professionals to incorporate tech education into other learning experiences for young people. Four Athens Youth Education Coordinator Terrell Austin, “Ultimately, tech education will be seamlessly integrated into the daily curriculum. Our role is to help school districts and teachers who are currently in the classroom take steps in this direction through manageable continuing education programs.”  

As of November 1st and through Thursday November 17th, anyone anywhere can go to the Georgia Gives Day site at gagivesday.org/c/GGD/a/fourathens to make an online donation to support Four Athens and its goal to raise $100,000 to expand both the quantity and quality of tech education opportunities for kids and adults in Athens. Also on the Four Athens profile page on the Georgia Gives Day site, prospective donors can see examples of how contributions may be used and watch a video about the benefits of learning to code.