VALDOSTA — Formed in 2017, the SunLight Project team spent the year delving into topics at the core of communities in North Florida and South Georgia. 

To do this, the team of newspaper reporters and editors used Sunshine Laws, data research, open records requests and investigative journalism skills. 

What follows are excerpts from stories from 2017 that capture the spirit of the SunLight Project stories. 

Beyond the numbers, published Jan. 29

“If you look at the differences in (College and the Career Ready Performance Index) scores that you’re going to see statewide, it unfortunately ends up sometimes being a reflection of the poverty levels of the district. I think you have to take that into account,” said Scarlet Brown, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning at Valdosta City Schools. “It doesn’t mean that they can’t learn. They can learn but the challenges are very different than a home where you may have two parents that are working in the home. They’re able to help with homework and provide extracurricular activities, versus a parent that may be holding down two or three jobs and may be a single parent in the home, male or female.

“We can’t deny the (different) dynamics. The school has a responsibility to do much more for that child. So we have significant challenges there. We’re very aware. We’re very concerned. We have a lot of work to do.”

Below the line, published Feb. 5

“(They’re) not bad parents, but they’re working two jobs to keep a roof over their head, so there’s very little time to interact with their student at home,” said Sandy Baxter, executive director for Communities in Schools of Milledgeville-Baldwin County. “The statistics show that children living in poverty need a lot more help to bring them up to the same level.

“If we don’t provide the skills they need – especially literacy and making sure we read to them and that they understand the vocabulary – they’re not going to be able to understand even the simplest of stories that we read.

“Many of these students come to school already with a ton of baggage, and with all that baggage it’s really difficult for them to sit there and learn. Unfortunately, children have many, many worries that children shouldn’t have.”

Life on the Streets: Many paths lead to homelessness, published March 12

“If you look at (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs), you have the bottom row, which is food, clothing, shelter. Then as it goes up, the top of the pyramid is self-actualization, which is where maybe many of us are — reaching our goals, doing fun things in our life, taking trips and making career steps,” said Roz Johnson, chief clinical officer of Behavioral Health Services of South Georgia and a member of the South Central Homeless Task Force.

“That’s what makes us happy and feel good. You’re not there (if you’re homeless). You can’t possibly be there.

“You’re on the bottom and you don’t even have a place to live. The things that we get pleasure from day in and day out — our creature comforts and our hobbies and our relationships — they don’t have that.

“It’s very demoralizing to be in that situation and have to depend on help, have to go to charities. Maybe some of them even end up having to panhandle. Some of them end up doing crimes just to survive.

“I think each one of those things is like a domino effect. You’re living in the street, you have to feed your kids, so you steal something or whatever you have to do. You’re in survival mode, and so you’re probably going to find yourself in situations and even doing behaviors and making choices you wouldn’t have previously thought you would.”

Back to jail: addiction, mental illness, joblessness pave path back to prison, published April 9

“Unfortunately, many (prisoners) fall in a gap where their mental health is not bad enough to commit to inpatient treatment but is not good enough to deal with society. They sometimes deal with drugs, some commit crimes of violence or are involved in domestic violence,” said Brad Shealy, Southern district attorney.

“The state offers little in the way of outpatient treatment, and many who are on medication don’t take it as prescribed. Once they are released from prison and put out on their own, the likelihood to reoffend is high.”

Coming to America: Economic impact of documented, undocumented workforce, published May 7

“Economically, we know (immigrants) are at least half of the population of Dalton, so that is all you really need to know about their economic impact,” said Rob Bradham, president and CEO of the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce. “Right now, the Hispanic community is driving the vast majority of the entrepreneurship in the area. If the immigrant population were removed, entrepreneurship would decrease significantly. That business community is extremely important from an entrepreneur standpoint.

“It would be horrible. Immigrants working in our local industries are essential workers. There is more money than people would estimate in our Hispanic community. And it is only going to grow.”

O, Say Can You See?: Remembering the importance of American Independence, then and now, published Jul. 2

“Our Founding Fathers, in creating the Constitution, created a way to rebel every two years — you vote. Every two years, the entire House of Representatives comes up for election (and) a third of the Senate. Every four years, the president comes up,” said Dr. Dixie Ray Haggard, president of the Georgia Association of Historians.

“In a six-year time frame, you can actually rebel against the government you have and replace it. It’s a non-violent revolution, our election process.”

Here comes the sun: Solar power faces challenges, published Jul. 16

“The other side of it to me is that it’s just the kind of thing we ought to be working on anyway. As I understand, the science is only getting better as far as battery storage capability and the lifespan of the panels, so to me we ought to be engaged in that, and it helps us as we approach businesses all over the country,” said Mike Couch, director of the Central State Hospital Local Redevelopment Authority.

Reality of rape, published July 23

“All too often, we get these reports four or five days after it happened,” said Capt. Chris Crossen with the Dalton Police Department. “And again, I don’t want this to seem like I’m blaming the victim. I understand they have been traumatized. But forensically, the greater the delay, the less there is for us to work with.

“Do your best to be aware of where you are, how you got to be there. A good description is a good starting point, and if I have a good starting point, the more likely I am to get on track quickly. If you can leave something of yours behind, and you can tell me where it is, that’s going to be good, too.”

Bullied: Youths face cyber, schoolyard bullies, published Aug. 27

Cyberbullying includes, but is not limited to, harassing, teasing, intimidating, threatening or terrorizing another student or staff member by way of any technological tool, such as sending or posting inappropriate or derogatory e-mail messages, instant messages, text messages, digital pictures or images or website postings, including blogs, according to the Valdosta City Schools Code of Conduct.

“We deal with it in all ranges,” said Dr. Cloise Williams of Baldwin High School in Milledgeville. “It can be kids who were friends and all of a sudden that friendship is broken and now there’s a separation between the two and now there’s harassment going on through text messaging or social media. Now what they do is gather with other friends and begin to highlight things shared with the friend during that time with others and now they begin to exploit that.”

Life saver: Naloxone preventing overdose deaths, published Nov. 19

“For a parent to go purchase naloxone, that is an overt affirmation of ‘I have a drug abuser in my circle of influence or in my life somewhere,’” said Sgt. Terry Hawkins with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, which equips most of its force with naloxone.

“That’s what I worry about,” he added. “Those are the ones where the naloxone is even more effective than what we have in our patrol cars, because when they find someone unresponsive, even on a good day for us, we’re still four or five minutes away versus a person who is right there and who can administer it immediately.”

Teen pregnancy: Babies having babies, published Dec. 10

“Unfortunately, kids don’t come with a little instruction book, so there is a lot for (the teens) to learn,” said Deanna Folsom, Valdosta city schools social services coordinator. “For example, we had one young lady who was 18 and completely on her own. We took her to the grocery store, assisted her on picking out the appropriate foods and helped her keep up with her doctor’s appointments. We try to give them some of the tools they need.”

Jason Smith is a reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be contacted at 229-244-3400 ext.1257.