Annual Report FY 2024
Leadership Message – July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024
2025 will mark 20 years of Georgia Appleseed. Over these two decades, the community of supporters, staff, and volunteers that make up Georgia Appleseed has transformed Georgia in fundamental ways. Together, we have strengthened the juvenile justice, education, foster care, and housing systems.
We’ve launched initiatives that protect wealth for our lowest-resourced communities, like addressing heirs’ property and raising graduation rates.
We’ve reshaped how Georgia discusses education, mental health, and housing for its most vulnerable children. The impact of our collective work is difficult to overstate.
People often ask, “How do you accomplish so much?”
The answer: we refuse to settle for quick fixes. We dig deep, seeking cures, not just treatments. We’re relentless in addressing root causes and building lasting solutions.
And our small staff of eleven can accomplish so much because our efforts are supported and extended by thousands of pro bono experts across the nation. This year alone, professionals from twenty-seven firms donated more than 2,000 pro bono hours for a total value of $1,067,000 in programs services.
We exist to tackle challenges faced by Georgia’s most underserved children, from courtrooms to classrooms to the very homes they live in. This focus on problem-solving is the heart of our approach, guiding us toward greater impact and more comprehensive solutions.
What problems do we solve?
Our journey has shown us that keeping kids out of jail requires far more than legal system reform or free representation. It’s about keeping them in school,
providing behavioral supports, and ensuring they have safe, habitable homes to return to. School discipline issues often stem from traumas, disabilities, or other unmet needs. Today, we’re working not just within the legal system, but within schools and communities to address the root causes that could eventually lead children into the juvenile justice system.
Why is this work so critical?
Data tells a stark story: More than 21,000 kids in Georgia won’t graduate this year, and they will face consequences beyond lost income and missed opportunities. The data tells us that these kids will live, on average, 10 years less, collectively earn $5 billion less over their lifetimes, and experience higher rates of chronic illness, homelessness, and joblessness. They’re also more likely to encounter the criminal justice system than their graduating peers.
Because these kids didn’t make it through to graduation, the State of Georgia will lose $290 million in tax revenue, along with thousands of college and associate degree graduates. It will also shoulder millions in costs related to juvenile justice, criminal justice, and healthcare.
In short, what happens to these 21,000 students is a humanitarian crisis—and an economic one.
The data and our experience also tell a hopeful story. The right reforms matter. Because of our advocacy efforts, graduation rates have risen over the last two decades. We’re also providing legal assistance to individual kids with lawyers and advocates who fight to make sure that they have the mental health and behavioral supports they need to succeed and graduate. With your help, we can change the trajectory for the 21,000 kids, and get them through school and on to a better life.
