ATLANTA – About six weeks after it launched, close to 10,000 Georgians have called the new 988 mental health hotline seeking support.
Rural Georgians, especially those in the southern part of the state, appear to be using the service in higher numbers than urban Georgians, officials with the state behavioral health agency said Thursday.
Designed to provide a mental health complement to existing emergency 911 services, the new 988 service launched in July.
Right now, Georgians who call 988 – which is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – are almost always routed to a counselor in the state.
Prior to the national 988 initiative, Georgia already had a mental health helpline called the Georgia Crisis and Access Line. Currently, Georgians can call either number and reach the same services.
In just the first 45 days of its operation, 37,561 Georgians called either 988 or the Georgia Crisis and Access Line for help with mental health or substance abuse. That’s almost 5,000 more calls than in the same period last year.
Calls to the new 988 number so far are being answered quickly, usually in under 10 seconds, officials said.
The new data shows that many counties in South Georgia are seeing high rates of use.
For example, there were 38.7 calls per 10,000 residents in Webster County in Southwest Georgia during the first month of the new service. That’s more than double the rate for metro Atlanta’s Fulton County.
“This is an area we continue to research,” said Ashley Fielding, an assistant commissioner with the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD).
“What we do know is this tracks with a trend we’ve seen with [increasing] suicide rates in rural areas of Georgia,” she said.
Men have also been slightly more likely to use the hotline than women have so far, officials said. About 53.66% of the callers have been male, while only about 41.13% were female.
Young people are also reaching out to the hotlines for help.
Almost 10% of the hotline calls related to the mental health of someone who is under 18.
Overall, the largest proportion of callers came from the 25-34 sub-group, the DBHDD data showed.
The agency did not provide data about the language breakdown of callers but noted that the new 988 service can provide services in English and Spanish. Translation services for other languages are available as well.
The 988 phone call is designed to be the first in a series of potential steps to help someone in mental health crisis.
The trained counselor on the other end of the phone often can help calm the caller and refer them to outpatient services.
If additional help is needed, the counselor at the hotline can ask emergency first responders or a mobile-crisis team to travel to the person to help them on-site.
The counselor can also help arrange referral to a crisis stabilization unit or other health-care facility if the person needs additional in-patient treatment.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue
ATLANTA – The University System of Georgia will waive SAT and ACT test requirements at most of the system’s 26 institutions for another year, system Chancellor Sonny Perdue announced Thursday.
The university system didn’t include the tests as an admissions requirement for the fall semester this year at all schools except the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia College & State University.
The waiver will continue next fall, with only UGA and Tech being excepted.
Perdue cited recent enrollment declines at some of the system’s institutions as a driver in his decision to continue waiving the tests. Schools in surrounding states that compete with Georgia for students also are waiving standardized test requirements.
Universities across the nation have been waiving the tests since the coronavirus pandemic struck two years ago, forcing high schools to cancel in-person instruction in favor of online classes.
“[University system of Georgia] students coming into this fall went through pandemic high school years,” Perdue said Thursday. “The quality of education wasn’t as good.”
Perdue said the value of SAT and ACT tests also has come into question in recent years.
“There’s a national discussion on whether GPA (grade-point average) or [standardized] test scores are better predictors of student success,” he said.
Perdue said he will revisit the issue during the coming months and decide next spring whether to continue waiving the test scores after the 2023 fall semester.
In other business Thursday, the system’s Board of Regents unanimously approved a $3.14 billion fiscal 2024 operating budget request, a slight 0.8% increase over the fiscal 2023 spending plan that took effect in July.
Gov. Brian Kemp instructed state agencies last month to hold the line on spending when they make their annual budget requests, despite the state’s record surplus. However, the university system was given some wiggle room to accommodate enrollment growth, said Tracey Cook, the system’s executive vice chancellor for strategy and fiscal affairs.
The proposed budget will head next to the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, which will develop final spending recommendations to be presented to the General Assembly in January.
The regents also adopted a $204.2 million capital budget request. It includes $137.7 million for four construction projects: a research tower at Georgia State University, an interdisciplinary STEM building at Kennesaw State University, and renovations at the campuses of the University of Georgia and Fort Valley State University.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia’s new fiscal year is off to a healthy start after the first two months.
The state Department of Revenue collected almost $2.31 billion in taxes in August, an increase of $180.4 million – 0r 8.5% – over the same month a year ago.
State tax receipts during the first two months of fiscal 2023 were up 5.5% over July and August of last year.
Individual income tax revenues rose by 19.5% last month compared to August 2021, resulting from the combination of a large increase in tax payments and a decline in refunds issued by the revenue agency. Net sales taxes were up 11.1%.
Corporate income tax collections for August rose exponentially to $62.3 million compared to just $2.1 million during the same month a year ago. Corporate tax payments for the month rose 68.8%, while refunds issued dropped 87.4%.
Tax receipts from gasoline and other motor fuels were off 99.6% in August, as the state continued to suspend collecting the tax on order from Gov. Brian Kemp.
Georgia tax revenues have been on the rise for more than a year, as the state built a record budget surplus coming out of the coronavirus pandemic.
Kemp said last month he would use part of the surplus to fund a proposed $2 billion income and property tax rebate to Georgia taxpayers next year if he wins reelection in November. That would be in addition to the $1.6 billion election-year rebate taxpayers received this year.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
The Houlihan Bridge in Port Wentworth, built in 1922 and slated for replacement, is Georgia’s last remaining swing-style bridge. Photo credit: Georgia Department of Transportation
ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) is trying to find homes for historic bridges that have outlived their usefulness and need to be replaced.
The agency’s Office of Environmental Services announced Wednesday the launching of a website that will spread the word about historic bridges that are available for relocation and preservation.
“The goal of Georgia DOT’s bridge marketing program is to preserve historically significant bridges that no longer meet the safety requirements for vehicular traffic,” said Jim Pomfret, the agency’s assistant environmental administrator.
“We created the website to modernize the legal requirement of advertising for these bridges. … It also makes it easy for interested parties to research and find the bridges in their areas that may be suitable for adoption.”
A bridge qualifies for adoption if it is more than 50 years old, determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, and is proposed for replacement by the DOT.
Once adopted, a bridge must be made publicly accessible in a new location and be repurposed for other uses, such as becoming part of a walking trail in a public park.
Entities interested in adopting a historic bridge must be willing to maintain the structure and preserve the features that make it historic.
Owners may keep newly adopted bridges in a storage facility while they’re raising money for relocating the structures.
ATLANTA – North America’s largest roofing and waterproofing manufacturer will build a new manufacturing plant in Valdosta, expanding Georgia operations that already employ 225 workers.
New Jersey-based GAF Materials will create more than 135 jobs and invest $146 million during the next six years on the new plant, which will support its commercial roofing operations. Construction will begin this fall.
The company already operates plants in Savannah, Statesboro, and Cumming.
“I’m proud to see GAF expanding its footprint here in the best state for business,” Gov. Brian Kemp said Wednesday. “Their decision to continue to grow here will create further opportunities in Valdosta and the surrounding area.”
GAF has signed an agreement to purchase 130 acres at an industrial park that has been certified by the Georgia Department of Economic Development as ready for fast-track industrial projects.
The company chose Valdosta because of its location relative to other GAF operations, its proximity to major highways and railways, and the region’s talented workforce.
“Adding another manufacturing plant in Georgia will help ensure that our customers get the GAF products they need as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said Jim Schnepper, the company’s CEO.
The economic development department’s Global Commerce team worked on the project in partnership with the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority and Georgia Power.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
