See Beautiful Applicant: Cobb Collaborative

The feature below is brought to you by Cobb Collaborative, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about our giving initiatives, please click here.


To learn more about the featured organization, please visit their website here.

Strengthening community through collaboration

The Cobb Collaborative sees beautiful in our work because it is a reflection of our community  – diverse and accepting of the people who live, work, play and pray in Cobb County. Our organization accomplishes the critical work of improving outcomes for children and families by educating and engaging partners, leading and facilitating collaborations, and providing capacity-building resources for organizations solving major issues in our community like reading proficiency, homelessness, mental health issues and civic engagement.  Our partners include nonprofit organizations, local government, businesses, faith-based organizations, educational institutions, professional organizations, associations and citizens who are committed to working together in service to others.

We are privileged to see beautiful through our work each and every day.  We see beautiful when our Homelessness Strategy Team convenes, learns about the challenges law enforcement members face when they discover homeless families and then strategizes about resources and ways to support not only the homeless, but also the police officers. We see beautiful every time children are encouraged to take gently loved books home with them from one of the many sites that distribute books we collect. We see beautiful when we share a new community resource with social workers and caseworkers that will support the individuals they serve.

We communicate beauty and the dignity of every human being with resources that encourage social justice, racial equity, and inclusion. Our organization stands for improved outcomes for children and families - ALL children and families. The populations we serve, who are often the most vulnerable, under-resourced, and underrepresented, deserve culturally competent care. Our civic engagement initiative provides educational resources, training opportunities, and opportunities for candid conversations in safe spaces to address the long-standing issues of systemic racism and injustice.  We appreciate that education and awareness is the first step towards becoming more empathetic towards our fellow man, and that this is a journey in which we, as community leaders in the social services space, take a leadership position.  We invite readers to visit our resource page and share your feedback with us.

Finding beauty in everything isn't always easy.  We launched our Mind Your Mind mental health initiative in 2019 to raise awareness, reduce stigma and promote resiliency about mental health. Behavioral health issues are not beautiful, but the person struggling with depression, anxiety, PTSD, addiction or another condition is always beautiful. We also recognize that the pandemic has caused even more fear, stress and worry among our residents. We view the practice of mindful self-compassion as a way to cope with the uncertainties, feelings of loss and regret that the public health emergency has wrought. We also see mindful self-compassion as a resource for our community to encourage them to see the beauty in each day, in each moment. From a half-day workshop, to a Lunch & Learn series, to on-demand videos and meditation breaks, we are elevating the importance of love and acceptance of self. As Christopher Germer, co-founder of the Mindful Self-Compassion training program states “Self compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.” We think this is one of the most beautiful statements ever.

Our proposed journaling project will allow individuals to learn more about themselves, reflect on different experiences and their reactions to those situations, then use personal expression to record their feelings. Journaling has been found to enhance both mental and physical well-being, and along with a healthy diet, plenty of exercise, lots of water and adequate sleep can lead to great improvement in the quality of one’s life. Keeping a journal can help identify what’s causing stress or anxiety and facilitate the steps taken to resolve the problem. Personal growth and reduced stress contribute to a more whole and happy society - what could be more beautiful than that?

Submitted by Irene Barton

Executive Director, Cobb Collaborative