The Clarke County DA’s Office Is Turning the Courthouse Into a Back-to-School Resource Fair for a Day

The Clarke County District Attorney’s Office is inviting families to a back-to-school community resource fair on July 23 at 4 p.m. at the Clarke County Courthouse in Grove Hill, part of the office’s ongoing Helping Families Initiative.

The free event is designed to connect Clarke County students and families with community resources, educational information and local organizations that support student success and family well-being ahead of the new school year. Families attending can pick up free school supplies while supplies last, alongside whatever additional services participating organizations bring to the courthouse for the day.

The DA’s office has partnered with the Clarke County Sheriff’s Department and the Clarke County Commission to put on the fair, bringing together local government agencies around a shared back-to-school push rather than each running separate, smaller efforts.

Organizers say the event reflects a broader goal of the Helping Families Initiative: pairing law enforcement and prosecutorial offices with practical, non-punitive community support rather than limiting their public-facing role to enforcement alone. Anyone with questions about the fair can contact April Williamson-Rocker at 251-360-9415.

Update (Aug. 1, 2026): The Back-to-School Resource Fair took place as planned on July 23 at the Clarke County Courthouse, with families turning out for free school supplies, meals and other services. In addition to supplies, the event offered free haircuts from Marlyn Partee, hot dog and hamburger meal combos from Big Steppers BBQ, and snow cones from Rod’s Sno, along with community agencies providing educational, health and support resources.

District Attorney Stephen Winters said the fair reflects the Helping Families Initiative’s broader effort, done in partnership with the Clarke County School District and Thomasville City Schools, to identify and address the underlying causes of student absenteeism. “We try to find out what the root problem is for the children being absent from school and help,” Winters said. “Typically, there’s a reason why. All the studies show that if students stay in school and graduate, the likelihood of me seeing them later on drops dramatically. We try to determine what’s going on, address those issues before they become bigger problems and use the truancy laws to help keep students on the right path and to intervene early to prevent formal court encounters.”

Winters also recognized Helping Families Initiative coordinator April Rocker for her work connecting students and families with attendance-support services. “We wanted families to know what resources are available in our community and to make those connections before challenges arise,” Rocker said. “When schools, parents, agencies and community partners work together, we can better support our students and help them succeed.”

How the Helping Families Initiative works

Alabama’s compulsory attendance law requires children ages 6 through 17 to attend school, and district attorneys are responsible for enforcing it. The Helping Families Initiative, a model first piloted by the district attorney’s office in Mobile, pairs prosecutors’ offices with school systems to intervene early when students are chronically absent or suspended, connecting families with services before cases reach juvenile court. The program now works with more than 20 district attorneys and over 50 school systems statewide.

Winters is district attorney for Alabama’s First Judicial Circuit, which covers Clarke, Choctaw and Washington counties.