Readers to Leaders: Empowering Community in Dalton-Whitfield County, Georgia

In this session, Suzanne Harbin of the Community Foundation of Northwest Georgia presented an overview of the Early Childhood Initiative, gave context for the Dalton-Whitfield County community and addressed the progress they’ve made around grade-level proficiency in the last five years.

Next, community partners, gave details about the continuum of supports they have put in place for children and their families. Terri Woodruff, MS, APRN, CPNP-PC, at the Anna Shaw Children’s Institute with the Hamilton Health Care System and Julia Clayton of the Whitfield Dalton Day Care Center discussed their efforts to reach the community’s youngest learners and their parents with programs like Talk With Me Baby and Reach Out and Read as well as their quality day care programs. Michelle Caldwell with Whitfield County Schools, Sharon Hixon, Ph.D., with Dalton State College and Caroline Woodason of Dalton City School District discussed innovative programs in both of the school districts including Power Lunches, Learning Academies and Little Cats. Stephanie Hogshead of the United Way of Northwest Georgia addressed the supports provided for the Books Blasts and Power Lunches opportunities, and Kimberly Mobley, Ed.D., with Georgia Public Broadcasting, discussed the range of family engagement and literacy initiatives they offer in the community. Harbin addressed two-gen initiatives including a Spanish CDA program at Georgia Northwestern Technical College. The conversation ended with partners talking about how being involved with the Early Childhood Initiative partnership has positively impacted the work of their own organizations.