Liletta M. Jenkins serves as the State Children’s Policy Council Manager and State Lead for the Alabama Campaign for Grade-Level Reading initiative at the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education.
In this position, she oversees the State Children’s Policy Council, 67 County Children’s Policy Councils, 15 Campaign for Grade-Level Reading initiatives in local communities and Born Ready University 0-5 parenting program across the state to support Social and Emotional Development, Child Development, School Readiness, and Healthy and Safe Environments.
She has led the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading counties through a data prioritization tool process that explored county data, needs, resources, and gaps in services. Guided the communities in formulating literacy plans based on the Alabama Grade Level Reading framework; birth to eight systems, family engagement, health, and well-being, learning outside of the classroom, supports for struggling readers, special education, and ELL to improve reading proficiency. She has helped local campaigns to secure funding for projects and supported local campaign efforts to improve attendance, and access and distribution of books through the development of mobile libraries, community lending library boxes, Dolly Parton Imagination Library expansion, and language access plans for individuals with limited English proficiency.
She has led state Grade Level Reading strategies for the expansion of Reach Out and Read Alabama in pediatrician offices in Jefferson, Macon, Marshall, Monroe, and Randolph counties.
She develops annually the Alabama Children’s Policy Council Conference which addresses unmet needs and critical issues in Mental Health, Substance Abuse, Family Engagement, and Literacy and their effect on children and their families. The CPC conference features experts who share best practices, tips, and resource information that the participants can apply to their work and share with others to improve the conditions of their community.
She is an advocate for the well-being of children and serves on state and local boards; Alabama Literacy Alliance,Alabama State Advisory Group on JJDP, Alabama Council of Developmental Disabilities, Alabama Public Health Regional Perinatal Advisory Council, and One Place Family Justice Center.
Liletta earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Master of Science degree in Management from Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama. She is a mother and resides in Montgomery, AL with her two children.