On March 1, 2016, United Way of the Central Savannah River Area and the Georgia Family Connection Network began Early Literacy programs in the rural CSRA counties of Glascock, Jefferson, Jenkins, Lincoln, Taliaferro, Warren, and Wilkes.  Each of the seven county providers will focus on early education efforts to ensure children will start school ready to succeed. A total of $65,000 has been made available for these programs through a special grant to United Way.

The Family Connection and Communities in Schools collaborative agencies of each of the counties will be awarded the funding for this project.  The activities will include developmental support for early preparedness, early literacy efforts, elementary tutoring, access to out-of-school learning opportunities, and extra-curricular programs.  Each agency relied on data specific to that county and partnerships with the local school systems in determining the best programming to fill gaps in early literacy.  This programming is expected to reach nearly 700 families across the seven-county area. 

The activities identified support programs such as Ferst Books in Glascock County, where books are provided to all registered youth, ages birth to five years, to support early reading.  They will also provide additional reading tutoring through the afterschool tutorial program for students in 1^st through 3^rd grade. Jefferson, Warren, Wilkes, and Taliaferro counties will provide parents and families of young children with support services and additional resources that promote children entering school physically and emotionally ready to learn.  Jenkins County will be working within the school system to provide a Phonics Intervention program for Kindergarten through 2^nd grade students.  This school system currently lacks this type of phonics support in its reading curriculum.   Lincoln County will identify children at risk for school failure due to food insecurity during non-school hours.  The program, “Blessings Bags”, will be made available to elementary and middle school students. Each of these counties will tailor the programs to fit the specific needs identified.

In addition to the specific county initiatives delineated in this proposal, the seven counties collectively (with technical assistance from the Georgia Family Connection Partnership) will also provide collaborative partners with copies of “Building the Path to Reading Proficiency”, a compendium on early learning evidence-based and evidence-informed practices. The partnership will also host a Regional Early Learning Summit in the last quarter of 2016.  The purpose of the Summit will be to provide early care and education practitioners, parents, and advocates from across the early learning and school age spectrum (Childcare, Head Start, Early Intervention, Pre-K, Home Visitation, etc.) an opportunity to share and learn while building a stronger early learning community.  More information will be made available about this Summit later in the year.