Collaboration Unrestrained by Traditional Disciplines, Boundaries, and Borders


Ralph Smith, senior vice president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and managing director of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, has seen the Get Georgia Reading Campaign grow from its infancy to the cross-sector collaboration it is today. He says the story of Get Georgia Reading is one of collaboration unrestrained by traditional disciplines, boundaries, and borders.

“We ought to leave our children a land where opportunity really is the birthright of every child,” he said. “And they ought to believe that.”

Get Georgia Reading is making good on that promise by embracing the challenge of moving the needle for the hard-to-find, hard-to-reach, and most vulnerable children in our state.

Listen to this most-accomplished leader’s vision as he gives us a sense of why we all own the Campaign and why there’s no finger-pointing in Georgia.

The lightning talks from the Community Action Summit sparked our imagination, priming us to roll up our sleeves and work out a plan that will get all Georgia’s kids on a path to reading proficiency. We’re compiling the ideas and insights that came out of the Summit, and will soon begin to create a community toolkit to support our partners as they firmly root the Get Georgia Reading Campaign’s common agenda in communities across the state.

Go back and watch Rep. Randy Nix stealing home with his inspiring talk about coaching hope.