Collective Impact Grant Empowers Communities to Improve Early Language and Literacy Skills


The Sandra Dunagan Deal Center for Early Language and Literacy at Georgia College & State University and the Get Georgia Reading Campaign for Grade-Level Reading are pleased to release the grant awardees for the 2023 Empowering Communities through Collective Impact Grant Initiative: Bringing The Basics to Communities in Georgia. Awardees include three Georgia Family Connection Collaboratives sustaining The Basics and two Collaboratives bringing The Basics.

The purpose of this initiative is to improve the early language and literacy skills of Georgia’s children by creating community coalitions to increase:

  • early language and literacy access,
  • professional learning,
  • awareness, and
  • education.

The Deal Center is investing in communities that use Get Georgia Reading’s collective impact framework to address at least three of the Campaign’s four pillars—Language Nutrition, Access, Positive Learning Climate, and Teacher Preparation and Effectiveness—by implementing The Basics principles and strategies to support social, emotional, and cognitive development of children from birth to age 3.

The 2023 Empowering Communities through Collective Impact Grant Initiative recipients will receive up to $25,000 to implement The Basics principles and strategies and engage with The Basics Learning Network (BLN).

The awardees are:

The recipients of the Sustaining The Basics in Georgia will receive up to $10,000 to continue support of The Basics principles and strategies.

The awardees are:

The Basics was founded in 2016 by Ronald Ferguson, Ph.D., director of the Harvard Achievement Gap Institute (AGI). Originally called The Boston Basics, it has expanded from a citywide effort to an international coalition of more than three-dozen communities, now called the Basics Learning Network (BLN). Ferguson’s approach, grounded in the latest research in early childhood learning, brain development, behavioral science, and community change, represents a strategy for whole communities to support vibrant learning and brain development among infants and toddlers.

The Basics principles and strategies are simple, powerful, and highly accessible, equipped with a Community Toolkit that provides a rich constellation of implementation guides, videos, and written resources for organizations and staff members to inform and support parents and caregivers around their use. Collaboration between members of the BLN also engages partners with an ongoing research agenda, promoting documentation, evaluation, and ongoing communication for continuous learning and improvement.

The vision of the Deal Center’s Collective Impact Grant initiative is that all children growing up in communities in Georgia have access to strong systems of family, community, and educational support in early language and literacy development so that they can succeed in school, the workforce, and life.