“If we want kids to read well, we have to make sure they are well. Supported, steady, and ready to learn. That’s where this work connects. Get Georgia Reading helps define what children need to succeed, and through the Mental Health Funders Collaborative, I get to work alongside partners across the state to strengthen those conditions so more kids can truly engage and thrive.”
Lydia Clements, Lead Facilitator
Launched in 2016 as a learning community, the Mental Health Funders Collaborative (MHFC) has since evolved into a statewide funder collaborative that advances practical, scalable solutions that expand access to behavioral health care, build the workforce, and better connect services across settings like schools, pediatric practices, and communities. Its pooled fund is housed at the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta where it fuels scalable systems-focused strategies that expand access to timely, high-quality mental health care across Georgia.
As the lead facilitator of the Mental Health Funders Collaborative (MHFC), Lydia Clements works with funders, state agencies, and nonprofit leaders to strengthen the systems that support children and families across Georgia.
This work closely aligns with the four pillars of Get Georgia Reading. Early relationships between children and caregivers, which are central to language development, are more consistent when families have the support they need. Access to behavioral health care also plays a direct role in school attendance. When children are struggling and those needs go unaddressed, missed days add up, making it harder to build the foundational skills required for reading. Investing in the broader workforce around children, including educators, health providers, and community-based professionals, helps ensure that teachers are supported in meeting the full range of student needs.
Across these areas, MHFC works to align public and private efforts, remove barriers that prevent services from reaching children, and support the implementation of solutions that can be sustained over time. By focusing on the conditions that shape early development and readiness to learn, MHFC contributes to the shared goal of helping more children in Georgia read proficiently by the end of third grade and thrive well beyond it.
To learn more about MHFC, visit their website.