United Way Announces a Special Grant Advancing Early Childhood Literacy

SAVANNAH, GA. (October 23, 2024)-  United Way of the Coastal Empire (UWCE) hosted a press conference announcing a special grant to advance early childhood literacy through a community-wide initiative. The $24,000 Community Coalition Grant opportunity was awarded by the Sandra Dunagan Deal Center for Early Language and Literacy, in partnership with the Get Georgia Reading (GGR) Campaign.

During the press conference, leaders from United Way of the Coastal Empire, Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, Savannah Technical College, and Coastal Georgia Indicators Coalition shared the importance of early childhood literacy efforts and the benefits this grant will help make possible in the community. 

The purpose of this grant opportunity is to improve the early language and literacy skills of Georgia’s children by supporting community coalitions aiming to bolster children’s early brain development. As part of the grant, community partners are charged with scaling and amplifying the Language as a Missing Link Toolkit. This research-based toolkit is designed for individuals, practitioners, and policymakers to institute a new, proactive approach that employs language as a well-being indicator similar to others—like vision, hearing, and oral health—and is foundational for educational, mental health, and well-being outcomes.

Through this grant, the community coalition will be focused on training staff in key partner agencies using the Language as a Missing Link Toolkit, increasing family engagement among key partner organizations, and collecting data from partners to refine the implementation and scalability plan.

Multiple pathways will be used to improve outcomes using a continuum of services that focus on Language as a Missing Link to share throughout the community to include:

• Coastal Coalition for Children
• Child Care Resource & Referral of South East Georgia At Savannah Technical College
• Greenbriar Children’s Center
• YMCA of Coastal Georgia
• Live Oak Public Libraries
• Savannah-Chatham County Public School System
• Loop It Up Savannah
• United Way of the Coastal Empire – READ United
• Coastal Georgia Indicators Coalition

The Deal Center’s mission is to ensure that every child meets their potential through advancing research in language and literacy practices throughout Georgia. The Deal Center is investing in projects that use the four research-based pillars of the GGR Campaign as a framework for cross-sector collaboration, to advance developmentally responsive practices throughout a community, town, city, and/or county. Specifically, the Deal Center is funding projects designed to create conditions, described by the pillars — language nutrition, access, positive learning climate, and teacher preparation and effectiveness — which foster educational, social, language, literacy, and/or cognitive development for Georgia’s children from birth through age five.