Third Annual DEM Camp Underway

The week of June 10, 2013, 70 middle school students will take part in the third annual Design, Engineering, and Manufacturing (DEM) Camp at the Northwest Georgia College & Career Academy located at 2300 Maddox Chapel Road.  Campers will have the opportunity to learn about robotics, electronics, carpet design, tour advanced manufacturing facilities, and learn team building skills.  Event organizers invite community members to visit the camp and attend the graduation scheduled for this Thursday, June 13, at 2 PM.  A schedule for the DEM Camp participants is located at the following link: http://bit.ly/DEMCampSchedule2013

Enjoy Family Fun This Summer

On June 28 at 7:00pm, The Young Professionals of Northwest Georgia will host the first “Movies in the Park” at Dalton Green Park next to the Courthouse in Dalton.  There will be a movie, games, and vendors.  The event is co-sponsored by the Downtown Dalton Development Authority and Dalton Utilities.  Bring your family and friends to enjoy all of the fun in your community this summer!



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UGA Student Releases Draft Two Year Strategic Plan for Local Library

Over the past year, University of Georgia College of Education Ph.D. student Roberta Gardner has worked closely with the Northwest Georgia Regional Library board and staff, the Dalton-Whitfield Archway Partnership, and local leaders to create a two year strategic plan draft.  This draft was created to support the local library in the community and to bolster the community literacy effort. 


University of Georgia College of Education Ph.D. student Roberta Gardner

In May, Archway Director of Coordination Sue Chapman shared this draft strategic plan with the Dalton-Whitfield Archway Executive Committee.  The draft includes five proposed initiatives for the library to implement from 2013-2015.  These options included:

1.     Creating satellite library hot spots

2.     Developing a workforce reading and digital literacy program

3.     Starting a mobile library

4.     Training personnel

5.     Supporting the Readers to Leaders literacy initiative

This two year draft plan was recently shared with the library board.  They plan to use it as an outline to create their own strategic plan under the direction of new library director Linda Floyd.  To view this draft plan for the library please go to the following link: http://bit.ly/NGRLDraftStrategicPlan.

Readers to Leaders Program Receives Four for the Future Award

On May 24, 2013 a press release was circulated regarding the “Four For The Future” award received by the Dalton-Whitfield Archway Partnership and the local Readers to Leaders literacy initiative.  Please see press release below.

This year, Georgia Trend and the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach at the University of Georgia announced a new award called Four for the Future which recognizes community collaboration, leadership, and innovation. The purpose of this award is to acknowledge communities and regions that worked across public-private sectors and non-profit boundaries on challenging issues that ultimately will lead to an improved quality of life. On April 15, 2013, the Readers to Leaders Program in Dalton was awarded one of the Four for the Future Awards for an effort focused on getting every student reading at grade level by the third grade. 

Local representatives receive the Four for the Future award.  Pictured left to right: Jennifer Frum, University of Georgia Vice President of Public Service and Outreach; Neely Young, Georgia Trend; Mayor David Pennington, City of Dalton; Pam Partain, Chair of Readers to Leaders initiative; Michael Adams, University of Georgia President.

In June 2012, civic leaders in Whitfield County and Dalton announced a major commitment to public education through an initiative called Readers to Leaders (R2L) with the goal of getting every student reading at grade level by the third grade. Equally impressive was the fact that leaders from every major community stakeholder, the City of Dalton, Whitfield County, Dalton Public Schools (DPS), Whitfield County Schools (WCS) and the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce had skin in the game.

The R2L initiative is an outgrowth of community conversations guided by professionals from the Archway Partnership, a unit of UGA’s Public Service and Outreach division. The Archway Partnership was introduced to Dalton-Whitfield County in 2009. One of the key areas on which the group focused their attention was early literacy. “One negative statistic after another is associated with [an] inability to read at grade level by third grade,” Melissa Lu, Archway Professional says. “Creating Readers to Leaders is our community’s way of saying that we’re not going to let that happen to us.  We’re going to make sure we are doing everything we can to get our students on grade level at an early age.”

One of the key elements of the R2L program is a comprehensive, nationally recognized literacy program, the Literacy Collaborative, which was already in place in Dalton City Schools. But in an unusual move, and with the backing of the city and county governments and local chamber of commerce, the city and county school systems decided to partner, sharing resources and implementing the Literacy Collaborative in county schools as well.

In another bold step, the city, Chamber of Commerce, UGA’s College of Education and the Archway Partnership are funding a Birth-to-Age-Five Education professional for Dalton-Whitfield County. This new position will help fill in the gaps, addressing community needs related to school readiness in preschool-aged children.

Pictured left to right:  Sue Chapman, University of Georgia Archway Partnership; Superintendent Jim Hawkins, Dalton Public Schools; Mayor David Pennington, City of Dalton; Pam Partain, Chair of Readers to Leaders initiative; Superintendent Judy Gilreath, Whitfield County Schools; Barbara Ward, Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce and Joint Development Authority; Chairman Louis Fordham, Whitfield County School Board

The community also passed a five-year Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (E-SPLOST) in July 2012. E-SPLOST funds will go toward infrastructure improvements, technology upgrades and debt retirement.

The public responded to the initiative with enthusiasm and, importantly, participation. “For our first Community Literacy Celebration, the goal was to have 200 people show up,” Lu says. “Over 2,000 people came. We saw parents hungry for ways to teach their children. We knew we were on to something. Families wanted this support and would come to events if we provided them.”

 “The communities we are recognizing are showing great foresight in investing their time and energy in a way that will have a payoff in the long term,” says Jennifer Frum, Vice President of Public Service and Outreach. “In some cases, this has meant making some fairly tough decisions in the present. It’s great to see, because it’s going to benefit all of Georgia.”

Literacy Database is Finalized

In July 2012, data was collected by Dalton State student and Archway Partnership employee Jordan Manis to create a database to support literacy and early brain development in the Dalton-Whitfield community.  The data collection was concluded in November 2012 and the Literacy and Early Brain Development Workforce Development Team was then created to assist in completing the database. 

In April, a trial presentation was given to the team and corrections were made to improve the presentation.  On May 1, 2013, Jordan and UGA student Leize Marie Davis presented the finalized literacy database to the Dalton-Whitfield Archway Executive Committee.  The database will currently be housed and maintained by Archway Education Professional Katy Green while future plans are being made.  The presentation will be given around the community to inform the public of its importance and of all the great programs in the area that are supporting literacy and early brain development.  To review this presentation please go to the following link: http://bit.ly/LiteracyDatabasePresentation

If you or an organization you know of has a program that would apply to this database and you would like to be included please email us at dwarchwaypartnership@gmail.com. Thank you!

What Does Dalton-Whitfield Think of Their Public Schools?

In January 2013, a survey was created and distributed to the public to get an understanding of how the community believes the school systems in Dalton-Whitfield are doing.  UGA law student Matthew Wilson created the survey and has worked over the past several months to compile the survey information into a report to disseminate to the community.  The results of the survey indicated that the majority of the public graded the public schools with a letter grade of “B”.  These results are right on target with national trends and show there is faith in the public schools and there is room for improvement.  To review the report with the survey results please go to the following link: http://bit.ly/EducationSurveyResults

Readers to Leaders (R2L) Update: May

On Wednesday, May 8, the members of the Readers to Leaders Workforce Development Team met to discuss announcements, updates, and action items going forward with R2L initiatives.  Announcements included the “Four For The Future” award from UGA and Georgia Trend magazine; the generous grant provided by the Community Foundation; and the interest expressed by First Presbyterian Church in being involved in the R2L initiative. 

Members of the R2L team listening at the meeting.

The team also celebrated several updates of projects.  The group was pleased to hear that Pre-K registration and the “Week of the Young Child” event were very successful.  Library Board Member, Elizabeth Chadwick, shared with the team that an application has been submitted to begin the Reach Out and Read (ROR) program through White’s Pediatrics.  The team also talked about the great summer programs across the county that will begin soon.  These programs include:

·        Big Red Reads

·        Lunch and Learn

·        NGRL Summer Reading Program

Library Board Member Elizabeth Chadwick.

Other great news announced was that the 2nd Annual Literacy Celebration has officially been scheduled to occur on July 18th at the Mack Gaston Community Center from 4:00pm-6:00pm.  Using funds donated to R2L, 3,600 keep books and 316 plastic containers were purchased to give to families at the literacy celebration.  

 

For more details from this meeting please go to the following link: http://www.archwaypartnership.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/R2L-Minutes-5-8-13.pdf