Letter from Mindy
Friends,
Thank you for your support for GEEARS throughout 2018. This year, you continued to help us to support high-quality early learning and healthy development for Georgia’s youngest children, from birth to five, by championing policies, promoting innovative and evidence-based practices, and building public will. Whether you attended our events, responded to an action alert, read with a young child, shared the Quality Rated website, made a contribution, or engaged with us on social media, you helped us make a difference.
Our Board of Directors, staff members, partners, and you have helped us make great strides to achieve our mission. Some highlights from the year include:
Our 8th year as an organization has been a transformational journey and I am to see how we’ve grown as a team. We look forward to sharing more details on our 2018 milestones in our annual report that will be released in early 2019.
We look forward to working with the Governor-Elect and his administration during the upcoming Georgia General Assembly Legislative session, and achieving further progress on initiatives and policies that support all of Georgia’s youngest children and their families. We’ll continue to need your support to achieve our goals for Georgia’s youngest children that will have an impact on our state for the years beyond 2019.
Have a happy and safe holiday season,
Mindy
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Please consider supporting GEEARS’ advocacy efforts by making a donation that will support Georgia’s earliest learners and their families. Your tax-deductible donation supports our work as early childhood advocates and the leaders of this movement.
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Callan Wells selected as new GEEARS Health Policy Manager
We are excited to share that Callan Wells has joined the GEEARS team in the newly created role, Health Policy Manager. In her role, Callan will
An Atlanta native with extensive experience in the Georgia health policy advocacy community, Callan joins GEEARS as the Health Policy Manager. She is passionate about ensuring equal access to affordable, consistent, quality healthcare for all Georgians, especially children. Previous to working at GEEARS, she led a project at Georgia Legal Services Program helping rural Georgians access public benefits.
Callan received her B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from Agnes Scott College. She has an M.S. from Georgia State University in the Social Foundations of Education from the Educational Policy Studies Department and a graduate certificate in Public Health also from Georgia State University.
You can send Callan a warm welcome at cwells@geears.org
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Aquaria Richardson-Smith joins GEEARS as Executive Assistant to the Executive Director
Aquaria Richardson-Smith comes to GEEARS from the Judicial Council of Georgia Administrative Office of the Courts where she managed the certification and regulatory compliance of nearly 1,150 court professionals and worked closely with the statewide, nine-member board responsible for governing the court reporting profession. Under her leadership, Aquaria was instrumental in transitioning the state-based examination to a national skills test and helped guide the conversion of the licensing records to a web-based interface system.
Her community involvement includes serving as Board Secretary to the North Atlanta High School Foundation, Parliamentarian of North Atlanta High School PTSA, and most recent, as a member of The Junior League of Atlanta where she participated in The Little Black Dress Initiative advocacy campaign that raises awareness and funds about the issues of generational poverty.
Aquaria is a graduate of Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a minor in Psychology. She holds a Certificate of Court Administration from the Georgia Council of Court Administrators and an American Bar Association approved paralegal certificate from the National Center for Paralegal Training, Inc.
You can send Aquaria a warm welcome at aquaria_smith@geears.org
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Women United Workplace Advancement Toolkit
GEEARS, the United Way of Greater Atlanta, and other partners are working to empower women in the workplace through the Women United Advancement Initiative. There are over 200,000 single women listed as head of household in the Greater Atlanta area, but over 40% live below the poverty line. On December 3rd, we launched the Women United Workplace Advancement Toolkit.
Download the Women United Advancement Business Toolkit today and learn:
– Why does diversity matter?
– How to talk about child care.
– How to have conversations with leadership.
– How to support women at leadership levels.
– And why this matters to the economics of your company.
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2019 Strolling Thunder Event – January 29th
On Tuesday, January 29, 2019, GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, in partnership with ZERO TO THREE, will bring babies and parents from around Georgia to meet their elected officials during Strolling Thunder. Your infants and toddlers are invited to attend this event with you.
During this fun-filled day, we will have breakfast, advocacy training, visits with our legislators at the Capitol, lunch, giveaways, a photo booth, and more!
We’re coming together for advocacy training, Capitol visits, and roundtable discussions so families can tell their stories about the joys and challenges of raising infants and toddlers in Georgia. We want Georgia's leadership to Think Babies—for stronger families, vibrant communities, and a prosperous state.
*Families that attend for the entire event will receive a gift card for participation. Breakfast and lunch will also be provided.
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Visit our News Page for the latest articles on early childhood education and health.
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Please consider supporting GEEARS’ advocacy efforts by making a donation that will support Georgia’s earliest learners and their families. Your tax-deductible donation supports our work as early childhood advocates and the leaders of this movement.
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