Atlanta, Georgia – The United Way of Greater Atlanta selected The Dr. Annise Mabry Foundation to receive a grant award of $50,000 to expand the East Georgia Rural Communities Academic Intervention Program (RCAIP).

Since 2010, the Dr. Annise Mabry Foundation has worked at the forefront of providing educational opportunities to youth throughout Georgia. Its homeschool program, Tiers Free Academy Homeschool Cooperative, is the largest homeschool cooperative in Georgia that works exclusively with high school counselors, students, and families in rural communities. The Foundation has also been a DFCS Learning Loss Service Provider for 78 rural Georgia counties since 2021.

In August 2022, the foundation started working collaboratively with The Burke County Sheriff’s Office to implement an academic intervention program that would address the COVID-19 pandemic learning loss for elementary and middle school students as well as a generational high school diploma program that would target not only students who were leaving high school without graduating but also adults who don’t have high school diplomas. 

The East Georgia Rural Communities Academic Intervention Program (RCAIP) uses a suite of online based adaptive software programs that ensures students receive the right instruction at the right time from day one. The Burke County Sheriff’s Office will be the hub for the high school program and the City of Tennille will be the hub for the elementary and middle school programs. 

This additional grant funding will allow The Dr. Annise Mabry Foundation to serve 100 students in DFCS Region 7 that covers Burke, Columbia, Glascock, Hancock, Jefferson, Jenkins, Lincoln, McDuffie, Richmond, Screven, Taliaferro, Warren, Washington, and Wilkes counties. The goal is to graduate 45 high school students and provide academic intervention services in reading and math to 55 elementary and middle school students by December 2023.

Registration for the program is open to any resident in DFCS Region 7 and there is no cost for the online high school classes or the academic enrichment programs.

“We have to stop thinking of high school dropouts and low reading fluency as an education problem. This is not an education problem—it’s a community problem. What happens in the school system ultimately impacts the community. We have tested our students to the point of failure and stressed the education system to exhaustion. The reality is that when our youth fail, they lose hope. Hopeless individuals show up in the community with nothing to lose. We have to change this narrative and it starts with putting high school diplomas in the hands of those who never thought they would be a high school graduate. The reality is we can’t arrest our way out of this situation. We must community police our way through it. That’s why our Comprehensive Youth Violence Crime Reduction and Prevention Program is essential for not only the youth in our county but also transforming the economic outlook for our region,” said Burke County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams

City of Tennille Mayor Eartha Cummings added “Research has shown that literacy is linked to better health, higher levels of civic engagement and higher earnings in the labor market. The Mayor’s Literacy Challenge is important to me because it is my duty to help every child succeed and grow to be a contributing member of society. Having worked in the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice System as an educator, I have seen first-hand what can happen when a child cannot read. Future employers and companies locate their businesses in communities where there is a viable workforce and literacy is the foundation. As the visionary, for the City of Tennille it is vital that we offer every available resource to our young citizens to help better prepare them for their future while creating a sustainable city for generations to come.”

Enrollment opens on January 1, 2023 for all of the programs and the Burke County graduation ceremony will be hosted by the Burke County Sheriff’s Office in early summer 2023.

K-8 students can apply to enroll in the reading and math support programs: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RCAIP2023

Region 7 Sheriff’s Diploma Program Registration: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DiplomaProgram

Media Contact
Company Name: The Dr. Annise Mabry Foundation
Contact Person: Dr. Annise Mabry, Founder
Email: Send Email
Address:Atlanta
City: Oglethorpe
State: GA
Country: United States
Website: https://www.drannisemabry.com/