MOULTRIE, Ga. — Colquitt County is one of 48 communities from across the nation to be named a Pacesetter community from the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading Network.

The Family Connection of Colquitt County held a collaborative meeting early Wednesday morning to discuss the initiative and form an implementation plan on how to continue to reach kids from birth to 8 years old in the local community.

Janet Sheldon, executive director of Family Connection, said that Family Connection received a $9,750 grant from the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) organization. With it, the agency was able to implement the Talk With Me Baby program in the local hospital, pediatrician offices and DFACS office in Colquitt County.

“it was a wonderful, genuine thing for the community,” Sheldon said.

The Family Connection welcomed Susanne Bell from Campaign for Grade-Level Reading as the guest speaker.

“We’re learning from communities and with communities about what needs to happen to ensure that all children are reading by the end of third grade,” Bell said.

The campaign targets children from birth to 8 years old, as these years are the most important in terms of instilling good reading habits, according to Bell.

Colquitt County received the honor of being a Pacesetter community with the Talk With Me Baby initiative that started with a partnership between the Colquitt County Family Connection and Colquitt Regional Medical Center that launched in 2017.

Sheldon said that Colquitt County met the six criteria for the recognition last yea, particularly with their work with the Talk With Me Baby program, nutrition and supporting parent success.

Attendants were asked to pitch ideas on how to continue the progress of getting kids to read and be exposed to books at an earlier age and many chimed in with their input.

Jill O’Meara from the Georgia DECAL suggested included having pediatricians in the local area write “prescriptions” to parents, encouraging them to read to their children.

Jim Matney, CEO of CRMC, said that he felt some sort of checklist given to the parents of newborns with certain things that need to be learned by certain ages, similar to the ones given to parents before their children enter Pre-K would be beneficial, as it would help parents identify the child’s developmental needs, as some parents simply do not know.

Matney also suggested implementing apps that track a child’s progress and reading apps along with traditional books and resources.

“There’s kids that learn different ways,” Matney said. “Our schools are going digital, so we have to do both.”