Communities can now apply for $20,000 grants to promote literacy as the second round of the Georgia Reads program gets underway.

Super Bowl champion turned literacy crusader Malcolm Mitchell commemorated round one by reading to 400 Atlanta fourth graders at the College Football Hall of Fame Monday, in an event livestreamed by Georgia Public Broadcasting.

Mitchell the CEO and founder of the Share the Magic Foundation, read from his children’s book, “The Magician’s Hat,” with help from Dayle Burns, a retired educator and the wife of state House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington.

Mitchell, who struggled to read in college then made it his mission to learn and then promote literacy, said he attends about 75 reading events a year.

“I think in many places we’ve shifted the cultural narrative surrounding literacy, which is a huge piece of that formula,” Mitchell said in an interview before the event, as he was tossing a football around with the kids. “When I was growing up, I didn’t understand the importance of reading.”

He said he tells children that acquiring the ability to read can help them achieve their goals. He established his foundation in 2016, and now he’s encountering older teenagers who tell him they’re headed to college and still have the book — his book — he gave them when they were 8.

“Those moments are surreal,” he said.

Mitchell is partnering with the Georgia Council on Literacy, a state-backed organization established two years ago to address dismal performance on the state reading and writing tests.

The scores on the Milestones English Language Arts tests remain disappointing. They fell last school year in all but two of the seven grade levels tested, according to scores released by the Georgia Department of Education in August.

In fifth grade, 43% scored proficient or better, down 5 percentage points from fifth grade test takers the prior year. Eighth graders also fell 5 points, to 40%.

Georgia lawmakers, many of whom were present at Monday’s celebration, have put millions of dollars behind an effort to screen students for literacy and to retrain teachers in what’s called the “science of reading.” The effort appears to have driven gains in somelow-performing schools.

Scott Johnson, a former lawmaker and state school board member who now leads the literacy council, said he expects to see improved scores with the next round of Milestones tests. He said his group would like to see lawmakers put more money into hearing and vision checks for students.

“We’re hoping to focus on hearing and vision like never before in the coming year,” he said.

The first round of funding for Georgia Reads sent a quarter million dollars to 10 communities.

Dalton is using the money to teach parents about literacy, said Suzanne Harbin, who is collaborating with Believe Greater Dalton, the local organization under the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce that was entrusted with a $25,000 grant.

Augusta is also training parents, said Angela Prince, operations director for RISE Augusta, another 2025 recipient. The partnership between the Richmond County School System and several other organizations is teaching parents in the evenings as they wait for their kids to be released from aftercare programs.

Comer Yates, who has been advocating for the science of reading for years, said Mitchell has been an effective voice for the effort.

“He understands this is a social justice issue and an urgent one,” said Yates, who leads the Atlanta Speech School in Buckhead, which has consulted with the state on its literacy initiative. 

The application window is now open for this year’s $20,000 grants. Learn more at the Georgia Reads website.

Capitol Beat is a nonprofit news service operated by the Georgia Press Educational Foundation that provides coverage of state government to newspapers throughout Georgia. For more information visit capitol-beat.org.