Reading Rally, Award Ceremony Mark Dalton's Honor As "Georgia Reads" Community
Tuesday, April 8th, 2025
Dalton is one of ten Georgia communities to win the inaugural Georgia Reads Community Award presented by the Georgia Council on Literacy. Tuesday morning, local second graders celebrated the achievement with a reading rally in downtown Dalton with football star and author Malcolm Mitchell. Afterwards, Mitchell helped present the award to community leaders in a ceremony at Stage 123 downtown.
The Georgia Reads Community Award honors partnerships between multiple organizations that have shown sustained, measurable success in improving literacy. Believe Greater Dalton (BGD), the strategic initiative of the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce, led the way towards this recognition by working diligently over the past decade to build a strong, collaborative framework aimed at increasing school readiness and ensuring all children are reading at grade level by the third grade. BGD is working towards that goal through collaboration with multiple community partners. Those partners include Dalton Public Schools, Whitfield County Schools, Dalton State College, Georgia Northwestern Technical College, United Way, Family Connections, local childcare providers, healthcare professionals from Vitruvian Health and the Anna Shaw Children’s Institute, as well as faith-based organizations and nonprofit partners. On Tuesday, the Georgia Literacy Foundation presented a $25,000 check to the organization to further their efforts.
Caption: Super Bowl champion receiver Malcolm Mitchell, a former star player at the University of Georgia, speaks Tuesday in Dalton during the celebration of the Georgia Reads Community Award
“Believe Greater Dalton exemplifies what can happen when a community comes together with a shared vision,” said Dalton Mayor Annalee Sams, who welcomed dignitaries from the Georgia Council on Literacy to Dalton Tuesday. “Their efforts are not only improving literacy outcomes—they’re changing lives.”
“I just want to echo the mayor's comments about our pride,” City Councilmember Steve Farrow said Tuesday. “It's our understanding that out of 60 applicants to the Georgia Council on Literacy, we were one of only 10 recipients. That didn't just happen, it was a collaboration, with lots of different groups and lots of different folks giving their effort.”
Malcolm Mitchell earned fame and fortune first as a star football player at the University of Georgia and later as a Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots. He says that he’s more proud, however, of overcoming his challenges with reading and becoming an ambassador for reading than his football accolades. Mitchell was not a proficient reader when he got to college, but he famously joined a ladies’ book club while in Athens and became a passionate reader. After his playing career, he wrote several children’s books and started his Share The Magic Foundation to inspire children to read.
Caption: Dalton Mayor Annalee Sams and City Councilmember Steve Farrow welcomed members of the Georgia Council on Literacy and other dignitaries to Dalton
“I figured out while I was playing football that there was something else that was more important,” Mitchell said Tuesday while addressing a gathering of local leaders and educators. “So, I set out to be a better reader… and I learned the statistics. I learned that those who read are more likely to find financial stability. I learned that those who read are more likely to gain social mobility… I learned that those who read are less likely to drop out of high school.”
At Tuesday’s reading rally, he read with second graders from 16 area schools, showing off his Super Bowl ring and telling the story of how becoming a stronger reader changed his life and could change theirs, too. He also gave the students copies of his children’s book “Hey, Georgia.”
“In all of your children… I see a version of myself: somebody just trying to figure out how to be the best that they could be,” Mitchell said. “And we had 16 different schools with over 800 students, all excited to the same level some people get excited on Saturdays in Athens, and to me that means something.”
The Georgia Reads Community Award is presented in partnership with the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) and GeorgiaForward, which promote the Georgia Reads initiative as part of their broader mission to support youth engagement, improve literacy outcomes, and strengthen communities across the state. Through this recognition, GMA and GeorgiaForward celebrate the outstanding efforts of local collaborations like Believe Greater Dalton that are making a lasting impact on children and families.
“Communities across the state are stepping up in innovative and meaningful ways to support literacy,” said Larry Hanson, CEO and Executive Director of the Georgia Municipal Association. “We’re proud of the work being done in Dalton and applaud its leaders and organizations like Believe Greater Dalton for creating meaningful change at the local level.”
“Literacy is at the heart of our children’s success, and it takes collaboration at every level to move the needle,” said Sarah Richards, Georgia Literacy Coach for the Georgia Council on Literacy. “We are honored to recognize Believe Greater Dalton for its dedication to fostering a culture of literacy.”
