By Jeanna Baxter White

In 2017, The Mebane Charitable Foundation and Davie County Schools embarked on a five-year initiative to “move the needle” in early childhood education. Supported by almost $2.5 million from the Foundation, DavieLEADS (Literacy Empowers All in Davie to Succeed) was designed to improve kindergarten readiness to 90% and increase reading proficiency in 3rd grade to 80% by 2022.  In September, representatives from Davie County Schools summarized the results for the Foundation’s Board of Directors. 

Foundation President Larry Colbourne expressed his gratitude for the hard work of every person involved with the DavieLEADS initiative. “Any large five-year, multi-year financial commitment to a school system can be challenging for both the funder and the grantee. However, the strength of the Foundation’s relationship with the Davie County School leadership team and the hundreds of employees in this county has made this initiative a success, even in the face of what many would consider insurmountable odds.

Although our ambitious goals weren’t quite met, with COVID hitting in 2020, combined with all the other changes and variables thrown its’ way since 2017, the Foundation couldn’t be more proud of what was accomplished and all the hard work put forth by DCS leadership. Even more impressive has been the resilience of our great teachers! We look forward to seeing Davie County Schools continue to succeed and be a leader in our state.”

Davie County Schools’ final report can be found here: 

An in-depth look at various aspects of the initiative over the past five years can be found on our website’s news page HERE.