GEEARS Launches the Early Childhood Changemakers with Trainings, Bonding, and a Relentlessly Can-Do Spirit

The 2025 launch of GEEARS’ Early Childhood Changemakers (EC2) initiative is a dream realized. While we’ve always been a statewide organization—the G in GEEARS stands for Georgia, after all—our staff is headquartered in Atlanta for easy access to state legislators in the Gold Dome and proximity to dozens of partners.  

But GEEARS has partners all over the state—in rural areas, small towns, and on Georgia’s coast. Their diverse experiences, voices, and perspectives are vitally important to our research and advocacy. We know well that the culture and child care challenges in, say, Columbus are quite distinct from those in Statesboro, Athens or Augusta. Georgia lawmakers need to hear about those nuances.   

So, in August, GEEARS put out a call for regional connectors, storytellers, and champions for our state’s youngest children. We offered them the opportunity to become Early Childhood Changemakers, leaders who would spend one-year terms working in their own communities, building, training, and leading powerful networks of advocates for Georgia’s youngest children, their families, and the professionals who educate and care for them.  

Within a couple months, we had assembled our inaugural, 22-member cohort of Changemakers from Richmond, Muscogee, Clarke, Bulloch, and Bryan Counties!  

These pioneers are tasked with. . .  

• Engaging with families to understand their needs, share advocacy resources, and elevate their voices. 

• Building grassroots networks of early childhood advocates. 

• Joining GEEARS staff and EC2 members across the state in collective advocacy.  

With all this on our agenda, our first step was clear—we needed to get together! 

So, on December 14th and 15th, GEEARS’ staff and the entire crew of new Changemakers convened in Macon for our first statewide Summit. We were joined by some of our other non-profit and academic partners, state representatives Tangie Herring and Robert Dickey, and other movers and shakers within Georgia’s early childhood landscapes, especially the ones you’ll find way outside the perimeter.  

The Summit was a critical chance for the Changemakers to train for their roles as locally focused early childhood champions and launch new relationships with other advocates and helpful experts. It was a day and a half of lively sessions on policy, advocacy, and relationship-building in which all attendees—Changemakers, facilitators, community leaders, and GEEARS staffers alike—came ready to learn. More than half a dozen training sessions were led by organizations like the Black Child Development Institute, Resilient Georgia, the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), and 9to5 Georgia. Stacked back-to-back to maximize attendees’ learning time, the sessions offered. . .  

• A blueprint of the early childhood systems that the Changemakers and other advocates are setting out to improve.  

• A primer on culturally responsive community-building.  

• Tips for empowering “laypeople” to share on-the-ground perspectives with policymakers.  

• Connections to an array of professionals who can advise Changemakers during their one-year terms.  

• And perhaps most importantly, the opportunity to forge bonds with other advocates.  

“I’ve met quite a few people from Augusta that I didn’t know who are also advocates of early childhood,” shared Marquitta Rucker as she made her way from one hotel conference room to the next between sessions. “We need to change the narrative and let people know that collaboration allows more impact. We’ve exchanged contact information and we’re going to start meeting up with each other to discuss how we can do this.” 

Appropriately for those tasked with leading within their communities and speaking up for kids and families, all the sessions were interactive. And the teams of experts operating the PowerPoints included both professional advocates and leaders who personified “voices from the field.” 

Said Ericka Smith, lead ambassador in PAACT’s Atlanta Early Education Ambassadors program, which provided some inspiration for the Changemakers’ model of hyper-local advocacy: “I come from a house of educators. I’m third generation. So, there was always, ‘What are we doing in the school system?’  All these different things that somebody needs to do. But no one ever said that it starts with policy, right? It’s like a light bulb went off for me.” 

While moderating a lunchtime discussion with Representatives Herring and Dickey, GEEARS Director of Research & Policy, Hanah Goldberg, agreed that it is indeed revolutionary to focus on sustainable, systemic, statewide change, rather than band-aids that might not extend past individual districts: “We still have work to do, but we might not have been having this conversation 10, 15 years ago. The normalization of these issues, communicating the importance of early childhood, is critical—and it does lead to policy change.” 

As is if to prove her correct, Representative Dickey later responded to one provider’s question about accessing federal funds with, “Have you got any ideas?” (Rest assured, she did.)  

The Summit was filled with serious discussions about issues like Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the uphill battle to use Georgia’s budget surplus to seriously invest in early childhood.  

But at the same time, the gathering had a festive vibe. Tables were set with peaches, dogwood petals, pompoms, and silver stars to celebrate the attendees’ hometowns. There was a joyful, game-show style raffle of prizes. (To fill out their entry tickets, attendees had to collect signatures as they circulated and learned about each other.) 

The Changemakers journeyed home just before rush hour on Monday afternoon with binders stuffed with data, resources, reading material, and guidelines—and also a new and unified network. During this inaugural year, they’ll be able to lean on each other for tips and connections; for listening ears when they have triumphs to broadcast or frustrations to vent. They’ll also access technical assistance from the GEEARS team, especially their recruiter, coordinator, and trusted anchor, Statewide Engagement Manager, Trequita Overton.  

As the very first Changemakers Summit drew to a close, Trequita issued a final rallying cry. Her remarks were a celebration of the unique perspectives and strengths the Changemakers bring to GEEARS’ advocacy. 

“We’ve had a full day of learning, y’all, connecting and dreaming together,” she said. “We got to hear from people whose lived experiences are the roadmap for change. Their stories help us see the system as it truly is and as it can be. Let’s end this day with inspiration. Let’s end today remembering that every policy, every program, every breakthrough begins with real people and real stories.” 

We look forward to hearing and sharing those stories throughout a very busy 2026.