With a Servant's Heart
Mrs. Deal often says, “As a teacher, I didn’t just teach to one child. I taught every student in the class” and that is Sandra Deal’s approach to her platform as First Lady, “With a Servant’s Heart”. Volunteerism, community involvement and outreach are the foundation of “With a Servant’s Heart”. “When we reach out to become involved in helping mold a new beginning for another person, we bring hope for that individual and we in turn receive joy. My goal is that every Georgian, no matter the background or circumstance, commit to creating awareness for the importance of volunteerism by allowing one’s actions to speak louder than words, give with a servant’s heart.”
Read Across Georgia
First Lady Sandra Deal launched her “Read Across Georgia” initiative in support of Gov. Nathan Deal’s goal of increasing the percentage of children reading at grade level by the completion of third grade. The governor proclaimed March “Read Across Georgia” month in honor of this initiative. “Parental activities as simple as reading stories aloud to young children can greatly improve and enhance our students’ reading and literacy skills,” said First Lady Deal. “Georgia children are a precious resource and undoubtedly capable of being the future leaders of our state. We, as parents, teachers and mentors, must take it upon ourselves to ensure that our students are good readers.” The first lady’s goal is to visit every school district across the state.
Governor's Office for Children & Families
The Governor’s Office for Children and Families empowers Georgia communities to achieve improved and sustainable outcomes by working in a systems of care framework to ensure that all children and families are educated, healthy, safe, and growing. Mission: We unite and empower communities so they can unite and empower families.
Georgia Children's Cabinet
Georgia Children's Cabinet coordinates policies and resources to improve outcomes for children and families. The Cabinet provides unique leadership on child welfare and juvenile justice issues in Georgia by identifying state strategic priorities, then developing initiatives in response.
Monthly Initiatives led by the First Lady:
January - Service and Volunteerism
February - STEAM Education
March - First Lady's Read Across Georgia
April - Child Abuse Prevention and Mental Health Awareness
May - College and Career Readiness
June - Parent Engagement
July - Prevention and Awareness
August - Juvenile Justice
September - Healthy Choices
October - Early Childhood Education & PreK
November - Military, Veterans & Families Appreciation
Great Start Georgia
Great Start Georgia is an approach which requires service providers to build collaborative partnerships that allow families to be served in a systematic and coordinated way. It is also an initiative that is unfolding in various stages in communities across Georgia. Currently, seven counties have received federal funding from the Governor’s Office for Children and Families to embed evidence-based home-visiting in their local Great Start Georgia systems. This funding affords Georgia the opportunity to create a statewide home visiting infrastructure to expand and improve existing home visiting services, to more effectively replicate evidence-based home visiting models, and to link home visiting to other community efforts focused on promoting optimal early childhood health and development.
Friends of the Mansion
Friends of the Mansion, Inc. is managed by a board of directors, with the First Lady serving as the chairwoman. The directors work closely with the statutorily created nine member Georgia Fine Arts Committee, which has the task of determining which pieces should be replaced or refurbished. Friends of the Mansion, Inc. invites you to join the many Georgians who have made a contribution to protecting our valuable state treasures.
Georgia Governor's Mansion Library Collection
Under the leadership of the First Lady, a group of volunteer librarians and cataloguers have meticulously catalogued approximately 3,658 books in the Mansion Library Collection. State Librarian, Dr. Lamar Veatch and his staff have been working to put all of the titles of the books in the collection online. The link to this collection can be found HERE. While the books themselves are not accessible to the public, this catalog was developed to allow virtual access to the titles at the Governor's Mansion. The collection represents Georgia's rich literary heritage with signed copies by Margaret Mitchell, Joel Chandler Harris, Ferrol Sams, Erskine Caldwell, Celestine Sibley and other Georgia authors.