NEWS

The Chamber’s Erica Backus, who recently joined the Chatham Education Alliance (CEA) Literacy Moonshot team, attended the Moonshot Indian River conference in Vero Beach to learn best practices from one of the nation’s leading community-wide literacy initiatives.

Moonshot Indian River has become a national model for aligning schools, nonprofits, civic leaders, and businesses around a single measurable goal: dramatically increasing third-grade reading proficiency. The initiative emphasizes data-driven instruction, targeted tutoring, family engagement, and cross-sector collaboration to ensure students are reading on grade level by the end of third grade.

Inspired by that model, CEA is now working to establish a similar Literacy Moonshot initiative in Chatham County—in partnership with Savannah-Chatham County Public School System and with strong support from the local business, non-profit, and faith-based communities.

The Literacy Moonshot is a five-year, comprehensive strategy to eliminate the third-grade reading gap and aims to achieve measurable reading proficiency through targeted intervention. By focusing resources where they are needed most, expanding evidence-based tutoring and supports, and aligning community partners behind clear metrics, the initiative seeks to ensure every child has the foundational literacy skills necessary for long-term success.