When Steve Kendall was growing up, the highlight of his week was the family trip to the local library. At an early age, his parents taught him that knowledge was power, easily found in the pages of books. He and his wife, Laraine, attribute much of their success to their lifelong love of reading.

Intrigued by research showing better outcomes for children who were able to read on grade level by third grade, they wondered what rural libraries could accomplish if they were empowered with focused funding to get children excited about reading.

That shared love of reading led the Kendalls to start the Georgia Rural Library Initiative (GRLI), a decade-long series of investments in rural county libraries in partnership with the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.