The Greatest Minds:

Uniting Public Art & Accessible Early Learning Materials

COMING TOGETHER IS THE BEGINNING:

Gwinnett’s large population and geographic size makes it difficult for some families to access high-quality books, creating book deserts. Three different community members coincidentally had similar ideas to tackle these book deserts. In a truly collective approach, these individuals merged their plans, creating small book exchanges that would contain high-quality books for children birth to age eight placed throughout the community in areas of high need. This project would become the Gwinnett Reading Exchange & Art Transforms Little Minds Project or, as many now know them, the G.R.E.A.T. Little Minds Book Exchanges.

It was a community-wide effort that brought this project to life. The Gwinnett Coalition took the lead on the project while members of the newly formed Early Learning Working Group donated money to purchase lumber and other materials for the project. Once purchased, Maxwell High School staff and students donated their time and talent to create book exchange kits ready for assembly.

Assembly occurred at Annandale Village during Gwinnett Coalition’s Great Days of Service where volunteers from businesses, civic organizations, and the school system assembled 140 book exchanges. Each book exchange was turned into a work of art by GCPS student groups, community members, and organizations across the county. The final products were displayed at the Hudgens Center for Art & Learning as an art exhibit for all to view and enjoy.

KEEPING TOGETHER IS PROGRESS:

The next step in this collective project was to fill the exchanges with high-quality, ageappropriate books. While they were being showcased at The Hudgens Center, staff were hard at work collecting books. Through donations from Goodwill, churches, and school book drives, the first exchanges were ready to be filled. The process of dividing the hundreds of donated books was carried out by the Gwinnett County Jail and Sheriff’s Department inmates. Locations were then determined, and the first set of exchanges were placed and filled with books! Gwinnett Coalition staff continued placing book exchanges throughout the community while also forming a partnership with Gwinnett County Community Services to hand off the program for sustainability.

WORKING TOGETHER IS SUCCESS:

Currently, the project has over 68 book exchanges across the community and has distributed over 78,000 books since its start in 2021. This project continues to touch so many lives in Gwinnett by providing the high-quality books all children deserve to enjoy. Community members from ages 5 to 80 from all walks of life connected around a common goal of providing locally accessible books for Gwinnett’s children. The story of G.R.E.A.T. Little Minds is a clear example of what can be accomplished when we take a collective approach to solving a problem.