Leadership

Gaye Morris Smith was working to improve the lives of Georgia’s children long before her appointment as Georgia Family Connection Partnership (GaFCP) executive director in 2001. A public/private nonprofit created and funded by the state and the private sector, GaFCP connects local, state, and national partners in their efforts to ensure that every child, family, and community in Georgia is healthy and thriving.

Under Gaye’s leadership, The Annie E. Casey Foundation designated GaFCP as Georgia’s KIDS COUNT® grantee; the Brookings Institution presented GaFCP with an international Innovation Award for programs that effectively use data to drive change in their communities; and the American Journal of Community Psychology published the GaFCP Evaluation and Results Accountability Team’s studies.

Gaye regularly educates leaders, legislators, investors, and local and state-level leaders on the value of collaboration in driving community improvement, the significance of measuring and communicating results, and effective techniques for engaging partners. Always looking for new ways to improve Georgia Family Connection’s disciplined model of collaboration, Gaye led GaFCP on a statewide listening tour in 2011. GaFCP representatives visited Collaboratives in all 159 counties to tap into their wisdom and local perspective before restructuring technical assistance, resources, and identity.

Gaye was named one of eight alumni for The University of Georgia (UGA) Graduate Schools Alumni of Distinction Award in 2017 for her leadership and contributions to ensuring the success of all of our youngest Georgians. The American Society for Public Administration named her Public Administrator of the Year in 2010, and in 2009, Grantmakers for Children and Youth invited her to Washington D.C. to participate on a panel before a group of national foundations. She presented the state and community perspective on effective ways to support communities and nonprofits in cooperation with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. She received the Georgia General Assembly’s Legislative Services Award for her work on behalf of children, families, and communities in 2008.

Prior to her career at GaFCP, Gaye served as president/CEO of Parent and Child Development Services Inc., in Chatham and Effingham counties. While in Savannah she was a consultant for The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Making Connections Initiative and served as interim executive director for the Chatham-Savannah Youth Futures Authority, a community-based collaborative organization that later joined the Georgia Family Connection statewide network.

A native of Athens and a die-hard Dawg, Gaye received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of North Georgia and a master’s degree in public administration from UGA. She began her career in social services with the United Way of the Coastal Empire, where she was vice president of Planning and Allocations.