Garner Encourages Partnerships To Benefit W.Va. Kids

Award-winning actress Jennifer Garner said Thursday that her family was strong – but her West Virginia neighbors, friends, school family and church made them stronger. 

Garner was the featured speaker for Thursday’s 2025 West Virginia Education Summit, which focused on growing partnerships and cultivating opportunities for student success. 

Garner told the sold-out crowd that in community partnerships, businesses and individuals can help fill huge gaps for vulnerable kids. That is critically needed, she said, in a state with high poverty rates and a higher number of kids who are behind before they even start school. 

“We have so many kids, one in four kids in rural America, growing up in poverty, and that number is higher in West Virginia, and those children at the age of four are 18 months behind developmentally,” Garner said. 

“It means that we have tons of kids going into kindergarten or into kindergarten already in remediation. And if you are starting kindergarten in remediation, you are probably not gonna like it. And then how are you supposed to like kindergarten or first grade or second grade or third grade? You know, when are you supposed to catch up?” 

Garner encouraged those in attendance to find partnerships that make their own passion projects more impactful.

“Find anyone who is aligned with you, you know, maybe the same issue that you take on, they just take the exact same thing on, and start conversations about how you can work together to deepen your commitment to what it is that you care about.

The Alliance named a partnership between Pocahontas County Schools and Nature’s Mountain Classroom as the School-Business Partnership of the Year.