(l to r) Sharon Mason, President & CEO of the Cobb Chamber; Irene Barton, 2023 East Cobb Citizen of the Year; Greg Teague, 2023 Cobb Chamber Chairman (photo courtesy of the Cobb Chamber)
Irene Barton, the Executive Director of Cobb Collaborative, was selected by the Cobb Chamber’s East Cobb Area Council as the 2023 East Cobb Citizen of the Year.
The award is based on nominations received from the community.
Cobb Collaborative describes its mission as “Engaging, Educating and Empowering the community to improve the well-being of children and families.”
The East Cobb Area Council is one of six are councils of the Cobb Chamber that also include area councils for “Cumberland, Marietta, Northwest Cobb (Acworth, Kennesaw, West Cobb), Smyrna and South Cobb.”
The press release from the Cobb Chamber described Barton’s contribution to the East Cobb community as follows:
“As the Executive Director of the Cobb Collaborative, Irene Barton works every day to ensure that the East Cobb community is a wonderful place to live, work, and play. Barton has greatly increased the capacity of the Cobb Collaborative to improve outcomes for all children and families in the community.
“Since becoming the Executive Director in September 2018, she has quadrupled the organization’s budget through earned income, grants, donors and sponsorships, launched the Connecting Cobb Veterans program, established key partnerships with local organizations, brought critical mental health, suicide prevention and trauma-credentialed training to over 4,000 individuals through the Mind Your Mind mental health awareness campaign, distributed over 8,300 books to children, installed over 50 Little Free Libraries across the county and grown the membership from 78 to 125.
“Additionally, Barton has been a part of East Cobb Civitan Club since 2020, serving as Secretary in 2021, President-Elect in 2022 and President in 2023. As the President, she plans the twice-monthly…
Read the full article here
