CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Leaders of the Clayton County Public Schools Foundation Inc. are focused on investing in the education of its students, and helping to provide support to guide them to a successful future.

The Clayton County Public Schools Foundation Inc. is the primary charitable partner of Clayton County Public Schools, which is the sixth largest school district in Georgia. The district serves around 55,000 students, and the organization helps to provide direct support for the needs of its students and families so that they can be successful.

The Clayton County Public Schools Foundation is a tax-exempt philanthropic organization fostering the sustainable growth, development, and academic achievement of students in Clayton County. Nina Packer, Clayton County Public Schools Foundation’s Executive Director, said that the Foundation makes strategic investments to provide a continuum of support in four program areas – district support, community support, advocacy, and economic development. The foundation is a separate entity from the school district and is governed by a board of directors led by its Chairman Hayelom Tadesse, SVP, Strategy and Continuous Improvement at AMAROK.

Direct support to the school district consists of resources targeted to areas of the district’s strategic plan that need collaboration to advance. Community support consists of partnerships and resource allocation to nonprofit organizations and community agencies that give students wrap around support and opportunities to succeed. Advocacy program efforts ensure that constituents at the local, state, and national level know about the education and community work happening in Clayton County.

The economic development work that the foundation is doing includes workforce initiatives for students, alumni, and parents and the development of the Clayton County Student Convocation Center as a source of job creation and perpetual philanthropic revenue generation.

Delta Air Lines is a strong and committed partner of the Clayton County Public Schools Foundation. Angela Benjamin, General Manager, Equity Outreach Strategies for Delta Air Lines, serves as a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors and manages the partnership. Delta employees are very engaged in informing the work to develop our CTAE, magnet, and workforce development programs related to aviation and customer service careers.

Our students and educational leaders have visited the Delta Air Lines headquarters to gain exposure to career opportunities at Delta and exposure to the culture of the company. Corporate leaders from Delta visit and volunteer with our schools regularly. Delta Air Lines also provides financial support to the Clayton County Public Schools Foundation for scholarships and program support.

Packer, a native of Miami, Florida and graduate of Florida A&M University, began working in marketing and development at Rainforest Films in Jonesboro, GA in 1999.

Packer previously served as the Charitable Advisor and Director of hip-hop icon Lil Wayne’s One Family Foundation (2007-2013). She worked with the New Orleans Recreation Department to make an immeasurable impact on his community in New Orleans by directing a $200,000 contribution to make repairs to Harrell Park after Katrina. This contribution was the catalyst for that neighborhood asset resuming its role as a resource to schools and families in the Hollygrove and Carrollton neighborhoods of New Orleans.

Packer is a former high school teacher. She taught Marketing Education in Clayton County Public Schools at Mount Zion High School (2001-03) and Mundy’s Mill High School (2016-18), where she created the Film & Media Magnet Program. She said she loves teaching and learning and helping students to become successful. She loves providing insight to others about the programs in Clayton County because it is where her career started.

“Even though I spent the past 22 years as a nonprofit and philanthropic consultant in the entertainment industry, I’ve always gone back to my roots as an educator,” Packer added. “Everything I do, I do it through the lens of an educator. Even when I worked with my music industry clients to manage their charitable organizations, they very well could have been students in my class. So, I treated them the same way that I would a student in my class. I allowed them to take the lead on their initiatives. I also empowered them and supported them in a way that allowed them to fulfill their dreams, while providing the professional support the endeavor required.”

Packer says with the Clayton County Public Schools Foundation as her client, she works to help create systemic support for children throughout the district by guiding investments and building an infrastructure that allows district leaders to advance its strategic plan.

“Atlanta is a major destination for culture, sports and entertainment. Given my background and affiliation with the entertainment industry, I am excited to lead a nonprofit that will facilitate the operations of a venue that will allow our students to participate in big things happening in the metro Atlanta area,” Packer said.

Packer said they are looking forward to providing students opportunities to work at the convocation center in audio visual and technical capacities as well as customer service roles.

“We’ll be working with our CTAE department to help train and recruit students into those roles. As far as funding is concerned, we’re excited that we will be able to provide additional streams of funding for our school district to support some of our innovative programs that usually school districts don’t have the opportunity or ability to fund.”

Packer said the work that the foundation and its partners are doing together is the “power of community.” The foundation is fulfilling its tagline of investing in Students of Clayton County Today for a Better Tomorrow.

Packer said the work that the foundation and its partners are doing together is the “power of community.”

“This is the power of being in a school district that values the power of community and chooses to make strategic investments in students who need it the most for them to be able to thrive and create better lives for themselves and have the social mobility that they dream of,” she added. “That is critically important. It’s not just the school district or foundation, but it’s all of our strategic partners in the educational ecosystem of Clayton County and the South Metro region.”

The Clayton County Public Schools Foundation is embarking on the process to solicit naming rights for the Clayton County Student Convocation Center at Southlake Mall where the Sears store once stood.

“We will be holding meetings with major corporations and private foundations that would like to learn about the opportunities to have naming rights at the convocation center,” she said.

With the World Cup coming to Atlanta in 2026 and the Super Bowl returning to Atlanta in 2028, Packer said there will be many future opportunities for the public to rent out the convocation center for events, concerts, etc.

For anyone interested in volunteering or donating to the Clayton County Public Schools Foundation, please visit the website or contact the office at 678-399-1050.

Packer also offered words of wisdom for anyone chasing after their dreams.

“My words of advice would be to know your purpose and go for it,” she said. “Once you know and are settled into the purpose of your life, that is an understanding from God of what he put in you to do, go for it. Go for it in a way where you don’t allow people to deter you, to distract you or dissuade you from doing what you know you are born to do. That is critically important. Continue to go for it and move forward.”

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Nina Packer, Executive Director (Nick Nelson )