Lydia Meredith

Lydia Mitcham Meredith (born May 3, 1952) is an American author and the former CEO of the Renaissance Learning Center (RLC) in Atlanta, Georgia, from Macon, Georgia. Meredith is a community organizer, entrepreneur and civil rights activist formerly operated an early childhood development center in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. She was featured in an episode of Stephen Colbert Comedy Central Difference Makers for ridding her facility of vagrants with technology Meredith led the daily operations of the Renaissance Learning Center (RLC) operating in the 4th Ward community of Atlanta, Georgia. Ninety-five percent of the students assisted by the Renaissance Learning Center were from impoverished homes. Teen Talk, a program within their curriculum, educated over 2,000 teenagers on life skills. The RLC graduated over 3,000 students into kindergarten. The RLC successfully assisted 2,500 school-age children get promoted to the next grade with 100% of them going on to high school. Five hundred children and adults are impacted daily by the RLC. Fifteen thousand families were elevated out of poverty because of services rendered to them by the Renaissance Learning Center. She was acknowledged for her work in the community by former governor of Georgia Roy Barnes. The RLC was presented with the Childhood Hero Award for the service rendered to the youth of the community.

Early life and education
Meredith is the fifth of thirteen children born to Wilbur Mitcham and Annie M. Mitcham. She is the author of the novel The Gay Preacher's Wife. Meredith was one of the first Black students to integrate the all-white Lasseter High School in Macon, Georgia. She had the distinction of being the first cheerleader for Mark Smith High School, their all-white male counterpart. Meredith graduated from Lasseter High School with honors and was accepted at Vanderbilt University in 1970 and graduated with a BS in industrial engineering. She has the distinction of being Vanderbilt University's first cheerleader of African American descent in 1972.

Meredith earned her MBA from Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management. Additionally, she holds master's degrees in Christian education and public policy from the Morehouse School of Religion and Georgia State University-Andrew Young School of Policy Studies respectively.