National Writing Project (NWP) sites work within an established framework of summer institutes, teacher-led professional development, and continuity to cultivate teacher leaders and empower them by applying these principles. Invitational Summer Institutes traditionally serve as the gateway by which teachers become involved with NWP sites and start to devote time to developing their skills in the area of teacher leadership. National Writing Project offers a powerful platform for empowering teachers and for other organizations such as universities and state departments of education partnering with NWP to create professional development. Recognizing the need for more authentic and sustainable models of professional development, the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) turned toward the NWP sites across the state to examine ways to offer more relevant professional development to schools. Over the past two years, GaDOE has embarked on an ambitious effort to support the state's literacy initiative -- Literacy for Learning, Living, and Leading (L4) -- which is based on a collective impact approach to improving students' reading outcomes. Allowing support for this type of professional leadership work within schools benefits everyone. Teachers genuinely want to affect change, and they want to do so with the support of their administration and fellow teachers in their schools. They want to create a culture of inquiry to effectively meet student needs while not feeling pushed to teach to the standardized test or within a scripted boxed curriculum.