More than 75 librarians and their community partners traveled to Washington, D.C., last summer to participate in the Center for the Book's Reading Powers the Mind family literacy workshop. Together they represented the 12 local projects that received $3,000 grants as part of the center's 2005-2006 Reading Powers the Mind family literacy project. Reading Powers the Mind is funded by the Viburnum Foundation and headed by Center for the Book consultant Virginia H. Mathews.
Left, with the help of Ord the Dragon and "Sesame Street's" Ernie, Joe Caliguro of the U.S. Department of Education discussed the federal "Ready-to-Learn Television" program designed to help develop educational programming for young children and their families; right, workshop participant Jeanne Middleton Hairston, national director, Freedom Schools program of the Children's Defense Fund - Leonard Kniffel
Each of the libraries' projects emphasizes a literacy partnership between the public library and one or more community organizations or local government agencies. One goal is to test different types of partnerships that might be replicated in other states.
The workshop's aim was to send participants back to their communities with new ideas and energy as they implemented their projects. In addition to sharing information about their plans, they heard from more than a dozen distinguished speakers from U.S. government agencies and national nonprofit organizations dedicated to family literacy issues. Session topics included "Family Literacy Partnerships for Young Children and their Caregivers," "What We've Learned About Partnerships That Work" and "Out of School/After School Learning: Prevention and Enrichment."
Speakers included Cathy Grace, director, National Rural Early Learning Initiative, Mississippi State University; Libby Doggett, executive director, PreK Now, Washington, D.C.; and Shay Bilchik, president and CEO, Child Welfare League of America. Panel facilitators, in addition to Virginia Mathews, included Susan Roman, dean and professor, Graduate Library School, Dominican University; Jay Lamar, Center for the Arts & Humanities and the Arkansas Center for the Book at Auburn University; Jane Thompson, Arkansas State Library and the Arkansas Center for the Book; and Katherine Barco, Library Development Services Bureau, New Mexico State Library.
The keynote speaker was Kathleen Strottman, legislative assistant to Senator Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.). Before providing an update regarding the status of early childhood and child welfare legislation in Congress, she noted that as the mother of a 14-month-old, she was learning firsthand that "parenting is not as innate as everyone pretends it is." She also pointed with pride to East Baton Rouge Parish Library, one of the new recipients of a Reading Powers the Mind grant and introduced the three Louisiana workshop participants: Mary Stein, assistant library director, Brenda Eames, the library's head of teen and young adult services, and their community partner, Bill Wilson, attorney and youth advocate from the state's Juvenile Detention Center.
In addition to the East Baton Rouge Parish Library, 2005-2006 Reading Powers the Mind grant recipients included Ozark-Dale Public Library, Ozark, Ala.; Tucson-Pima County Public Library, Tucson, Ariz.; Crawford County Library System, Van Buren, Ark.; Ohoopee Regional Library, Vidalia, Ga.; Columbus-Lowndes Public Library, North Columbus, Miss.; Belen Public Library, Belen, N.M.; Pioneer Library System, Norman, Okla.; Colleton County Memorial Library, Walterboro, S.C.; Gibson County Memorial Library, Trenton, Tenn.; Longview Public Library, Longview, Texas; and Hamlin-County Public Library, Hamlin, W.Va.
Left, Center for the Book Director John Cole with longtime library and family literacy advocate Virginia Mathews, who has been a center consultant for more than 25 years; right, Baton Rouge attorney and youth advocate Bill Wilson with workshop keynoter Kathleen Strottman, legislative assistant to Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.). - Leonard Kniffel
From 1998 to 2003, the Viburnum Foundation supported family literacy projects in 222 rural libraries in 10 states as part of the Center for the Book/Viburnum Foundation Family Literacy Project.
During this six-year period the national Center for the Book, with help from affiliated state centers, organized and staffed throughout the country 12 two-day training workshops for project participants. With a new contribution to the Center for the Book from the Viburnum Foundation in 2003, the project was renamed Reading Powers the Mind, and 12 projects in 12 states were supported with $3,000 grants in 2004-2005. The 2004 Reading Powers the Mind Workshop featured Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) of New Mexico as the Keynote.
For further information about Reading Powers the Mind, see the Center for the Book's Web site at www.loc.gov/cfbook/.
