---

UPDATE AND INFORMATION NEWSLETTER

September 1, 1997

[ A Message from the Director | Who's on Board | Legislation Update | Summer Read*Write*Now! Pilot Site Update | What Coalition Member Are Doing | Stay In Touch | Remember... ]

Welcome to the first of our twice-monthly updates about the America Reads Challenge. Our goal is to keep these brief, but full of substantive and timely information to help you in your efforts to ensure that every child in America reads well and independently by the end of third grade.

I can't tell you how excited I am about the response we're getting from organizations committing to join the President's Coalition for the America Reads Challenge. To date, 80 groups have signed on to support the goal of building a nation of readers. Add to that the 700 colleges and universities using Federal Work-Study students to serve as tutors for pre-school and elementary school students, and we're off to a terrific start. If your organization has not returned a commitment form or if you would like to recruit others to help meet the Challenge, call the America Reads Information Line at 202-401-3069 and we'll be happy to fax one to you.

I look forward to sharing the creative ways President's Coalition members are promoting reading in future updates.

WHO'S ON BOARD

To date, the following organizations have made a commitment to support the America Reads Challenge:

Atlantic Richfield Corporation (ARCO)
American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
American Association of Museums
American Booksellers Association
American Library Association
AmeriCorps Early Childhood Tech. Asst. Ctrs.
Armenian National Committee
Association Of American Publishers
Baptist Joint Committee
The Benefactory
Books and Beyond
Brandeis University Natl. Women's Committee
Business and Industry for the Arts in Educ.
Center for the Book/Library of Congress
Christian Brothers Conference
Coalition for America's Children
Coastal Carolina University
Council of Chief State School Officers
Electronic Data Systems (EDS)
Educational Testing Service
Ernst and Young
Everybody Wins! DC
Everybody Wins! National Foundation
First Book
Friends of the Libraries, USA
Girl Scouts USA
Home Instruction Program for Pre-school Youngsters (HIPPY USA)
Help One Student To Succeed - HOSTS Corporation
Hispanic Radio Network
Houston READ Commission
International Reading Association
Jesuit Social Ministries
The Jewish Coalition for Literacy
KCET-TV/Los Angeles, CA
The Lamaze Institute for Family Education
Libraries for the Future
The Lightspan Partnership
The Links
Learning Disabilities Association of America
Lyrick Corporation
Marvel Entertainment Group
MegaSkills
The Mini Page
National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO)
National Collegiate Athletic Association Youth Programs (NCAA)
National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHY)
National Alliance of Urban Literacy Coalitions
National Black Child Development Institute
National Center for Child Care Resources and Referrals
National Center for Family Literacy
National Council of Negro Women
National HeadStart Association
National Institute for Literacy
National Retired Teachers Association - AARP
National Writing Project Payne Memorial Outreach, Inc.
Phi Theta Kappa
The Reading Foundation
Reach Out and Read
Reading is Fundamental
The Reading Recovery Council of North America
Ready to Learn/Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Rockford Public Schools
Scholastic, Inc.
Seventh-day Adventist Church/The Adventist Youth Service Network
Sylvan Learning Systems
Thomson Newspapers
Time-Warner
Tomorrow's Morning
WETA-TV/ Washington, DC
The Washington Post
Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts
Women's America ORT
YMCA of Greater New York
Zany Brainy

READ*WRITE*NOW! Pilot Site Locations

Atlanta, GA
Baltimore, MD
Birmingham, AL
Boston, MA
Boise, ID
Los Angeles, CA
Miami, FL
Palm Beach, FL
Philadelphia, PA
Seattle, WA
Easthampton, NY
Houston, TX
Kansas City, MO
New York, NY

For a complete and up-to-date list of all colleges and universities signed on to the America Reads Challenge, visit our web site at www.ed.gov/inits/americareads/.

As you heard at the July 28th meeting, the America Reads Challenge Act has been introduced in Congress. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources have primary legislative jurisdiction over this legislation.

To date, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce has held a series of hearings on the issue of literacy and solutions to the problem of illiteracy among children and adults. The Committee majority is in the process of drafting a legislative response to the President's America Reads Challenge.

The House and Senate Appropriations Committee versions include $260 million for a literacy initiative which is in line with the goals and concepts of the President's America Reads Challenge. This appropriation is dependent upon authorization by April 1, 1998.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the entire U. S. Department of Education Appropriations package Sept. 2nd; the House is scheduled to vote on its version on Sept. 8th.

SUMMER READ*WRITE*NOW! PILOT SITE UPDATE

What terrific results we've seen this summer at our 14 READ*WRITE*NOW! pilot sites. More than 80,000 children were served during the summer recess. Programs were held in schools, libraries, museums, coffee shops, community centers, parks, day care centers, and YMCA facilities, a migrant farm worker camp, and even in the Kansas City, MO, City Hall. Tutors came from all walks of life -- Girl and Boy Scouts, middle and high school students, Federal Work-Study college students, AmeriCorps and VISTA members, parents, teachers, corporate and business volunteers, grandparents and retirees, and community members. More than 200 local community partners provided tutors, space, resources and money to help fund the sites. Just think of the impact that can be made when communities work together to support reading!

All of the sites plan to continue their efforts this fall. If your members would like to get involved with these programs, please call (202) 401-8888 for a contact name.

WHAT COALITION MEMBERS ARE DOING

Each month we'll share with you some of the activities that President's Coalition members are participating in. In this edition, some of the early commitments we've received...

• The American Association of Publishers will provide training manuals and ancillary materials for Reach Out and Read;
• The Benefactory Storytelling Program will provide materials and training for volunteer storytellers;
• The Coalition for America's Children will work with the Ad- Council to communicate the America Reads Challenge message;
• The Lamaze Institute for Family Education will dedicate one page per issue of its new publication, Lamaze Family, to the America Reads Challenge pre-school initiative;
• The Kenniwick, WA, Reading Foundation will create awareness and accountability for 80 percent of its area's parents to read 20 minutes each day to their children;
• The Adventist Youth Service Network of the Seventh-day Adventist Church will train 3,000 tutors to serve 10,000 children during 1997-98;
• Friends of the Libraries USA will make America Reads Challenge information available throughout their network;
• The Rockford Public Schools will incorporate the America Reads Challenge into its 3-5 year literacy plan and continue its READ*WRITE*NOW! reading program throughout the school year;
• Health Communications of West Palm Beach is printing 150,000 copies of the Spanish version of Read*Write* Now!

STAY IN TOUCH

We are always interested in hearing your thoughts about how we can support your efforts to help children become good and independent readers. We also want to share your successes and innovative ideas with other Coalition members. Please feel free to mail, fax or e-mail your ideas and suggestions to me at:

Carol H. Rasco
Senior Advisor to the Secretary
Director, America Reads Challenge
600 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20202
carol_rasco@ed.gov
Fax 202-401-0596

Beginning in October, we plan to distribute the President's Coalition Update via blast fax. In order to make sure you receive the Update and any other information we think you'll find helpful, we'd appreciate it if you'd e-mail or fax the names, e-mail addresses and fax numbers for all people in your organization to whom you'd like the Update sent. Please e-mail this information via Internet to America_Reads_Challenge@ed.gov or fax to 202-401-0596, ATTN: AMERICA READS CHALLENGE.

REMEMBER...

You'll find up-to-date information plus tutoring materials on the U.S. Dept. of Education's web site at www.ed.gov/inits/americareads/ including READ*WRITE*NOW!, READY*SET*READ, JUST ADD KIDS, the PARTNERS TUTORING PROGRAM GUIDE, and two publications in Spanish, ACTIVIDADES PARA DIVERTIRSE LEYENDO Y ESCRIBIENDO for children age birth through grade 6, and JUGANDO CON PAPEL for children 5 and under, or call 1-800-USA-LEARN for free copies.

-###-

---

HOME