| Read First! |
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(June 7, 2008)Ten communities have been selected for intensive programs and services leading to a long-term partnership. The application deadline was May 16, 2008. The MHC board selected the winning entries on June 7. The Ten Read First! Communities
(April 14, 2008) Read First! is a new initiative that has grown out of the success of our two-session READ from the START program. We are looking for partners in ten towns who will work with us to see if the transformative education that affects individual family networks can be extended to cover entire commnities. The idea is to plan a solid month of community activities in each town. Our aim is to dramatically increase awareness of the importance of reading to pre-school children. But the initiative doesn't end with "awareness." That is just the kickoff for what we hope will be an extended period of work to create a community environment in which every new parent, caregiver, and babysitter knows what to do with a baby. This is serious work that will take several years of concerted effort and serious evaluation. We are willing to concentrate programs and resources in ten committed towns to see this through. The potential payoff is enormous, and since what we teach new parents is so easy to learn, the vision is achievable.
How does the program work?If you are selected as a Read First! Community, we will guide you through a collaborative and inclusive planning process focused on achieving community-wide success in your month of activities. Best yet, Read First! comes with a promise of sustained follow-up in partnership with us. We will roll out online resources and video podcasts to augment our face-to-face learning in the phenomenal READ from the START program. We will also involve your community in professional evaluation services that will shape how we meet the challenges from one year to the next. This evaluation component will help all participating organizations improve their fund-raising abilities. We want nothing less than a dramatic and observable improvement in the readiness of youngsters to succeed in school. What is the point of Read First?We know that family life is transformed (a strong word, but the right one) when new parents take our two-session training class called READ from the START. The knowledge we convey in the class is quite easy to master, and the interactive nature of READ from the START empowers parents to go home and try out their new skills. READ from the START makes a difference in the brain development of the baby and pre-school child, and it also makes a difference in the way parents think about words, sentences, and meanings. People who engage in this special form of attention develop a sharp mind for the ways that meanings are developed and "spun out" by a speaker or writer, and this mental sharpness applies not only to books, but to conversation, advertising, news reports, political speech, and multi-media narratives like movies. An acute sensitivity to the method and content of a narrative is the "gold standard" of literacy. Without it, children enter school with a poor idea for sequence, how one thing follows another, with consequences. They don't notice as well, don't discern details in their environment. Parents who learn to use stories, books, and play can shape a different sort of intelligence. Literacy is far more than being able to read traffic signs and decode instructions. Literacy is the ability to engage the qualities of thought in a narrative, to imagine layers of possible meanings, to judge distinction and quality. It is that ability that is "finished off" in higher education, but that begins in the cradle. We have seen the power of releasing this energy in small numbers of families in a town. What would happen if all families had this power? What would happen if every new parent, care-giver, and babysitter knew what we are currently teaching only to a few? That is the central question of Read First! The month of activities is a kick-off for work that may take several years to properly tune and evaluate. The potential pay-off in the community is enormous. Since this initiative promises a long-term partnership, we are concentrating resources on only ten towns in the first test of this vision. What support does the MHC provide?The beginning of the project is an orientation conference for the key players in each town. We will jointly develop ideas for comprehensive, inclusive activities that will excite all elements of the community. We will work out a shared vision of what success looks like and how we will evaluate the social changes we're trying to achieve together. To begin with, take a look at the "Roles and Responsibilities" we envision in this project for MHC and each Read First! Community. We have funding to put behind these lofty goals, and we are certain that you will attract local support as you communicate the vision in your town. We will help assure that you have first-rate promotional materials, first-rate evaluation, and seed money to launch a kickoff event. We want to think together about how to change the scale of success from family units to whole neighborhoods, and from neighborhoods to whole towns. We will do this with you by generating excitement and providing great family fun – with books and stories as the centerpiece. |
