Reading Promise Week 2022 Report

2022 REPORT

ISSUE 03

READING p r o ise W m

k e e

FASHION | BEAUTY | LIFESTYLE

Reading Promise Week has become a tradition Philadelphia is proud of.

We celebrated Philly's third annual family literacy festival from October 10-16, 2022. Reading Promise Week is designed to celebrate reading in ways that reflect unique cultures of literacy, highlight local resources, and intentionally address the early literacy crisis through the lens of community strengths and joy.

We strive for these events to model and share specific information, resources, and activities known to increase the skills necessary for children to become proficient readers.

o s e r e w n e r d l i “The ch thought I This festival is a collective labor of love. While Read by 4th staff provides backend support, xcited. I sed in last e Reading Promise Week is driven by the pres m i s a w s a w community, for the community. Neighborhood 2 2 0 2 t leaders, non-profits, civil servants, volunteers, and year, bu !” of course, Philly’s Reading Captains answer the tter e b n e v e call to organize, recruit, and deliver family events

GEANNA EleganceXtreme Inc. & Reading Captain

to support our next generation of readers.

TO SEE EVERY CORNER OF PHILADELPHIA COME TO LIFE IN CELEBRATION OF LITERACY IS TRULY POWERFUL. WE CELEBRATE TO HONOR FAMILIES, MOBILIZE COMMUNITIES, AND FIGHT THE LITERACY CRISIS WITH URGENCY AND JOY.

Jenny Bogoni EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Read by 4th

BY THE NUMBERS

52

50

free family events

hosts (44% returning)

15,475

new children's books in the hands of Philly's young readers

70 valiant volunteers offered their time, hands, and hearts

9,0000

28 21

giveaway bags supporting parents with literacy-boosting resources

zip codes celebrated

libraries involved

10%

book budget spent at local Black-owned bookstores

Reading Promise Week 2022

the biggest and best yet!

, u o y k n Tha s n i a t p a C g n i d a e R No one quite reflects the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection like Philadelphia’s Reading Captains. These community volunteers not only connect families to resources year-round, they represented 44% of Reading Promise Week event hosts in 2022. Their enthusiasm, neighborhood knowledge, and tireless work are key to making Reading Promise Week a success. For that, and the countless other ways they support Philly’s early literacy movement, we say thank you.

f o r e w o p e Th . p i h s r e n t r pa

With the help of many hands, we designed, packed, and distributed 9,300 family literacy bags and 15,475 new children's books!

Critical to this year's success was a partnership with Your Child’s World Learning Center (West Oak Lane) and over 70 volunteers. Nearly 300 volunteer hours were given to ensure communities received the materials they need. Special thanks to the Mayor’s Office of Civic Engagement, Global Citizens, PNC, McKinsey & Company, and Joyful Readers for their support.

NEW & NOTABLE PROSPEROUS PLANNING Planning meetings have been a well-loved staple of Reading Promise Week since its conception. We exceeded our goal to provide more targeted support programming to enhance literacy events during the festival and year-round. This year, we held nine planning meetings. Eleven subject matter experts spoke with hosts about topics ranging from effective literacy activities and marketing to permits and safety.

NEW YEAR, NEW GIVEAWAYS Giveaways are a chance to promote positive literacy habits—but most importantly, they're a way to excite, energize, and have fun! With the support of the Family Engagement working group, we created new resources, including Reading Promises tip cards and a Right to Read coloring book that features a poem designed to spark conversations about literacy access, diverse books, and give kids language for all that they deserve.

WELCOME, CLINTON! As a follow-up to last year's recommendations, Read by 4th hired Special Projects Manager Clinton Drees to honor the logistics lift of managing Reading Promise Week. Staff and partners are incredibly grateful for the care he took in leading logistics, facilitating planning, and providing support to hosts and volunteers.

GROWING IN-SCHOOL CELEBRATIONS This year we saw schools, like Jenks Abram and James Logan, hold schoolwide literacy rallies with their students, families, and community to celebrate reading with games, activities, storytelling, and performances.

CIVIC LEADERS MAKE AWESOME READERS An increasing number of events brought in local politicians and civil servants to read with children.

This was an excellent way to engage local systems leaders about the literacy crisis, as well as a terrific promotional tool. A special shout-out to West Oak Lane Library whose series of guest readers included District Attorney Larry Krasner, mayoral candidate Cherelle Parker, and State Representative Christopher Rabb.

EVALUATING OUR IMPACT We engaged an outside consultant to do a formative evaluation of Reading Promise Week to help us better understand the core elements of the model, identify future metrics for success, and articulate opportunities to strengthen our work in future years.

CELEBRATING CULTURE THROUGH STORIES

Several Reading Promise Week events celebrated the intersection of culture and early literacy.

The Latinx Literacy Festival was a first-time event for host Eden Galan. Having attended Reading Promise Week 2021, she was so impressed that she became a Reading Captain, then Regional Co-Facilitator for Northeast Reading Captains!

Having never hosted a community event like this before, Eden used planning meetings, office hours, and support from other community volunteers to put together a wonderful celebration. There was free food, resource tables, a DJ, flags, fun, and games. And bilingual storyteller, Rebecca LaMar, had kids and adults at the edge of their seats wanting more!

Voices of Immigrants brought parents together to talk about the experiences of teaching children to read in their second language.

Hosted by The American Chinese Museum, this discussion illuminated unique and shared experiences including the crosscultural value of oral story traditions, critiques of “diverse” stories that often don’t capture the experience of firstgeneration children, and the common challenge of feeling confident reading together when children correct your English.

This event was a truly novel experience for all involved and helped families build a greater sense of community.

MAKING MOTIVATION MEANINGFUL

How do we get more children interested in reading? This year, a few Reading Promise Week events explored building motivation by tying literacy skills to popular hobbies and activities.

Reading for Hoops was Shepard Recreation Center’s second Reading Promise Week festival. This year’s event featured read alouds, local authors, crafts, food, vendors, and a live performance of the Reading Promise album by local children’s band, City Love. A basketball clinic run by Coach Kelly DuPree used children’s love of the game and drills that emphasized literacy skills to get them excited about reading.

Sims Fall Community Festival brought reading to the rink for a fun-filled day filled with literacy resources, food, music, ice skating, and more! This event was well attended and received thanks to a partnership between SniderHockey & Education, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, and First Book.

Build It! at Whitman Library got kids and kids at heart playing with LEGO, Magna-Tiles, and more. In addition to building towers, families built a love of literacy with books about design, giveaways, and of course, resources for all.

Tha

t s a f k a e r nk You B

In November 2022, we invited all our partners to a Thank You Breakfast at Cherry Street Pier to celebrate all the hard work, creativity, and joy of Reading Promise Week.

We shared slideshows and overviews of our collective impact, listened to and shared stories, raffled prizes, and identified ideas to improve Reading Promise Week next year.

Special thanks to Authentic Ethnic Cuisine, Nature’s Gallery Florist, Quality Party Rentals, and Cherry Street Pier for helping us make this event a success!

A

L O OK

BACK

During Reading Promise 2021, partners and staff identified the following lessons and recommendations to bring forward in 2022.

Here's a look at our progress and areas where we want to improve.

Community-driven commitment.

Create intentional practices that ensure community vision drives the work. And make sure leaders are respected and celebrated.

Keep the giveaways flowing.

Continue emphasis on culturally-relevant and multilingual books and materials.

Honor the logistics lift.

Hire a dedicated staff person to lead logistics, planning, and support.

Clarify participation process.

Refine application systems and update the RPW Host Guide to the explain process, deadlines, and expectations early.

Cultivate connections and collaborations.

Encourage community-level coordination so hosts are aware of what’s happening in their neighborhoods and can find pathways to collaborate.

Vary event types.

Support partners in conceptualizing events that celebrate the groundbreaking literacy-rich activities happening citywide.

Continue planning meetings with an emphasis on capacity building (e.g. fundraising, permits, marketing), and create a playlist of training videos.

More promotion!

More staff time for storytelling and budget for communications planning and advertising.

Redesign data collection.

Shift data collection models to fit partners’ needs with a focus on calls and conversation.

Trust-building through tradition.

Sustainability isn’t about vanity, but showing up and building lasting meaningful relationships.

A

AH

EAD

It's never too early to start planning. Given feedback from hosts and partners, we've identified the following growth opportunities to improve Reading Promise Week next year.

Seek partners and potential event hosts in Southwest Philly and Riverwards Continue to build relationships with Latinx and Latinx-serving organizations across the city Improve clarity on goals, intended outcomes, and logic model Minimize changes to the final event details to prevent confusion and diminished attendance Require an inclement weather plan and means of communication for all events Secure a packing site earlier to enable broader windows for shipping Convene a community group retreat to better direct, align, and inform early planning Continue a community-driven model and take the lead from caring neighbors and families on creating meaningful literacy events

ESS CC

S RIE O

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Want to join us for Reading Promise Week 2023?

Email Clinton Drees at dreesc@freelibrary.org.