A Three-Year Partnership Proves Successful

 

After three years of growth within The Literacy Cooperative, Reach Out and Read Greater Cleveland is ready to reach out on its own. 

September marks the end of a 3-year Bruening Foundation grant that funded a full-time Literacy Cooperative staff member and other expenses related to supporting Reach Out and Read. Reach Out and Read will continue serving children and families in Greater Cleveland through a partnership with Cleveland Public Library.

For the last three years, Lynn Foran, a Literacy Cooperative employee, served as the coordinator of Reach Out and Read Greater Cleveland (RORGC). Before her leadership, the 20+ year old organization was completely volunteer-run, but the Bruening Foundation saw an opportunity for growth facilitated by The Literacy Cooperative.

“We knew we wanted to host RORGC with an organization connected to the community, especially as it pertains to early literacy – and that was The Literacy Cooperative,” said Jeanine Gergel of Foundation Management Services, which services The Bruening Foundation.

Gergel said the nearly fifteen-year history of The Literacy Cooperative being Greater Cleveland’s convening agent for partners in literacy made the organization an obvious choice.

The grant is a part of Bruening’s Strong Start initiative, designed to “reduce poverty and expand economic prosperity in Cuyahoga County by investing in efforts that help disadvantaged families ensuring that every child gets a strong start in life.”

It aligns with the mission of Reach Out and Read Greater Cleveland, which is to provide a foundation for success through pediatric care, using books and reading aloud to impact the health and development of children and families.

Foran works across the region’s health systems to help pediatricians, family medicine doctors, and nurse practitioners incorporate early literacy guidance into regular checkups and to distribute important information about early literacy and brain development. At each regular visit through the five-year-old checkup, the family has a conversation with their child’s medical provider about how and why it is important to read aloud with their young child, and the child goes home with a new book.

Research finds that children served by Reach Out and Read score three to six months ahead of others on their vocabulary tests because they are regularly read aloud to. Early foundational language skills like this help children begin strong on a path of success.

One of The Literacy Cooperative’s focus areas is to help support families during their child’s first five years of life and identifying the appropriate message and appropriate messenger is critical. Pediatricians are a trusted source of information for families.

“When Jeanine Gergel and I first talked about this funding it was really a win-win situation,” said Bob Paponetti, President & CEO of The Literacy Cooperative. “We were able to help fortify an already impressive organization and test whether we could leverage the relationship pediatricians have with families to connect them to other important resources in the community.”

The results proved that The Literacy Cooperative and Reach Out and Read could do just that.

Over the past three years, Foran has grown Reach Out and Read Greater Cleveland from 23 health system sites to 33 and has facilitated the distribution of 86,000 new books and doctor-parent conversations.

“Having that pediatrician aspect is so important, and The Literacy Cooperative knows that,” Paponetti said. “We need to reach parents and let them know how important reading is to childhood development. We don’t have a relationship with them – but the doctors do. And most parents trust their doctor.”

The organizations worked together with Pre4CLE, Starting Point, and Invest in Children to form the Preschool Prescription initiative. The goal is to increase awareness of and enrollment at quality preschools through pediatrician recommendations using “The Night Before Preschool” book given at the doctor’s office. Since its start, more families are calling Starting Point to learn about quality preschool and enrollment has risen.

Dr. Robert Needlman founded ROR, a national organization, in 1989. He said the partnership with The Literacy Cooperative strengthened Reach Out and Read to be recognized as a critical part of the literacy landscape. 

In 2017, soon after Foran joined The Literacy Cooperative, it became the local affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. In this program an enrolled child receives a brand new, age-appropriate book in the mail monthly until their fifth birthday. Foran led the design, implementation, and rollout of the program in the Cleveland area during her time at The Literacy Cooperative.

“It was a wonderful collaboration,” Needlman said. “Lynn was able to utilize the Reach Out and Read provider network to connect the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program and integrated the new Preschool Prescription initiative into doctor’s offices to benefit Pre4Cle and Starting Point’s work. We wouldn’t have been able to do it on our own.”

Every month, Dr. Needlman, Foran and Paponetti met to discuss the partnership and future goals. Paponetti said those regular meetings were critical to the success of the partnership – and in the end, launched a partnership that truly supports both organizations’ mission.

In August, Foran took on new responsibilities as Executive Director of ROR Greater Cleveland. Although she is leaving The Literacy Cooperative as a staff member, she will continue as a strong partner. She said she’s excited to watch the organization expand from the connections she’s made in the community, as well as continue collaboration with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and The Literacy Cooperative.

“I’m excited to help more parents understand the importance of reading to a child,” Foran said. “A child’s education begins at birth when the brain is rapidly developing. Snuggling up with an infant, toddler or preschooler to share a book is a joyful way to feed a young brain. Start early, too – don’t wait until they can bring you a book.”

More information about The Literacy Cooperative can be found at www.literacycooperative.org and Reach Out and Read information can be found at http://www.reachoutandreadgc.org/

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WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO TEACH FINANCIAL LITERACY TO YOUR CHILDREN BEFORE COLLEGE

One of the most valuable lessons a child or teenager can receive is instruction on how to handle their finances – not just for today, but for decades to come. The key to making smart financial decisions stems from knowledge and experience, and many young adults lack both.

Educating our youth in financial literacy is a key challenge for parents, teachers, and the education system in general. Despite its importance in a teen’s future, financial literacy doesn’t get the attention it deserves. As teens prepare for college, many of them haven’t learned the necessary financial basics. Why is that?

There Is a Vacuum in Financial Literacy Education

While awareness has increased recently, financial literacy is still an underserved education topic in middle schools, high schools, and even at home.

To put it in perspective, the United States ranked 7 out of 15 countries who participated in an international financial literacy test for high school students. The Treasury Department claimed less than a third of adults were ever offered a financial literacy course through high school and college. A 2012-13 financial literacy exam revealed that young adults scored an average 58% with only about a quarter of participants scoring over a 70%.

Furthermore, some studies show that parents neglect to talk about money matters such as paying bills, saving money, budgeting, and more with their kids. One report showed that 69% of parents were reluctant to discuss money with their children. The same report indicated that only 23% of kids reported talking to their parents about money often.

Why Is It Such a Big Deal?

Experience is the best teacher, right? It normally would be if the consequences weren’t so severe and far-reaching. When a teenager turns 18, the world opens to them, and so does the potential for disastrous financial decisions.

New environments, such as a college dorm or their first apartment, can lead to poor choices when they aren’t educated about money matters. They may apply for credit cards and use them irresponsibly. Not to mention, many young adults take out student loans without much thought to paying them later. Many neglect to build a savings account.

According to the Financial Educators Council, 39% of adults don’t have any non-retirement savings. 56% of adults don’t have a budget, and tellingly, 76% of college students wanted more help preparing for their financial futures. At the same time,

Some of those early money mistakes could be avoided if teens knew more about financial matters when they began their adult life. A few bad mistakes could lead to bad credit or a huge amount of debt that could take them years to clean up.

Get It Right Early On

It pays to get it right the first time. The earlier referenced Treasure Department report also claimed that adults who were offered financial education also had greater net worth, higher rates of saving, and larger regular retirement account contributions.

Financial literacy education doesn’t need to be complicated, and covering the basics is a good place to start. Here are just a few general habits to discuss.

Proper Credit Building Habits

Teens should learn the basics of credit cards, credit score, and credit building. They should understand how a credit card works and why you need to spend with it. They should know how to pay off a credit card balance and what happens when missing a payment. And they need to know how interest rates increase their expenses. All these lessons can be applied to other forms of debt.

Furthermore, understanding how debt levels, regular payments, and missed payments impact their credit score. On top of that, explain what a credit score means and how it impacts decisions for the future.

Basic Budgeting and Savings Skills

Knowing what a credit score is important, but it’s equally important to build finance management skills in general. These skills include learning how to cut expenses, saving money to pay bills on time, and how to manage multiple obligations. It can give your child the motivation to stay within their budget because they’ll know that overspending can lead them into serious debt over time.

Learning how to save money goes together with budgeting. This starts with opening a bank account and devoting a percentage of a paycheck or allowance to it. Learning about the importance of saving money is also a stepping block to understanding retirement accounts, emergency savings, and more.

Building a Future of Knowledge

Unlike some subjects in college and high school, financial literacy education instills lifelong skills to be used throughout your career. A foundation of financial knowledge will help young adults avoid making costly, derailing mistakes and instead make constructive, proactive decisions for the future. A little education now could also be a springboard for further curiosity. It could inspire your child to keep self-educating themselves about finances in the years to come.


Andrew is a Content Associate for LendEDU – a website that helps consumers, college graduates, high school students, small business owners, and more with their finances.