2018 Director’s Message / December Newsletter

As this year ends, it is always good to look back, make goals for the coming year, and feel energized for the work before us. Progress has been made and we appreciate all the efforts you have given to make Northeast Ohio a more literate community.

We are especially pleased for the support and encouragement we’ve received to advance a two generational (2Gen) service delivery strategy that considers the needs of the entire family. We convened a 2Gen Summit this past year that strategically gathered early childhood providers, adult literacy programs, and workforce agencies. This event featured two national speakers, panels of local experts, and a feedback session that discussed how we can align services, so the entire family’s needs can be addressed in an integrated manner. A 2Gen working group resulted from this summit. Look for a call to action that will be released soon.

The expansion of Imagination Library and Reach Out & Read this year has been exciting. Both are proven, universal interventions that connect to parents of babies and toddlers to support them in their role as their child’s first teacher. The first three years of a child’s life present a unique window of opportunity to positively impact brain development. The influence of Reach Out & Read physicians along with the monthly mailing of brand new books through Imagination Library will result in a child better prepared for school success.

The CLE-BEE, our annual corporate spelling bee fundraiser, was very fun night of competition for a good cause. We enjoyed bringing together professionals from different sectors to showcase their spelling skills while raising funds to continue our work in the community.  This year’s winner, Cleveland Public Library, was crowned the champion with the word “gallimaufry.” Try using it in a sentence!

Best wishes to you and your families during this holiday season. We look forward to the opportunities 2019 will bring for us to connect and collaborate.

Bob Paponetti

Click here for the December 2018 Newsletter.

Cleveland Public Library Wins the 2018 Cleveland Corporate Spelling Bee!

Introducing Elizabeth Horrigan, Director of Resource Development

 Low literacy continues to be a challenge in our community. Far too many children begin kindergarten behind their peers and struggle to catch-up. Low literate adults are prevented from participating in Cleveland’s Renaissance. The Literacy Cooperative is tasked with identifying and securing the necessary resources to bring organizations together in order to find and implement solutions to advance literacy in Northeast Ohio. To further these efforts, the Literacy Cooperative has instituted a new position within the organization, the Director of Resource Development, which was created to increase visibility and funding for The Literacy Cooperative.

We are very excited to introduce Elizabeth Horrigan, who has joined us in this newly appointed role as the Director of Resource Development. Liz brings more than thirty years of experience in non-profit management and fundraising to this new position, and has the relevant background, established relationships and knowledge of the philanthropic community to successfully assist The Literacy Cooperative in its resource development efforts.  She has consistently applied an entrepreneurial and creative approach to establishing and achieving fundraising goals throughout her career, and we are excited to have her share her energy and passion with our affiliates.

For over twenty years, Elizabeth has worked in Cleveland’s non-profit sector in increasingly engaging positions at complex, multi-divisional institutions, as well as small to mid-sized organizations. The majority of her professional career has been in the development arena and has focused on increasing earned and contributed revenue by generating new donors.  Liz has served in leadership positions at several well-known institutions around Greater Cleveland such as the Cleveland Play House, Cleveland State University, City Club of Cleveland, Beck Center for the Arts, Western Reserve Historical Society and Cleveland Music Settlement. She holds a BS in Applied Behavioral Science from George Williams College and a certificate in non-profit management from Case Western Reserve University. In the role of Director of Resource Development, which is a new position for the organization, Liz will be working on diversifying the sources of contributed revenue and increasing the number of supporters of to the Literacy Cooperative.

Liz lives in Westlake with her husband and has two daughters and two granddaughters who she enjoys spending time with. If you would like to contact Liz, please send an email to ehorrigan@literacycooperative.org.

Creative Writing Workshops Benefit Literacy

 On September 23, 2013, I sat down at the desk in my childhood bedroom with a pencil and a blue plaid notebook and began writing what I could only assume would become the next great American novel. I tailored the story to my sister’s interests so I wouldn’t lose my only audience member and I (am ashamed to say) stole half of my plot from a James Patterson novel. By the time my work progressed to a second notebook, it was chock-full of completely autonomous teenagers, the governmental authorities trying to take them down, and countless grammatical errors. Yikes!

While this may have been the piece that ignited my passion for creative writing, I can say with confidence that my prose has gained much more originality and potential in the past five years. In fact, this March I presented the narrative approach of my (new) unpublished manuscript at the Mid-East Honors Association Conference in Columbus, Ohio.

One of the main things that helped me to become a better writer was enrolling in creative writing workshops. The workshops not only shaped a foundation for my writing skills, but allowed me to discover the benefit of having others critique my work. In fact, I loved the class so much that I decided to make creative writing my major! Now, I’m a junior at Baldwin Wallace University and want to help others experience the extensive joys and benefits of writing.

For that reason, I founded a small startup, Ink Above All, an organization that offers creative writing workshops to both adults and high school students living in North East Ohio. The workshops are taking place at Avon Oaks Country Club in Avon, and run for two weeks each. I hope these workshops will serve to improve not only the English and writing skills of those enrolled, but will provide them with a safe environment for creative collaboration. I want everyone involved to feel liberated to express themselves, take creative risks, and communicate freely, because no matter who you are or where you’re from, you have a story to tell.

What you’re passionate about is what makes you unique, and there’s a story in that just waiting to be told. If you’ve never thought about putting pen to paper (or hands to keyboard) and telling your story, now might just be the time. Even if you don’t want to tell your story, there are so many things waiting to be written about. Just think, from activism and political movements to your dreams and made up fantasies, there’s no limit on what you could create.

So, why should you get out and write something? Because creative writing has been shown to positively impact your brain in more ways than one! Writing creatively not only affects your ability to write, but it improves your memory, increases your intelligence, and furthers your vocabulary.  Additionally, a workshop allows you to “develop your creative thinking and problem-solving abilities by analyzing different writing styles and working on your own projects.” This is a valuable skill set for any career.

Furthermore, the workshop environment gives you an opportunity to practice giving and receiving constructive criticism. This translates into improved critical thinking skills and an ability to evaluate the work of your colleagues. You will learn to organize ideas, write with clarity, and think logically to organize a story. Moreover, being around a diverse group of personalities will make you well-rounded as an individual. As a workshop participant, you will gain confidence, lasting friends, and a passion for writing.

The environment that you chose to write in makes a difference, which is why I’ve decided to hold Ink Above All’s workshops in a beautiful conference room overlooking an extensive golf course. Additionally, I set aside some designated workshop days for participants to go outside and experience writing in nature. The practice of spending time outdoors is fleeting in our technology-fueled culture despite the fact that it has been associated with all kinds of benefits ranging from mental clarity to increased creativity.

Workshops offer writers a new environment in which to learn and develop further social intelligence. Social intelligence is made up of two separate elements, social awareness, and social facility. Social awareness “refers to qualities including empathy, attunement to others and social cognition,” whereas social facility refers to “how we use our internal social awareness to interact with individuals and groups successfully, such as self-presentation, influence and concern for others.” Both of these skill sets are considered a long-term benefit of extracurricular summer activities, such as writing workshops, and will follow students for the rest of their lives, making a huge impact on future careers.

If you’re interested, I encourage you to grab a pen and sign up for a workshop, because you have a story, and the world is waiting to hear it.

www.InkAboveAll.org

https://www.facebook.com/InkAboveAll/

#2GenCLE: Bringing a 2Gen approach to literacy to Northeast Ohio

While the 2 Generation approach to literacy has gained positive traction in recent years, many as of yet have not been introduced to this concept that is successfully changing the way families are served in communities across the nation. On Friday, May 11th, The Literacy Cooperative will be bringing 2Gen to Cleveland by hosting the 2Gen Literacy Summit, where we will explore family learning and service learning models first introduced at our Read Across America Luncheon on March 7th by Sharon Darling, President and Founder of the National Center for Families Learning.

So what does 2Gen mean exactly? 2Gen aligns and coordinates services for children, parents, and caregivers. Because research continually shows that a parent’s education level dramatically affects the educational success of their children, 2Gen understands that early childhood and adult education are intertwined in the life of a family, and therefore need to be addressed simultaneously in a matter that includes the family as a whole. While traditional program models have generally treated early learning and adult literacy as separate issues, they have provided a somewhat fragmented solution to literacy improvement for families. The 2Gen approach considers the needs of adults and children in their lives together. It designs and delivers services that support improved economic, educational, health, and social outcomes on an integrated, inter-generational pathway.

According to the National Center for Families Learning, 2Gen empowers families to work, play, read, and learn together and as individuals. Parents develop simultaneously as learners, educational role models, and teachers of their children, while children experience positive gains in language, literacy, emotional, and cognitive development. In other words, when families learn together, learning becomes a shared activity that builds excitement around education in both children and parents. As parents gain literacy skills, their confidence in their own skills grows and becomes evident to their children. Likewise, as children watch their parents engage in education, they are inspired to do the same and to view learning as a positive activity that they can share with the adults in their lives. As a result, literacy becomes not only beneficial to each individual, but a bonding experience for families with lasting effects.

Many organizations nationally are currently providing learning programs for the entire family. An example of this might be a program where adults work on obtaining their GED while their children participate in age-appropriate learning activities in the same location, or an event where adults and children work on learning skills together. A model such as this eliminates the worry over childcare for adult learners who previously experienced this as a barrier to continuing education. It also provides added benefits to children as their parents learn skills to improve the economic well-being of the family. According to the National Center for Families Learning, there are a few key components to a 2Gen family literacy service. These include:

  • Interactive literacy activities between parents and children
  • Training for parents regarding how to be the primary teacher for their children and full partners in the education of their children
  • Parent literacy training that leads to economic self-sufficiency
  • Age-appropriate education to prepare children for success in school and life experiences

The Literacy Cooperative is committed to spreading the 2Gen approach throughout Greater Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, and invites you and your organization to participate in a day of discussion that will introduce the key components of a 2Gen approach and showcase local organizations that are integrating 2Gen into their programs. We will build connections, and solicit input for a 2Gen Call to Action. We hope you can join us for this exciting event that will feature Dr. Jeri Levesque of the Center of Effort LLC as the keynote speaker. Dr. Levesque evaluates family learning programs in Detroit and Flint Michigan, Louisville, Kentucky, and Kansas City, Missouri. We will feature Lynn McGregor of the National Center for Families Learning as our lunchtime speaker. Lynn was one of the key planners of the 2Gen work that started in Detroit, Michigan. Our expert panels include representatives from Invest in Children, Ohio Means Jobs Cleveland-Cuyahoga Count, The Centers, University Settlement, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Family Connections, Slavic Village P-16, Cleveland Metropolitan School District, and Literacy in the HOOD. You will have an opportunity to share your thoughts, ideas, and challenges in a facilitated breakout session that will be included in a community call to action. Join the discussion by registering here!