2020 was, to put it simply, a tough year. As I and other staff at The Literacy Cooperative reflect on this year, in all of its hardships as well as its successes, we are strengthened in our commitment to literacy. COVID-19 has caused more in our community to experience the everyday challenges faced by many adults who are low literate, including lack of daycare that fits their job needs, school and work schedule changes, food insecurities, and fear of eviction.
Many organizations and businesses, including The Literacy Cooperative, had to quickly adjust to remote working and in-person events being canceled. Nevertheless – the pandemic did not and could not cancel our mission. Our staff quickly transitioned our professional development sessions to a virtual platform, hosted our RAA Luncheon online, and brainstormed new ways to get free books and resources into the community. We partnered with restaurants and other organizations to give away thousands of books, we expanded our social media audience, increased enrollment in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL), and created interactive online workshops for families.
When it came to our community’s annual corporate spelling bee, the CLE-Bee, we considered canceling. But we decided the Bee couldn’t be grounded. Thanks to hours upon hours of hard work, we were able to put together an immersive and exciting online spelling bee, which drew over 140 attendees as well as 16 participating teams.
These are just a few examples of our dedicated and committed team working together and supporting one another remotely during a difficult time, as you will read later on. Our full-time staff remained full-time the entirety of the year and our volunteers were able to provide crucial help when possible. We are all so thrilled to be able to advocate for literacy for another year.
Please become our partner in this mission by increasing awareness of the challenges of low literacy, becoming an ambassador for improving literacy, telling your neighbor about DPIL, or making a gift at www.literacycooperative.org/donate.
Thank you to our funders, donors, friends, and Board of Trustees for all of your support this year.
With Warm Regards,
Bob Paponetti, President and CEO
The Literacy Cooperative’s Year in Review
Read Across America Day is Here! #CuyahogaReads2021
National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week: 2020
The Literacy Cooperative’s Year in Review 2020
2020 was, to put it simply, a tough year. As I and other staff at The Literacy Cooperative reflect on this year, in all of its hardships as well as its successes, we are strengthened in our commitment to literacy. COVID-19 has caused more in our community to experience the everyday challenges faced by many adults who are low literate, including lack of daycare that fits their job needs, school and work schedule changes, food insecurities, and fear of eviction.
Many organizations and businesses, including The Literacy Cooperative, had to quickly adjust to remote working and in-person events being canceled. Nevertheless – the pandemic did not and could not cancel our mission. Our staff quickly transitioned our professional development sessions to a virtual platform, hosted our RAA Luncheon online, and brainstormed new ways to get free books and resources into the community. We partnered with restaurants and other organizations to give away thousands of books, we expanded our social media audience, increased enrollment in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL), and created interactive online workshops for families.
When it came to our community’s annual corporate spelling bee, the CLE-Bee, we considered canceling. But we decided the Bee couldn’t be grounded. Thanks to hours upon hours of hard work, we were able to put together an immersive and exciting online spelling bee, which drew over 140 attendees as well as 16 participating teams.
These are just a few examples of our dedicated and committed team working together and supporting one another remotely during a difficult time, as you will read later on. Our full-time staff remained full-time the entirety of the year and our volunteers were able to provide crucial help when possible. We are all so thrilled to be able to advocate for literacy for another year.
Please become our partner in this mission by increasing awareness of the challenges of low literacy, becoming an ambassador for improving literacy, telling your neighbor about DPIL, or making a gift at www.literacycooperative.org/donate.
Thank you to our funders, donors, friends, and Board of Trustees for all of your support this year.
With Warm Regards,
Bob Paponetti, President and CEO
The Literacy Cooperative’s Year in Review
Adult Education and Family Literacy Week 2020
Adult Education and Family Literacy Week is here!!
September 20-26, 2020 is National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week! The whole week is devoted to spreading awareness about adult education opportunities and resources for families to help them learn together as a whole. The Literacy Cooperative invites you to join us to spread awareness about the great opportunities available to adults and families in Cuyahoga County!
Our goal is to create enough momentum around #AEFLWeek, #AdultEd, and our own #AdultsLearnCLE and #FamiliesLearnCLE hashtags that adult and whole family education will become a hot topic all over Northeast Ohio! To get involved, click here.
The Literacy Cooperative is an umbrella organization that brings foundations, organizations, and people together to find practical solutions to improve literacy. We are mobilizing Northeast Ohio resources to increase reading, math, and digital literacy, beginning at birth, so our kids are performing at grade level throughout their educational journey. Our support, coordination, and facilitation of adult literacy initiatives are creating pathways that lead to rewarding and life-sustaining careers. We are sharing our research and introducing best practices and pilots that are innovative, interactive, and effective. The Literacy Cooperative provides oversight and overall strategic coordination currently not being fulfilled by individual providers.
Why is this work so important? An assessment of the state of literacy in Cuyahoga County done by The Literacy Cooperative found:
The Literacy Cooperative and its partners are working with programs such as Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a monthly book-gifting initiative that mails books to young children from birth to age five, and Aspire for adults, the state of Ohio’s adult education programs. Efforts such as contextualized curriculum that blend academics and job-related skills are becoming increasingly effective.
Most promising of all are new two-generational (2Gen) projects and programs, involving both children and adults in a family, that are being developed by a 2Gen committee, led by The Literacy Cooperative, of more than 20 educational and human service agencies. Most significantly, the committee has issued 2Gen Cuyahoga: A Community Call to Action to Address Our Economic and Social Gaps on how this collaboration will work to improve social inequities on a whole family basis.
How to get free books for your child
From News 5 Cleveland:
CLEVELAND — Every summer, the Scripps Howard Foundation and our News 5 family come together to donate money and buy books for children in need here in Cleveland.
This year, we’re also asking our viewers to join us in supporting our “Give A Child A Book” campaign.
The foundation will match every dollar donated, up to $5,000.
The words we learn as children shape so much of the rest of our lives.
“We know talking to your child from the moment they’re born is good for their brain,” said Bob Paponetti, president and CEO of The Literacy Cooperative.
The Literacy Cooperative is a nonprofit in Northeast Ohio that connects organizations and people to improve literacy right where we live. Full disclosure, Homa Bash is a board member of the organization.
Read more from News 5 Reporter Homa Bash by clicking HERE.