Allyn Foundation Awards $10,000 to Imagination Library
 Joining
a growing list of partners, the Allyn
Foundation has awarded the Literacy Coalition
of Onondaga County $10,000 to support Imagination Library - the centerpiece
of a broader community literacy plan that is targeted and measurable.
With a focus on the importance of regular reading to children as a
means to develop skills needed to enter kindergarten ready to learn,
our efforts also seek to fully involve the parents - a child's first
and most important teacher.
Four-year old, Kumar Stewart of Birmingham, Alabama,
receives the 25th millionth Imagination Library Book. |
Children
from birth until their fifth birthday,
in the NYS designated North Literacy
Zone (zip codes 13203 & 13208), are mailed a new, age-appropriate
book each month to their homes. After
only a few months, we already have 507 children enrolled
with
over
40% of referrals from St. Joe's Hospital - that's
way ahead of projections!
In
1996, Dolly Parton launched this program
in her hometown county in East Tennessee. Including Syracuse, New York,
it's now in over 1200 communities in the United States, Canada and
the United Kingdom. Another milestone was also marked as the 25 millionth
book was recently presented. Locally, with the support of the Central
New York Community Foundation, the United Way's Success By Six, Clear
Channels, ProLiteracy, St. Joe's Hospital and many others, plans are
to sustain and expand this exciting program to the NYS designated West
Literacy Zone (zip code 13204), then to other areas of the City and,
ultimately, the entire County.
We need your help too! Donate today
and make a difference in the life of
a child. To learn more about our Imagination Library project go to
www.onliteracy.org or call 428-8129.
Literacy as Lifeblood: Scaling walls on the Near West
Initiative
By Sean Kirst, The Post Standard (Friday, August 20, 2010)
For Ruth Colvin, Thursday's event was a way to close the circle.
She sat on an outdoor stage at Skiddy Park, where speaker after speaker
praised her lifetime mission. When state Sen. John DeFrancisco described
her as "royalty," hundreds burst into applause. They were
part of the celebration as ProLiteracy, a global organization that
Colvin helped to found, announced its impending shift from Jamesville
Avenue to the Near West Side.
David Harvey, chief executive
officer of ProLiteracy, celebrates
at Skiddy Park Thursday with Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner and Onondaga
County Executive Joanie Mahoney. ProLiteracy officially announced
that it will move its headquarters to the Near West Side. |
The move was engineered
by David Harvey, chief executive officer
of ProLiteracy, which teaches reading skills to adults in many countries.
Harvey recalled taking a drive through Syracuse after arriving here
three years ago from Washington D.C. He was startled by the way healthy
city neighborhoods so abruptly descended into neglect and poverty.
It was as if an invisible wall split the city, Harvey said, and it
became increasingly clear to him that ProLiteracy had unfinished business
in its hometown.
"We want to make a difference in this community," Harvey
said. Read
more »
Right to Literacy Scroll Goes to the White House
Modeled after the historic Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention
in 1848, literacy advocates and community leaders convened last year
at the Right to Literacy Convention in Buffalo, where they boldly stated
that low literacy is more than a tragedy -- it is a fundamental injustice.
Led by Literacy Powerline, they crafted the Declaration of Literacy
and Justice for All, which puts forth specific commitments to improving
literacy nationwide.
Since then, this scroll has travelled across the
country to gather signatures of those
dedicated to reduce illiteracy. The ultimate goal is to collect one
million signatures before it's presented to President Obama in September.
Both our County Executive Joanie Mahoney, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie
Miner and many others signed the scroll at the Near Westside Neighborhood
Block Party celebrating ProLiteracy's move to the neighborhood.
 Make your voice heard
too and show your support for the right
to literacy! Sign
the scroll online at ProLiteracy's website.
Also check out these wonderful videos
on YouTube made in support of the 1,000,000
for Literacy campaign:
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