During the Children’s Advocacy Days event in Nashville on March 8, 2016, The Children’s Reading Foundation of The Upper Cumberland was awarded the first Governor’s Awards for Excellence in Early Foundations. The Governor’s Children’s Cabinet, co-chaired by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and First Lady Crissy Haslam, chose the winners for this new recognition program highlighting the collaborative and innovative projects that are helping students enter the classroom prepared to learn.
“As I travel across the state, I’m always impressed with the commitment and creativity of so many Tennesseans working tirelessly to help get our children prepared for success in school and in life,” Governor Haslam said. “These awards are a small but important way we can highlight and honor their good work.”
“To give our children the best chance for success, families, schools, and communities must work together to create a nurturing environment for child development, beginning at birth,” First Lady Haslam said. “These winners are wonderful examples of that collaborative spirit, and they have shown a true passion for serving Tennessee’s children.”
The Children’s Reading Foundation of the Upper Cumberland encompasses all counties served by the Upper Cumberland Center for Regional Excellence, and has the largest footprint of the 16 chapters of The Children’s Reading Foundation nationally. Counties served include: Macon, Clay, Pickett, Trousdale, Jackson, Overton, Fentress, Smith, Putnam, DeKalb, Cumberland, Cannon, Warren, Van Buren, Bledsoe, Grundy, and Sequatchie. Over 55,000 students are represented and reached by our messaging and outreach campaigns throughout the year.
The Children’s Reading Foundation of the Upper Cumberland (CRF-UC) has been working to not only address school readiness, but to effectively saturate its footprint of 16 school districts in middle Tennessee through relentless messaging, community outreach, and parent/caregiver engagement. The message is simple and powerful “Read Together 20 Minutes Every Day,” and through creative partnerships, the CRF-UC’s work has increased awareness of the importance of daily reading with children. As a result, the Upper Cumberland Region has unified around a single vision: that all children learn to read early and well, thereby achieving their full potential in school and in life.
Our three pronged approach not only includes this important messaging, but also community outreach in the form of programs such as READY! for Kindergarten® workshops and READ Up – Stop the Summer Slide book and literature distribution efforts over the summer months.
Parent and caregiver engagement is crucial to students’ early literacy success, and since January 2014 our READY! for Kindergarten® workshops around the region have reached nearly 3,000 families. READY! for Kindergarten® workshops are where parents meet three times per year in a setting that is relaxed and engaging. Trained facilitators lead parents through materials and tools (a.k.a. educational toys) to maximize the potential for use in the home, and participants leave with confidence in their ability to work with the children – or in some cases grandchildren – they are raising. But our approach to family involvement does not stop there. Messaging, free materials, and information on future workshops is shared in a numerous places, as we take this news where parents and caregivers are: in the local shops and restaurants, community banks, driving routes, food banks, clinics, and even Walmart.
In addition, our messaging campaign and READ Up – Stop the Summer Slide™ book distribution events have reached nearly every county in our footprint of 16 school districts. Over 43,000 brand new children’s books have been distributed in the region at libraries, local restaurants, parks, sports events, parades, public pools, and low income neighborhoods over the past two summers.
In June of 2015, CRF-UC and Cumberland County hosted a “Lacing Up for Literacy” event – a 5k, one mile walk, and book and literature distribution event all in one. Even on a rainy Saturday, this event raised $4113.00 with 78 runners participating. Funds will be used to promote literacy across the Upper Cumberland Region. We partnered with Cumberland County’s Coordinated School Health program to not only promote reading, but staying active to help create positive conditions for learning as well.
In July of 2015, the Children’s Reading Foundation of the Upper Cumberland, in conjunction with each of the member districts, collaborated to host the first annual READ Conference. Held on White County High School’s campus, the one day conference drew over 450 educators from the Upper Cumberland, who were greeted by an opening session with keynote speaker, Commissioner Dr. Candice McQueen. The conference goal was to support the messaging and attainment of the region’s 90% Reading Goal through quality sessions that enhanced literacy across all content areas and grade levels. The day offered 5 concurrent sessions with over 50 offerings for teachers and leaders preschool through high school.
An important aspect of leadership is commitment to a goal. Bledsoe, Cannon, Fentress, Putnam, Smith, Trousdale, Warren, and White County Boards of Education have each committed that 90% of the children they serve will read on or above grade level by the end of third grade. It will be through sustained efforts from boardroom to classroom that this goal will be reached in each of these counties. The Children’s Reading Foundation of The Upper Cumberland exists to support these districts in attaining that goal through our programming, messaging, and outreach activities. The results of The CRF-UC’s efforts clearly demonstrate effects of leadership and influence. Schools only have children for a few hours of the day, and with this in mind, the broader community must come together to move literacy from an ideal to an imperative.
