Community Foundation Board made a decision to go toward larger, more impactful grants in 2007. There were six Focus Teams: Arts, Civic Engagement, Health, Human Services, Education, Scholarships.
The goal was to have major projects involving collaboration, sharing of resources, working together to make a difference.
The Education Focus Team was led by Javier Suarez, an architect in Sarasota who is on our board and who had also chaired the Education Foundation Board. We had a series of meetings starting in August 07, bringing in many guest speakers who spoke on all aspects of education.
Mission: To establish the framework for a proactive effort that leverages community resources for a positive impact on education in our community.
Vision: The Education Focus Team envisions a partnership-driven effort to create sustainable, positive change that maximizes the human potential of the students and citizens of Sarasota County.
It took 8 months to see a theme developing: need for Literacy. The group wanted to touch babies through 8th grade to start. There was a series of meetings to “connect the dots”. We even hired a project manager/evaluator to guide and evaluate the concept.
The total amount designated this year was $674,380 for a multiyear grant to make possible LEAF: Literacy Empowers All Families”.
Wendy introduced the LEAF panel.
LEAF PANEL:
Carol Dutton, Chief Development Officer, Children First, described Ready Set Kindergarten, the preschool portion of the grant. Through Children First, children entering Kindergarten will receive intensive pre-reading skills instruction in the summer. Parents will be invited to attend literacy workshops and families will receive activities through the mail to support their children’s learning.
Janet Kahn, Executive Director, Early Learning Coalition of Sarasota County talked about how the Early Learning Coalition will lead the campaign to ensure that parents of young children in Sarasota County have information that everyday activities can play an important part in children’s language and literacy development. The goal is to immerse the public in information about how everyone can help develop a literate society and impact our children’s lives.
Sarabeth Kalajian, Director, Sarasota County Library System, described Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The concept is based on two indicators for developing early literacy skills: availability of reading materials in the home and how often a parent or caregiver reads to a child. The Imagination Library sends an age-appropriate book to each child in the program with a letter from Dolly Parton, encouraging reading together every day and visiting the public library for more books. The hope is that over 6,000 children will receive a home library of sixty books.
Sue Meckler, Literacy and Data Coach, Sarasota County Schools, talked about the Middle School portion of the grant project. Called Starbooks, the program targets sixth grade students in all eight county middle schools. Teachers receive training from a national expert and then become coaches for students to develop lifelong reading habits. Age appropriate books are selected and distributed to the students, who then have a chance to engage in conversations with the author, both online and then in person when the author visits the schools. Family Literacy Nights and visits to the public library are also planned. The first title chosen is Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick.
Carleen Judge, CEO, Professional Education Consulting, is the project manager and evaluator for the project. Pre- and post- testing will help determine the success of the program. Two mentoring programs are being initiated to help develop literacy skills in parents and teachers. Parent mentors will be trained to work with other parents and lead parent workshops. Teacher mentors will be selected and trained to expand pre-K teachers’ knowledge of developing literacy in young children. Pre-K facilities throughout Sarasota County will participate.