As the Literacy Coalition of Greater New Haven prepares to collaborate with the New Haven Free Public Library on a forum that the Public Library will host April 25 featuring “Young Voices on Reading, Writing, and Learning” (see details below), this is to provide an update on the Coalition.
Wednesday, April 10 is the annual Scrabble challenge to benefit Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven. This year held at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Woodbridge, the event offers an occasion to have fun and support the cause of adult literacy and English instruction.
This benefit follows the Public Library’s successful Mardi Gras celebration—and news of its recognition as a finalist for the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ (IMLS) National Medal for Museum and Library Service—among other developments. Daniel Reyes, the Coalition’s newest board member as the executive director of Junta for Progressive Action, and his Junta colleagues held a March 20 launch of that organization’s new visual identity as Junta and its constituents move “Adelante Unidos!” or “Forward Together!”
Allan Appel
Daniel Reyes, current Junta executive director and Literacy Coalition board member; and Sandra Trevino, a predecessor in both roles
Another recent event, organized by Coalition board colleague and SCSU faculty member J. Gregory McVerry on the SCSU campus, was an “IndieWebCamp” conference March 29 – 30. Following a 2018 forum at SCSU on “Equity and Digital Literacies” that was the subject of prior Independent coverage, this IndieWebCamp session has led to an ongoing “Homebrew Website Club” that Greg McVerry and others — such as the Elm City Webmakers — will be engaged in the first and third Wednesdays of the month. (Contact him via Twitter @jgmac1106.)
April brings the Week of the Young Child, Poetry Month, and National Re-Entry Month, among other themes related to literacy.
The Literacy Coalition itself has seen a few changes to its board in recent months. After years of dedicated board service for which their colleagues thanked them, Brad Bullis of the Public Library and Brenda Brenner of the Jewish Coalition for Literacy rotated off. Beyond the addition of Daniel Reyes of Junta as noted above, the Coalition is enjoying the board participation of John Jessen, now the Public Library’s deputy director after his earlier role as manager of the Wilson Branch in the Hill.
The new manager of that branch, Luis Chavez-Brumell (the subject of a profile by Lucy Gellman and also a panelist at an earlier Literacy Forum on “Language and Learning: Home, School, and Community”), will be moderating the Coalition’s next event, on April 25.
“Young Voices on Reading, Writing, and Learning”
That event will include three other young New Haveners as panelists:
Isaac Bloodworth, an artist who graduated from UConn and earlier from Cooperative Arts and Humanities H.S.;
James Maciel-Andrews, an ESUMS sophomore who has been involved in student government there after having been a student journalist with the East Rock Record in earlier years; and
Coral Ortiz, a Yale sophomore who, while a student at Hillhouse H.S., served on both the New Haven and Connecticut boards of education and gave a memorable valedictory address.
As an invitation details, the event on Thursday, April 25 will run from 5 – 8 p.m., including breakout sessions and young performers from The Word.
(A Spanish-language version of the invitation is also available in electronic and printed form, via the Public Library, Junta, and other sources.)
All are welcome on April 25, with free refreshments provided, but please register in advance:
Special thanks to Marcum LLP for donating promotional design/printing services, and to Curtis Hill (a Coalition board member) and his Concepts for Adaptive Learning colleague Irianelly Romero for the Spanish translation.
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The Literacy Coalition, an all-volunteer nonprofit organization with a mission to promote, support, and advance literacy in the region, was established in 2003 by a board led by the late Christine Alexander, who also founded New Haven Reads.
The Coalition sponsors events such as the Literacy Forum series. Beyond this convening function, the group connects people and resources informally, and serves as a mechanism for exchange of information across communities, organizations, and individuals.
While the LiteracyEveryDay website is undergoing an update (its fourth iteration since the Coalition’s founding in 2003), see the Twitter page at @LiteracyGNH. (Facebook: literacy.everyday)
Once the revamped website is online, the organization will again have a LiteracyEveryDay site with portals to Get Help, Volunteer, Donate, and Learn More, as well as a listing of News/Events. For now, the Coalition invites inquiries and announcements via lchavez-brumell@nhfpl.org.
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There is a need for additional volunteer tutors and mentors at such organizations as the Boys and Girls Club, Jewish Coalition for Literacy, Junta for Progressive Action, LEAP, Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven, New Haven Public Schools, New Haven Reads, and Solar Youth.
Neighbors are invited to visit the Literacy Resource Center on Winchester Avenue, in space at 5 Science Park donated by Science Park Development Corporation. The Literacy Resource Center, or LRC, represents a partnership among Concepts for Adaptive Learning, the Coalition, New Haven Reads, Literacy Volunteers, and the Economic Development Corporation. Around the corner, in the same complex at 4 Science Park, are the offices, classrooms, kitchen, cafe, and art gallery of ConnCAT.
You can help by:
• Reading in the home, promoted by libraries such as the New Haven Public Library — and involving grandparents as well as parents, and free books from sources including Read to Grow and New Haven Reads;
• Encouraging friends, family, and others to seek literacy assistance whenever useful;
• Volunteering as a tutor or mentor;
• Bolstering literacy in other ways, such as through donations of money — whether directly, via the Community Foundation or the United Way — or of books and by advocating and voting.
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Articles on the Coalition and Its Events:
“Equity and Digital Literacies”
“Language and Learning: Home, School, and Community”
“Philanthropy, Literacy, and Youth Development Explored”
“Language, Bilingualism, and Literacy – in School and Beyond”
“Literacy Coalition Welcomes New Colleague, Previews Forum”
“Early Literacy Experiences, the Brain, and Child Development”
“Literacy Coalition Welcomes New Board Members; Forum Approaches”
“Libraries in the 21st Century”
“Literacy Coalition Welcomes New Board Colleagues”
“Learning in the 21st Century, in Ways New and Old”
“Reading, Culture, and ‘Quality Time’ at Home”
“‘Empowering Teachers,’ Reading Research, Instruction, and Supports”
“Margie Gillis Discusses Using the Latest Research on Reading”
“Early Reading, Community Action, and Catalytic Philanthropy”
“Literacy Coalition Forum: State Legislative Update and the Big Read”
“Commissioner Ted Sergi: Their ‘Second Chance’ Starts with Reading”