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Have you ever wondered-“Where can I get help with a big initiative in my library? Who would be a partner that can stretch beyond our walls and bring more partners to the table?” We have found this partner with our local United Way. With a new focus at the national level, the United Way has changed. With dedication to providing good education, financial stability, and healthy and strong communities, local United Ways are reaching out to their communities more than ever. Our local United Way responded to a county wide assessment that pinpointed three areas that we as a community needed to focus on-Early Literacy, Mental Health, and Low-Income families. The library was a natural partner with early literacy. We now have a partnership with United Way of Medina County that is funding our R.O.C.K.S. Program (Reading Opportunities Create Kindergarten Success). Medina County R.O.C.K.S. is an interactive workshop for parents and their kindergarten-age children. Parents listen to informational speakers while the children enjoy interactive learning and then parents and children complete a reading readiness activity together. Families receive materials to take home to practice, books, and much more!
Our United Way also partnered with us on our One Book, One Community initiative. They came to the table with the idea to collect enough copies of the book Wonder to give to every sixth grader in our county. They did it and collected over 2500 copies of the book. This is where the United Way has been most effective as a partner for us, reaching businesses and making those connections that otherwise we could not. The executive director at the time told me that asking businesses to donate books to kids was their easiest project. It was easy to convince individuals and businesses to support reading, especially a book that has the message of being kind. Choosing this book was our library response to the health assessment that indicated that 17% of the youth in our county in 2012 had seriously considered suicide.
I encourage you to seek out your local United Way and sit down and talk about how you can partner together. It has been a beautiful relationship for both the United Way of Medina County and the Medina County District Library and because of the United Way, we have found new partnerships. Check out their website at www.unitedway.org.

Holly Camino is manager of the Buckeye Branch at the Medina County District Library in Medina, OH. She is serving on the 2016 Arbuthnot Lecture Committee, the ALSC Liaison to National Organizations Committee, 2014-2016, and a Member of the ALA Committee on Membership Meetings 2015-2017. Holly is also a 2013 recipient of the Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times and American Library Association, “I Love My Librarian Award”.

The post United Way-Partnerships that create Partnerships appeared first on ALSC Blog.

A special quick post to say - hope you and your children have a great start to the new school year!  As we are all so busy, I especially appreciate you continuing to follow this blog, even as it is often less frequent and regular than I would like.  Hopefully late this fall, I'll have a breather and can set a better habit.  Please continue to "tune in".

A few new resources:

check out Wonderpolois, the National Center for Family Literacy's great new conversation starter for parents and kids alike.  Each day a new short, fun video is posted with something new and interesting to learn.

next, visit your local United Way to find opportunities for you and your child to get involved in volunteering for literacy.  Maybe a book drive, maybe tutoring, maybe replenishing a school library, there's always a lot to do and your children learn the important lesson of sharing through one of the most trusted names in nonprofits today.  Also check out your chance to brag on a favorite teacher.

Finally, give that teacher a powerful link to a new community just created for them:  The Community at Educationworld.com.  They can create a profile, join groups (including mine under subjects, language arts K-12), view resources and videos, download lesson plans, read articles from education experts and more.    Thanks for sharing.

I'll be back soon with more resources just for PARENTS AND KIDS READING TOGETHER.

Today is not only the official first day of summer, it’s also National Summer Learning Day. First Book couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than by bringing 150,000 brand-new books to the National Mall to stuff into backpacks going to children in need all over the country.

The nation’s capitol is having a stretch of lovely weather this week, so our staff is joining the United Way and their army of volunteers to make this happen.

Summer is a great time of the year for readers. Instead of reading what you were told to read, you get to read whatever you want. And, if you’re lucky, you get to sit on the beach, reading and getting sunburned.

But for lots of kids, summer isn’t a time for reading. And that’s not so great, because there is a very real drop-off in achievement for kids from low-income homes. This gap puts them even further behind their more fortunate classmates, leading directly to lower test scores, lower rates of graduation and lower chances of going to college or finding good jobs.

But you can help turn it around! Visit our friends at the National Summer Learning Association to find out ways to help kids in your life, and if there’s a school or community program near you that serves kids from low-income neighborhoods, reach out to a librarian, reading teacher or program leader and tell them about First Book. Once they register with us, we can ensure they have a steady stream of new books, this summer and throughout the year.

Tuesday marks the first day of summer, and to celebrate their annual Day of Action, the United Way will be marshaling an army of volunteers to assemble summer reading backpacks for 50,000 elementary school kids from low-income communities.

First Book is proud to be a part of this amazing event, and we’re bringing our favorite thing to the party – books.
Every backpack will contain three brand-new books that the children who receive them will be able to keep. Many children from low-income families have no books of their own at home, so we’re grateful to have the opportunity to change that for so many kids.

If you’re out of school for the summer, or you’re able to take the day off work, we’d love to see you! Volunteers are welcome. Go online to learn more and register.

See you on the mall!