For Immediate Release: 05/11/17
Contact: Krista Millard, Chatham Reads, krista@cefmail.org
www.chathamreads.org
Women of Fearrington, Inc. Awards Chatham Reads a Grant for Summer Bookmobile Program at Two Elementary Schools in Siler City, NC.
Chatham Reads, a countywide collaborative working to improve literacy and enhance literacy resources, is thrilled to announce a grant awarded by the Women of Fearrington, Inc. This grant will allow Virginia Cross and Siler City Elementary Schools in Siler City to reduce the effects of the “summer slide.” Summer slide, or summer learning loss, is the tendency for students, especially those from low-income families, to lose some of the achievement gains they made during the previous school year.
Each summer, the Media Specialists from Virginia Cross and Siler City Elementary operate a Bookmobile program that travels into the communities where their students live to ensure children who are most impacted by “summer slide” have access to books during the summer break. The Bookmobile serves over 200 students a week and enables these students to check out books ALL summer. The funds from the Women of Fearrington, Inc. will be used to purchase new books, including bilingual books and “playaways”, all-in-one audiobooks. Through this program and the support of Women of Fearrington, Inc. we hope to help some of our most vulnerable students succeed in school and graduate prepared for college and a career.
Chatham Reads is a partnership led by Chatham County Schools and the Chatham Education Foundation partnering with other local community organizations including Chatham County Literacy Council, Chatham County Partnership for Children, Chatham County Public Libraries, Communities In Schools of Chatham County, Chatham County Commissioners, Chatham Economic Development Corporation, The Learning Trail, RWA of North Carolina, Reach Out and Read, United Way of Chatham County, Chatham Connecting, Uplift Chatham, YMCA of the Triangle, Boys and Girls Club of Central Carolina, Triangle Community Foundation and others to bring awareness of literacy to the community.
Stay tuned for additional news as we grow, collaborate and work toward making systems changes that impact literacy proficiency and book access in Chatham County. You can follow us on twitter, facebook and instagram with the handle @chathamreads