It has been determined through extensive scientific brain development research that a child’s language abilities at age 3 are highly correlated to a child’s reading success in third grade and that reading level is a very strong predictor of high school graduation and thus career opportunities.
This past summer we participated in the Mayor's Summer Reading Program. This was our first year working on this project under the leadership of Ga Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS). We received training in early June with other community volunteers. We also held a training session after one of our weekly meetings for members who could not attend that training.
For several years, the MSRC has been giving children’s books to those attending these events. Our mission was to work with the parents of children attending MSRC events. This was the first time this had been attempted. We had mixed success on that specific mission, but our efforts and experiences contributed to the work being done by the Rollins Center for Language & Literacy at the Atlanta Speech School and GEEARS.
In the fall, as a follow up to Mayor's Summer Reading Camp's attempt to reach low literate parents (many of whom have been in poverty for multiple generations) Dave Peterson worked with GEEARS and Endurance Management to create and document a “Family Literacy Initiative”. The Rollins Center also contributed significantly to this project, as did RCB members who supplied observations and suggestion after attending MSRC events.