2013 Community Partner Grant Recipient- Horton's Kids

For 23 years, Horton’s Kids has served hundreds of children in Ward 8 with continuously expanding, wrap-around services. Karin Walser, a former Capitol Hill staffer, founded Horton’s Kids in 1989.  Since then, the organization has grown from weekend field trips for the children to the current model that provides intensive academic programs with wraparound support services.  Its goal is to connect children with the resources needed to succeed.  The organization’s long-standing presence in the community makes our positive impact on the children possible, and the Community Resource Center has strengthened our relationship with families even further in the last two years.  In the past few years, Horton’s Kids has also expanded its older youth programs.  Today, more than 500 volunteers, staff, community partners, and neighborhood families work together to achieve Horton’s Kids’ mission: To educate and empower the children of Washington, DC’s Ward 8 by providing comprehensive, direct services which improve the quality of their daily lives and nurture each child’s desire and ability to succeed.

Horton’s Kids’ one-on-one tutoring is the cornerstone program of its wrap-around services.  Its education staff has been fine-tuning the tutoring program for more than ten years, and this year, Horton’s Kids introduced an intervention model that provides specific activities and games to target critical foundation skills.  This model is based on learning sequences instead of grade levels and provides additional structure and stability to the children.

Horton’s Kids has successfully developed the “mobile tutoring approach” in which buses take the children, grades K-6, from their neighborhood in Ward 8 to Capitol Hill, where they meet their volunteer tutors.  Before boarding the buses, all participants receive a healthy meal in the recently renovated Community Resource Center in the children’s neighborhood, and they take a snack home at the end of the session.  A minimum of thirty minutes of each tutoring session is devoted to improving literacy skills.

This year, Horton’s Kids will serve 125 children through their cornerstone tutoring program.  An additional 360 children and older youth will receive periodic services (e.g., educational advocacy, health and basic needs, summer programs, etc.) and 300 adults, including the children’s parents and young adults in the neighborhood, engage with Horton’s Kids at the Community Resource Center.  Services include health and basic needs support such as the food pantry and the diaper bank, referrals to medical providers, job training and career services, and education around early childhood development.

The $12,500 grant from the Junior League of Washington will help fund Horton’s Kids’ cornerstone academic program as well as strengthen their relationship with the JLW and continue the strength and viability of their programs.

For more information about the JLW's 2013-2014 grant cycle, including the availability of and deadline for submission, please email grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org or visit our website at http://www.jlw.org/?nd=grants_scholars.

2013 Grant Recipient - Washington Jesuit Academy

The Washington Jesuit Academy is a tuition-free, extended-day / extended-year, academically demanding private middle school for Washington, DC’s most vulnerable children – under-served, adolescent males. WJA empowers these youth to break the cycle of failure and poverty through their own education.  With their 12-hour school day, 11-month school year and aggressive academic curriculum, WJA is preparing students for the opportunities and challenges of college-prep high schools and set them on an early path toward college.

WJA was established in 2002 by community leaders who wanted to improve the odds and outcomes of Washington, DC’s under-served children of all religions with the launch of a sixth grade class.  WJA expanded to sixth – eighth grades by 2004, and expanded again to a fifth grade in June 2012. WJA purchased and relocated to its permanent home on Varnum Street in Northeast Washington in 2004, established a revolutionary healthy meals partnership in 2008 and achieved accreditation in 2010. WJA serves 86 students, as well as 129 alumni across eight cohorts who are still engaged with its Graduate Support Program.  100 percent are enrolled in or have graduated from high school, and the first four cohorts maintain a 79 percent college enrollment rate.

WJA serves a demographic of children who may be the least likely to read – adolescent boys from low-income neighborhoods and disadvantaged backgrounds. These boys enter WJA in fifth or sixth grade having been deprived of basic reading skills from their woefully inadequate neighborhood schools, sometimes as many as five grade levels behind. Further, they grow up in a culture where reading is considered worthless or “uncool,” where few parents demonstrate reading at home and where teens are susceptible to peer pressure not to achieve or try in school.

To address these challenges, WJA uses teaching methods that have been proven to be effective among reluctant, disinterested and underperforming readers. Its curriculum focuses on getting boys to enjoy reading as they gain the comprehension and vocabulary required to read at higher levels. Youth who enjoy reading will want to read more, and will become better readers as they grow into adults.  “Reading the WJA Way” is effective, with the faculty consistently raising student reading levels by an average of 4.5 grades throughout middle school. Classroom strategies include:

• Full periods of both Reading and Language Arts; 
• “Read Alouds” – teachers read stories out loud to show that reading can be fun and to give students opportunities to enjoy stories beyond their individual reading levels; and
• “DEAR” – Drop Everything And Read – daily opportunities where students read books, magazines or newspapers of their choice to promote personal reading, and reading notebooks, in which students record vocabulary and responses to reading.

WJA serves 86 boys from low-income neighborhoods in the Washington, DC metro region, specifically from Wards 5, 6, 7 and 8 and from Prince George’s County, MD. While WJA admits students without regard to race, ethnicity or religion, all students must demonstrate significant financial need. Of WJA’s current students: 91% are African-American and 9% are Latino; 85% are non-Catholic; 71% are raised by single parent/guardian; the average household income is $32,800, and 80% qualify for Federal Free/Reduced Lunch programs.

The grant from the JLW will serve as an investment in WJA’s literacy education to their under-served youth, especially for the new fifth graders. WJA will allocate the $25,000 grant for the fifth grade literacy instructors, offset costs for classroom technology and replenish classroom and library books, all as a part of the “Reading the WJA Way” program. 

For more information about the JLW's 2013-2014 grant cycle, including the availability of and deadline for submission, please email grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org or visit our website.

2013 Grant Recipient - The SEED Public Charter School of Washington, D.C.

The SEED School of Washington, D.C. (SEED DC) is a public, college-preparatory boarding school whose primary mission is to provide an outstanding, intensive educational program that prepares children, both academically and socially, for success in college and life beyond. SEED Schools are more than simply schools — SEED is an integrated program that brings, under one roof, the critical 24-hour support necessary for underserved children to realize their potential. More than 330 students in grades six through twelve attend SEED DC. All students live on campus Sunday through Friday, enabling them to benefit from an innovative curriculum that incorporates academic, extracurricular, and life skills learning.

The SEED Foundation was established in 1997 by Eric Adler and Rajiv Vinnakota on the belief that children in an urban environment could benefit from a public, boarding educational program. In 1998, The SEED Foundation established SEED DC as the nation's first urban public boarding school. SEED DC opened its doors with 40 seventh grade students in July 1998, at The Capital Children's Museum and added students to the seventh grade each subsequent year. In 2001, the school moved to its permanent campus located in Marshall Heights, a neighborhood in Ward 7 of the District.  In 2004, SEED DC reached full capacity and graduated its first class of seniors, all of whom were accepted to college. In 2009, SEED DC introduced sixth grade to its program.

The vast majority of students entering SEED DC in the sixth grade — 75 percent — read at a third grade reading level. This significant skill deficit cannot be overcome in one year, nor can it be resolved by forcing students to read and write papers on books they cannot understand. Literacy skill deficits must be addressed as early as possible and the students must build literacy skills by working from their current skill level. Founded on the belief that the more students read, the more they will read on their own, the better readers they will become, SEED DC implemented a daily 40-minute reading requirement for every student beyond what he or she must read for class. As the campus is "home" to all of students for 120 hours per week, Sunday through Friday, students need to have access to books that meet a broad range of reading levels, in every classroom, the library and the dorms, which will ultimately, help to foster a culture of literacy. Students who lack access to reading materials in their home can borrow books from the SEED DC library all year round (including summer). Through its literacy program, SEED DC also makes sure that students are familiar with the public library system and own library cards.

85 percent of SEED DC’s students come from Wards 5, 7 and 8.  99 percent of the student body is African American and one percent Latino. 73 percent of SEED DC’s students are eligible for free and reduced lunch. Approximately 85 percent of SEED DC graduates will be the first in their families to attend and graduate from college.

The JLW’s $25,000 grant will expand and build capacity of SEED DC’s Tools for Literacy Program – to help every student that enters SEED DC’s doors attain grade-level reading skills by the time they enter high school and ultimately ensure that every SEED DC graduate gain acceptance into college and graduate.  The Tools for Literacy Program is the center of the School's efforts to improve literacy skills among all students.  SEED DC is unique for being one of a small group of schools in the District of Columbia to integrate the Reading and Writing Workshop into middle school English and Language Arts Curriculum due to the JLW’s past support.  Specifically, this year’s grant will be used to provide professional development to instructors which is required to remain current and continuously analyze and improve programming, to purchase a large number of books to have leveled libraries in the dormitories and every classroom, and to support the literacy coordinator who will oversee the development and implementation of the program.

For more information about the JLW's 2013-2014 grant cycle, including the availability of and deadline for submission, please email grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org or visit our website at http://www.jlw.org/?nd=grants_scholars.

D.C. Youth Poets “Find Their Words”

As a child who grew up reading Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in the Junior League of Washington’s Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee’s Mini-Placement organizing the 14th Annual “Find Your Words” Youth Poetry Contest.

The annual poetry contest is open to students in Washington, D.C. public and charter schools, grades 4-8. This year, the committee received over 100 poems written in a variety of techniques and styles. These impressive and talented young poets wrote on a range of topics, discussing everything from school, homework, pets and vacations to family, friendship, love, pain and self-esteem.

When our committee read and reviewed each poem, we were all impressed with the depth and emotion that came through in each piece. Some were powerful and thought- provoking, others heartfelt and sweet. Analyzing and discussing the poems with other new members was a fun and worthwhile experience. It was interesting to hear what each member liked or disliked about a certain poem, proving just how personal and emotional poetry can be.

In the end, we chose 15 outstanding poems - one winner and two honorable mentions from each grade level. Each winning student will receive a booklet of the winning entries and a Barnes & Noble gift card. Please join us as we honor these amazing winners and hear them recite their poems at the 2013 Community Partner Reception on Thursday, May 2 at 7:00 p.m. at JLW Headquarters.

Alissa Momberg
New Member 2012-2013

JLW is Excited to Announce Spring Opportunity Grant Recipient - 826DC

The Junior League of Washington is pleased to welcome 826DC as our newest Opportunity Grant Recipient. With the Opportunity Grants, the League makes grants of $1,000 or less to community non-profit organizations demonstrating an unexpected short-term financial need.

826DC, formerly known as Capitol Letters Writing Center, is a nonprofit that was founded in fall 2008, and in late-2009, became affiliated with 826 National, the network of nonprofits co-founded by award-winning author Dave Eggers. The organization is dedicated to working with students ages 6 through 18 in developing their creative and expository writing skills and to working with teachers to inspire their students to write. 826DC believes that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success. The organization provide after-school tutoring, in-school programming, evening and weekend writing workshops, help for English language learners, field trips, and student publishing opportunities all free of charge. 

On the first day of after-school tutoring in September, a record 41 students attended. Since then, 100 students have registered, and the organization is at capacity almost every day with 35-40 students. During the 2011-2012 school year, the organization served 2,000 students, an increase of 900 from the previous year, and is projected to serve over 3,000 students this year. This significant and rapid growth means 826DC is quickly outgrowing its space and is in need of more tables and storage space to accommodate the demand for their programs.

During the after-school tutoring program, students are required to read for at least 20 minutes after they finish their homework. Students can choose from the hundreds of books in the library, which are organized according to the Fountas and Pinnell reading level system.

The $1,000 grant from the Junior League of Washington will be used to purchase three additional tables for the center and two additional bookshelves for extra storage. Having more tables will increase the number of small tables available for students and volunteer tutors coming to the after-school tutoring program, allow work in smaller groups, and will also allow 826DC to serve more students overall across its various programs. Additionally, 826DC recently received 250 books through Resolution Read.

The 2012-2013 grant cycle is currently closed. If you would like further information about the 2013-2014 grant cycle, please visit our website or contact Alicia Lee, chair of the Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee at grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org.

Alicia Lee
Chair, Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee

Why I Serve: Bringing Smiles

My colleague, friends and family have long since accepted that many nights I have a “Junior League thing”—especially when they see the spark that the Junior League of Washington (JLW) has added to my life since moving to D.C. nearly 8 years ago. Raised by a mother who brings new meaning to the term ‘do gooder’, a grandmother who (even into her 80s) volunteers at the town library, and later dozens of teachers at my prep school who ignited a passion for education and service in me, the JLW was the perfect organization for me to join.

Simply put, I volunteer because I love smiles. I love to smile, love to see others smile, and love to make people smile—especially those who maybe do not have as many things about which to ‘smile’. This year, I’ve had the pure pleasure of serving as the JLW’s Community Affairs Council and in that role, I’ve had the chance to be a bit of a smile fairy.

In September, over 550 of you smiled to the over 200,000 National Book Festival goers as they stood in line to meet their favorite authors, played in the PBS Kids tent, or rocked out to one of the story time bands in the Target Family Pavilion.

JLW Volunteers at the National Book Fest

Since June 2012, through joint-leadership by the Community Affairs Council and Ways and Means Council, JLW’s Resolution Read 100,000 books project has distributed nearly 50,000 books to D.C. area kids – resulting in way more than 50,000 smiles.

This fall, the Community Affairs Council, via the Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee, gave out three new grants to D.C. non-profits working to make illiteracy an issue of the past – Jubilee Jumpstart, Little Lights Urban Ministry, and Hope House, DC – resulting in many, many more smiles.

On Saturday, March 2, the Community Event Planning Committee is hosting another ‘smile-maker’ event – the free Annual Kids in the Kitchen children’s health, nutrition and fitness fair—at the YMCA National Capital (1711 Rhode Island Avenue NW) from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. At Kids in the Kitchen, children of all ages will learn how to eat smart and make healthy lifestyle choices through exciting hands-on games and demonstrations, energizing games and delicious healthy snacks. This will be my fifth Kids in the Kitchen event and I can’t wait to strap on my apron and ‘get healthy’ with the nearly 400 kids expected for Saturday’s event. 

If tasty treats and yoga-for-kids don’t get you smiling, a new partnership between the JLW, Association of Junior League International, and Colgate’s Bright Smiles Bright Futures Campaign surely will. Colgate’s Campaign, along with their Mobile Dental Van will be joining this year’s Kids in the Kitchen to provide FREE dental screenings to kids ages 1 to 12, along with a toothbrush, games and information on oral hygiene, and a ‘report card’ on their smile. As one of seven Junior Leagues selected by AJLI to partner with Colgate and the Bright Smiles Bright Futures Campaign, we are especially excited to have the van on Saturday and at Kids in the Kitchen and other JLW events in the next few months, including D.C.’s largest homeless shelter, D.C. General.

I hope to see you all on Saturday at Kids in the Kitchen, at an upcoming Resolution Read book distributions and read-aloud sessions, or other JLW events soon – I’ll be one with the big smile.

Carly Susan Rockstroh
Community Affairs Council Director

The JLW Awards Opportunity Grant to Hope House DC

The Junior League of Washington (JLW) is pleased to announce Hope House DC as the third of three organizations the JLW has awarded an opportunity grant to this fall. Opportunity grants are grants for less than $1,000 and are awarded to community organizations that are addressing one of the following complex areas of the JLW’s narrowed children’s reading literacy focus (1) lack of books in the home; (2) lack of books and resources in the school; and/or (3) reading out loud to children ages 0 – 5.

Hope House DC was founded in 1998 after the closing of the District of Columbia's Lorton Correctional Complex sent thousands of D.C. inmates to federal correctional facilities across the country. Currently more than 8,000 District inmates, most with families in the greater D.C. metropolitan area, are imprisoned in more than 50 facilities as far away as California. The mission of Hope House DC is to (a) strengthen families by improving the bonds between children and their fathers imprisoned far from home; (b) reduce the isolation, stigma, shame and risk these families experience when fathers are imprisoned; and (c) raise public awareness about this most at-risk population.

One of the ways Hope House DC accomplishes the mission is through the “Father to Child Reading Program”, which promotes family literacy by recording dads reading to their kids, then sending the book and recording home to the children - a unique approach to the standard family literacy model of parents and children reading together. The readings build relationships between separated children and fathers and use their desire for a relationship to motivate them to keep reading together.

The Reading Program is carried out by two Hope House staff and a small number of local contractors who visit prisons regularly with an array of children’s books and audio or video recording equipment. Fathers choose a book from the collection. After spending time practicing, fathers read the books aloud as their voice is recorded. Each father prefaces and closes his reading with a personal message to his child. The signed book and tape are taken out of the prison by Hope House staff and mailed home to the child of the inmate, at no cost to the inmate or his family.

Each year, Hope House DC records and distributes at least 2,000 books to children with fathers in prison. As books typically go to families with more than one child, about 3,000 children each year are encouraged and excited to read more often because they have received book recordings from their fathers. 

Since the program’s inception, Hope House DC has used audio tapes to record fathers reading to their children, with video recordings being the rare exception. It has become difficult to find audio tapes, and the children the organization serves tends to have more access to CD players.

The $500 opportunity grant from the JLW will purchase four Sony digital recorders that will allow the organization to make CDs instead of audio tapes. The balance will go towards the purchase of blank CDs.

In the spring, the JLW will be awarding additional opportunity grants to community organizations, with a deadline of February 1 for submission of materials. Additional information can be found online.  If you have questions about the opportunity grants or want additional information, please contact Alicia Lee, chair of the Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee at grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org.

Alicia Lee

Chair, Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee

The JLW Awards Opportunity Grant to Little Lights Urban Ministries

The Junior League of Washington (JLW) is pleased to announce Little Lights Urban Ministries as the second of three organizations the JLW has awarded an opportunity grant to this fall. Opportunity grants are grants for less than $1,000 and are awarded to community organizations that are addressing one of the following complex areas of the JLW’s narrowed children’s reading literacy focus (1) lack of books in the home; (2) lack of books and resources in the school; and/or (3) reading out loud to children ages 0 – 5.

Since 1995, Little Lights Urban Ministries has been committed to providing sanctuaries of encouragement, hope, and practical assistance to at-risk children, youth and families in Washington, D.C.  Little Lights has evolved from providing an after-school tutoring program to providing both academic and social support. Throughout the year, Little Lights provides programs that focus on four main objectives: improving academic achievement, providing emotional support and encouragement, building character and leadership, and developing creativity and practical skills. The cornerstone of the organization’s programs is one-to-one interaction with caring adults through mentoring and tutoring.

Little Lights works primarily, but not exclusively, with families from Potomac Gardens, a public housing complex in Southeast DC where income for a family of four does not generally exceed $7,830 per year. Ninety percent of the Potomac Gardens children live in one-parent, female-headed households. It is estimated that, without intervention, less that 2% of the complex’s youth will attend college. Little Lights currently serves approximately 100 children and youth each year, many who attend schools designated "In Need of Improvement" by No Child Left Behind.  Little Lights provides a safe and welcoming place for children to learn after school.

At “Reading Heroes”, a weekly program, students improve reading skills, gain confidence, and develop a love for reading through working with caring adults. Last school year, the elementary and middle school Reading Heroes students gained almost a grade and a half in reading accuracy and comprehension skills. Little Lights plans to continue building on this success by accelerating our students' fluency and comprehension skills this school year, ensuring their success as life-long readers.  Students are paired with tutors for one-to-one focused reading tutoring. Each volunteer tutor is trained and equipped with a specific lesson plan, including curriculum, for their student based on his or her reading level as determined by our assessments at the start of the school year. Additionally, the reading curriculum is being supplemented to include an online element called “Ticket to Read”, which tracks reading progress online and provides reading activities that are appropriate for each child’s reading level.

The $1,000 from the JLW will contribute to Ticket to Read program. The JLW also awarded 140 books through Resolution Read, which will enhance the after-school program’s library. Stay tuned to learn more about Hope House DC, the third of the grant recipients awarded this fall.

In the spring, the JLW will be awarding additional opportunity grants to community organizations, with a deadline of February 1 for submission of materials. Additional information can be found online. If you have questions about the opportunity grants or want additional information, please contact Alicia Lee, chair of the Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee at grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org.

Alicia Lee
Chair, Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee

Jubilee JumpStart, Grant Recipient

The Junior League of Washington (JLW) is pleased to announce Jubilee JumpStart as the first of three organizations the JLW has awarded an opportunity grant to this fall. Opportunity grants are grants for less than $1,000 and are awarded to community organizations that are addressing one of the following complex areas of the JLW’s narrowed children’s reading literacy focus (1) lack of books in the home; (2) lack of books and resources in the school; and/or (3) reading out loud to children ages 0 – 5.

Jubilee JumpStart is an early childhood education center located in Jubilee Housing, a subsidized housing community in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, and provides comprehensive dual-language early education services for fifty-two children from six weeks to five years of age; Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Their mission is to ensure that children are fully prepared for success in school and beyond by providing them with early education enriched by an intense focus on social and emotional well-being and practical support to their families. Jubilee JumpStart empowers families to move up and out of poverty by helping children and parents to realize their educational and career opportunities.

Jubilee JumpStart serves a diverse community of primarily low-income families, 75% of whom are eligible for government childcare subsidies. The families Jubilee JumpStart serves are among the most economically-disadvantaged in the District. More than 65% of Jubilee Housing families bring home less than 30% of Area Median Income, and half earn less than 20% of Area Median Income. Jubilee JumpStart’s student population reflects the diversity of our community. Currently, 25% the children served are Jubilee Housing residents, 75% are from low-income families, and 80% are either African-Americans or Latinos.

Jubilee JumpStart has begun the process of obtaining accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), with a candidacy date of January 31, 2013, and successful completion anticipated by July 31, 2013. By achieving NAEYC accreditation in July of 2013, the subsidy reimbursement rate will increase by 16% which will help in the organization’s daily operations. In order for to achieve NAEYC accreditation, specific criteria must be met, some of which specifically addresses cognitive development in early literacy, including varied opportunities for the different age levels to have access to books that enable independent exploration, writing materials, ways to retell and reenact stories in books, and exposure to print books, songs and rhymes. Jubilee JumpStart’s dual language program requires that books and other literacy materials are provided in both English and Spanish.

The $1,000 from the JLW will allow Jubilee JumpStart to enhance the early literacy materials they currently have for each age group, such as writing materials, CDs, dramatic play supplies, and language literacy training for the teachers. The JLW also awarded 164 books through Resolution Read - the age appropriate books, for children ages six weeks through five years old, will include durable board books, picture books, books with rhymes, and books with print so children can familiarize themselves with words in both English and Spanish.

Stay tuned to the blog to hear about the other two organizations the JLW has given grants to, Hope House DC and Little Lights Urban Ministries.

In the spring, the JLW will be awarding additional opportunity grants to community organizations, with a deadline of February 1 for submission of materials. Additional information can be found online. If you have questions about the opportunity grants or want additional information, please contact Alicia Lee, chair of the Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee at grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org.

Alicia Lee
Chair, Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee

Washington Middle School for Girls, Grant Recipient

The Junior League of Washington is proud to announce a grant of $25,000 to the Washington Middle School for Girls. Founded in 1997, WMSG is dedicated to providing a good education and other forms of support for girls in an under-served area of Washington, DC. Their goal is to “level the playing field,” helping these girls acquire the educational, social, and emotional strengths and capabilities that will enable them to create productive and rewarding lives for themselves and their families. WMSG serves 106 African American girls who live in Ward 8 or neighboring Prince George’s County, Maryland and who are at risk of terminating their education prematurely.

In the fall of 2008, WMSG began using the Voices program, a reading and language arts program targeted specifically for inner-city education. The Voices Core Program explores all aspects of student reading and writing territory (grammar, spelling, writing strategies, comprehension strategies, reading fluency, exposure to all literary genres, and vocabulary) while also addressing student character development. While Voices of WMSG is strongly linked to the reading/language arts program, it goes beyond the classroom in both its focus on the social and emotional growth and development of the students and its engaging reach to the families and caregivers.

WMSG set a goal for the 2011-2012 school year (and going forward) to enhance the Voices program and purchase much needed equipment that will take the school to the next level. Experts at the Library of Congress and elsewhere believe that electronic books and other state of the art equipment such as Kindles and Smart Boards will attract and encourage those students who are not on reading level to embrace reading on a whole new level. It is also believed that visual and auditory aids are particularly helpful to lower-level readers. The Voices program has supplemental materials which WMSG has been unable to purchase because of the cost. Specifically, funds from the JLW will purchase books for the classrooms, Kindles, electronic books for the Kindles to complement the current Voices program, video cameras and Smart Boards for the classrooms.

If you would like to receive further information about the 2012-2013 grant process, including notice of the application and deadline information, please contact Alicia Lee, Chair, Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee at grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org.

The Literacy Lab, a New Community Partner and Grant Recipient

The Junior League of Washington is proud to announce our newest community partner – as well as grant recipient – is The Literacy Lab, a local nonprofit organization devoted to dramatically increasing the reading levels of low-income children in the District of Columbia. Founded in 2009 by a former DC public school teacher, the organization currently serves over 250 students attending 45 public schools in Washington, DC, Virginia, and Maryland.

The Literacy Lab’s mission is to provide high-quality, targeted reading remediation to low-income students in order to increase their literacy skills, leading to increased academic success and greater opportunities in life. Their experience has shown that students will make progress when they are given quality instruction in a consistent and structured manner. By providing individualized reading instruction which targets fundamental skills, The Literacy Lab's trained volunteers will lead students to higher reading levels and increased confidence, which supports the League's focus of increasing reading skills in children.

The JLW has awarded $25,000 to The Literacy Lab, allowing them to operate the Ready to Read program at DC General Family Emergency Shelter, the largest of Washington, DC’s government-run family shelters, through weekly Parent-Child Literacy Development Workshops. Ready to Read is a critical reading readiness program for families with toddlers and young children ages 0 – 5. The program will deliver a consistent amount of read aloud and print exposure to high-risk homeless children ages 0 – 5, as well as provide homeless parents with a skill set to read with and engage their children in literacy activities from birth onward. Funds will specifically be used to create a lending library housed at the shelter with reading materials and pre-literacy activities for parents and children to use during the workshop and then to check out afterwards for their use during the week.

The Literacy Lab anticipates approximately 250 parents and children (125 families) will be served over the course of the year though the weekly two hour Parent-Child Literacy Development Workshops. For the first hour, parents will participate in a workshop where they will learn an early literacy skill and practice implementing that skill while their children are participating in a read aloud and related read aloud session. For the second hour, the parents and children will reconvene; a healthy snack will be provided, and then parents and children will go through literacy centers together, allowing the parents the opportunity to practice the skills they learned. At the end of the session, the parents will have the option of checking out books and materials. The goals of the program are to increase parents’ skills and knowledge in the area of early literacy development, to provide a print-rich and engaging environment for young children in order to increase their reading readiness and early literacy skills mastery, and to increase access to high-quality reading materials for families living at the DC General Shelter.

The Literacy Lab will use trained JLW volunteers to help implement the Ready to Read program, providing them with a meaningful, manageable, high-impact opportunity on Saturday mornings. Trained volunteers will run the read aloud sessions with the children, which can include reading a story aloud, asking questions, listening to/singing songs with the children, reviewing basic vocabulary and modeling reading habits. During the second hour, volunteers will run the literacy centers, examples which include rhyming, make-believe dress-up, vocabulary puzzles, sound identification, and letter naming. Finally, volunteers will help monitor the lending library and help parents check out books and manipulatives.

If you would like to receive further information about the 2012-2013 grant process, including notice of the application and deadline information, please contact Alicia Lee, Chair, Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee at grantsandvolunteers@jlw.org.

Alicia Lee
Chair, Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee

“Find Your Words” Youth Poetry Contest

When I was a child I loved to read and write poetry so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in the Targeted Grants and Volunteer Resources Committee’s Mini-Placement for the 13th Annual “Find Your Words” Youth Poetry Contest.

For the icebreaker during our first meeting, we were asked to share our favorite children’s poem or book. Hearing others share their favorites including Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss reminded me of the books and poems I enjoyed. I named one of my favorites: Maya Angelou’s Life Doesn’t Frighten Me. The courage and strength expressed through the playful rhymes and vivid imagery still inspires me to this day.

The poetry contest was open to students in Washington, D.C. public and charter schools, grades 4-8. We received 175 submissions of poems written in a variety of techniques and styles. These talented young poets chose many different topics as their focus, including friendship, animals, family, death, 9/11, homework, pain, and self-esteem. I was impressed with the depth of emotion that could be felt in the poems. Some were powerful and thought-provoking, others heartfelt and sweet. Analyzing and discussing the poems with other new members was a fun and worthwhile experience.

We chose 15 outstanding poems, one winner and two honorable mentions from each grade level. The winning students will receive a booklet of the winning entries, a book provided by Books for Bright Futures, a gift card, and a certificate of congratulations. Please join us as we honor the winners and hear them recite their poems at the 2012 Community Partner Reception on Thursday, May 3rd at 7:00 p.m. at Headquarters.