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Expanding Early Literacy Classes for 2022

 

     

 

For the last five years, Read Muskegon’s ABCs of Cooking class has been providing parents a fun, easy and delicious way to incorporate early literacy skill building into daily life with their 0-5 year olds. With the goal of helping to prepare children to enter kindergarten ready to learn, families in this class learn letter shapes and sounds as they create toddler-friendly recipes.  Based on the success of this program, Read Muskegon is expanding the concept to include two new classes for 2022.  The ABCs of Art will help parents learn how to build early literacy skills through simple art projects. The ABCs of Song and Sounds will be for those families who have completed the cooking or art class and will use music to dig deeper into foundational literacy skills.  Classes will be offered at various venues throughout Muskegon County beginning in February.  Look for a calendar and registration information coming soon.

Thank you to the Great Start Collaborative and United Way of the Lakeshore for making these classes possible.

National Model Program Coming to Muskegon Heights

Beginning in early 2022, Read Muskegon, in partnership with the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL), will bring the researched-based Family Service Learning program to Muskegon Heights.  This program is a national model focused on project based learning through community-led service. It has been shown to engage families in building content knowledge, work-based skills, leadership skills, and in increasing self-efficacy and social networks.  After piloting the program for 8 weeks with 10 families in Muskegon Heights, Read Muskegon hopes to expand to a year round program offered throughout Muskegon County.

Thank you to the Community Foundation for Muskegon County for their support in bringing this innovative literacy program to our community.

Literacy Collaborative Community Summit: What Happened? What Comes Next?

On February 23rd, over 100 community members joined together to focus their collective wisdom, creative problem-solving skills, and resources to tackle the literacy crisis that exists in Muskegon County.  Here’s a brief recap of the event and an opportunity to get involved.


Melissa Moore, Read Muskegon’s Executive Director, started by sharing some statistics to create a vision of the literacy landscape in Muskegon County. “Illiteracy is one of the most complex, interconnected, and deeply-rooted issues we face as a nation, ” Moore said. “It’s an issue of social justice, because those who cannot read cannot equally participate in our society.” She challenged attendees to be “disrupters” in the generational cycle of illiteracy.

Sharon Darling, founder and CEO of the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL), applauded Muskegon County for their collaborative efforts to tackle illiteracy and said she would like to see it become a model for the nation. She called literacy the stem of the flower whose petals are issues like welfare, health care, and criminal justice reform that rely on the strong base of literacy to keep blooming. She noted that while our country’s literacy statistics have been going backwards, we know what to do and the time is now to start doing it.

 

Poppy Sias-Hernandez, Equity & Inclusion Officer for Governor Whitmer, remarked that equity is the outcome of diversity and inclusion and that we need to continue our efforts to create equitable education and other systems that support everyone. She said that equity happens through collective efforts, when people bring their grit, talent and resources to the creation of solutions.

 

 

Rosa Guzman-Snyder, Director of Community Development for NCFL, presented a timeline of the work that has been done by the literacy collaborative and the vision for moving forward.  She set the stage for attendees to participate in breakout room conversations focused on 3 areas as they relate to tackling illiteracy: Economic Opportunity & Workforce Development: coordination of adult learning opportunities leading to family-sustaining wages, Education: mobilizing as a community to support our schools and ensure families have what they need to help their children succeed, and Neighborhoods & Community Leadership: utilizing existing networks to bridge the gap between needs and services. Input from the breakout sessions will be used by the collaborative work groups to create short and long-term action plans.

 

Breakout Session Summaries
You can read summaries of each of the sessions and the “BIG IDEAS” that started to emerge by clicking the links below.

Education Summary

Economic Opportunity Summary

Neighborhoods & Community Leadership Summary

 

Are YOU ready to be part of the SOLUTION? 

It’s going to take all of us working together to create real, sustainable change. Click the link below to sign up for a Read Muskegon Literacy Collaborative work group or to share a “Big Idea”.

 

CLICK HERE TO GET INVOLVED

New Staff: Welcome Andre & Mike!

We are excited to welcome two new staff members to the Read Muskegon family.

 

Andre Pierce, Program Assistant

Andre brings a variety of skills and experiences to Read Muskegon that will be valuable in helping us to continue to grow our programs and reach those who most need our services.  A graduate of Muskegon Heights High School, Andre previously worked as a Community Health Connector for Hackley Community Care where he was responsible for connecting inmates in the Muskegon County Jail with critical resources that they would need upon release such as health care, insurance and housing.  At Read Muskegon, Andre will help us reach deeper into our local communities to recruit, train and support both learners and volunteers.  He will also help to coordinate our Family Literacy programs and the Project Fatherhood Book Club.

 

Mike Wyant, Adult Literacy Instructor

Mike brings years of classroom experience and a passion for teaching non-traditional learners to his new role at Read Muskegon.  He interjects his teaching with personal experiences like his love for history and his adventures at NASA’s Space Camp.  Mike teaches our Job Skills and English as a Second Language classes at Read Muskegon.  You’ll also find him out in the community teaching our workforce development & functional literacy classes at the EXIT program, Muskegon County Jail, and West MI Works.  On Tuesday evenings, he oversees our Drop-In Tutoring program for K-12 students and their parents.

Holiday Village 2017

Read Muskegon’s Holiday Village was a huge success.  This year’s event was held at Covenant Community Church. Over 100 of our neighbors participated in 10 village stations that were designed to help build early literacy skills.  Santa made sure each child got a stack of books to bring home along with the ornaments and cookies they decorated.  Thanks to our friends at Read Early Read Often for donating the beautiful books!

 

 

Ribbon Cutting Marks Opening of Family Literacy Center

While Read Muskegon has been running programs from our new space at 26 E. Broadway since June, 2017, we marked the official opening of our new Family Literacy Center with a ribbon cutting ceremony in October.   Muskegon Heights Mayor, Kim Sims, and MAISD Superintendent, John Severson, spoke about the importance of our partnerships before the Muskegon Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce helped officiate the ribbon cutting.  We were thrilled to have so many members of our community join in our celebration.

 

Read Muskegon’s New Family Literacy Center Wish List

OUR UPDATED WISH LIST !

We are so excited about our new Family Literacy Center located at 26 E. Broadway Avenue in the heart of the City of Muskegon Heights. We have made so much progress with the getting our new space set up to accommodate those we serve. As we continue to organize, we continue to discover items that we are still in need of.

We  have compiled a “Wish List” of specific items that can be donated to help us make the space safe and efficient. Here are the items we are in need

  • Recycling Bins for paper returnables
  • Pop-Up Tent for Community Outreach
  • Door Buzzer System
  • Floor tiles and Indoor Floor Mats for main entrance safety during winter months
  • Programmable thermostats
  • Diaper Changing Table
  • Mobile Folding Wooden Book Storage Units
  • Dolly/ Carry Cart

To donate any of these items or if you have questions, please contact our Office Manager, Tish Williams at tish.williams@readmuskegon.org or by calling our office at 231-747-7273.

We would like to thank everyone for  your generous donations. We sincerely appreciate your generosity and support.

 

Experience Read Muskegon: A Conversation About Literacy

 

                 

Join us at our new Family Literacy Center at 26 E. Broadway for a one-hour conversation. Learn how adult illiteracy is impacting our county. Find out how Read Muskegon is breaking generational cycles of illiteracy through customized programs that meet the unique needs of our learners. Tour our new location and learn how it will play a critical role in our mission.

June 22 8:30 am     June 22 4:30 pm

July 11 10:00 am     July 11 4:30 pm

July 20 8:00 am     July 20 5:00 pm

Aug 3 10:00 am     Aug 3 4:30 pm

RSVP to Tish Williams:

tish.williams@readmuskegon.org    231-747-7273

www.readmuskegon.org

 

 

 

 

Spring 2017 Newsletter

Our Spring 2017 Newsletter is all about our move to Muskegon Heights and the opening of our Family Literacy Center.  Click on the link below to read all about it!

 

Spring 2017 Newsletter