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Writing Samples: SSRF |
This is the narrative section of a grant proposal. Requirements included at least 10 point type, 1 inch margins, and a 4 page limit. The ordered headers are from the funder's application form. This document is included here with permission from SSRF.
The following description of a book van visit to a support site for homeless families captures both the spirit of our volunteers and the value of our program well:
“I was assisting a young mother in selecting a board book for her new baby and she happened to mention that she had been a recipient of our free books and literacy bags for babies program. She said that until that moment, it had not occurred to her that it might be important to read with her child. For her, reading was something that would be learned in kindergarten or later through the school years and she was so grateful to know that she could help prepare her child for school through the simple act of reading together. She now has two avid readers and they visit the library regularly. Even her new baby loves to flip the pages of her board books and point to her favorite pictures. This insight and gratitude proved to me that our programs have tremendous value and indeed, change lives.” -Britta Barrett, WRC AmeriCorps
In an effort to increase the number of children entering school prepared to learn, read, and succeed, the South Sound Reading Foundation (SSRF) exists to ensure that every child is read with 20 minutes a day starting at birth. Reading just 20 minutes a day with young children is the key to healthy brain development, family bonding, and success in school. We educate and remind families about the importance of reading each day and strive to get books into every home so that every child reads or is read with daily. Daily family reading helps children develop a larger vocabulary, a longer attention span, and better listening skills—all vital to their success in school and in life.
SSRF has almost 10 years of literacy outreach experience. Many of our 15 board members volunteer at literacy events to promote our mission in person. Jennifer Williamson Forster, our executive director since 2007, has over 12 years experience working in the nonprofit sector. In 2004-5, she was president of the Junior League of Olympia, and last year she was on the board of the Thurston Early Childhood Coalition. Two AmeriCorps members lead our programming, but we also have over 40 volunteers who distribute books at events and at schools, read to children at story time events, deliver family education presentations, sort book donations, and help in the office. Many are retired teachers, principals, and superintendents. Our administrative costs, office space, utilities, book storage (currently housing over 20,000 books awaiting future distribution events), and book van security are donated by North Thurston Public Schools.
We have programs that work through hospitals to reach families with new babies, through pediatricians to reach families with infants, and with daycare providers that need our help. But our core program is the most flexible and visible in the community: our literacy outreach program, also known as the book van. With the book van we give thousands of new and gently used books to children and provide regular family literacy programming at a variety of locations in Thurston and Mason Counties.
There are approximately 10,000 children aged 0-8 in low-income families in our area. SSRF provides books to these kids and the “Read with your Child 20 Minutes a Day” message to their parents. Last year we distributed over 40,000 new and gently used books. We play an essential role in the rich network of local nonprofit organizations promoting the health and well-being of children. As a member of Thurston Early Childhood Coalition, we consistently collaborate in local programs to benefit young children.
The ability to read opens a world of learning opportunity, and without it kids fall behind at school. The National Adult Literacy Survey shows a clear link between reading ability and income. As our economy changes, fewer well-paying jobs are available for people with poor reading skills. According to a recent report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, kids who can’t read by the end of the third grade “are all too likely to become our nation’s lowest-income, least-skilled, least-productive, and most costly citizens tomorrow.”
At the beginning of fourth grade, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) measures reading skills across the nation. Based on 2009 NAEP tests, 33% of the nation's children read below the basic level, and 67% read below the proficient level. In the same tests, students from low-income families scored much lower: 49% below basic, 83% below proficient. The NAEP results are not available by county, but our state reading assessment test is. 22% of our local third graders are not able to read at the basic third grade level (the figure is 28% statewide). That's 782 third graders in Thurston and Mason Counties who face tough odds in life.
Much of the response to this challenge is focused on improving educational institutions. But good schools are only a part of the solution. To help children read requires a comprehensive approach that addresses food security, housing, and quality care outside of the school schedule. This is the basis for initiatives like United Way’s Success by Six and our local Thurston Early Childhood Coalition. An important part of a comprehensive approach is providing regular access to books at home. Access to books can actually be one of the least expensive pieces of the puzzle. In a recent study at the University of Tennessee, first and second graders chose books to take home and keep. This $50 per kid summer reading program equaled the results of a much more expensive summer school program.
In recent years, U.S. publishers have sold over 3 billion books a year. That's roughly 10 books per person, every year. And yet, only 70-75% of U.S. families have more than 25 books at home (NCES, 1998, 2003). Some studies show that books in the home correlate more strongly with academic success than any other indicator. We need to get more books into the hands of parents and children who need them. We need to make sure that parents know the value of reading, and what it can mean to their children's future.
There are some state and national organizations that provide free books to kids, but they work through local organizations like us. Their programs are expensive because they buy new books. One such organization, Reading is Fundamental, recently lost its federal funding ($25 million), which will make the need for our service even greater.
Our proposal is to continue to develop our book van program. The program has three steps; we gather affordable books, we train volunteers, and—with our partners providing the location and target audience—we deliver books and information.
Books: South Sound Reading Foundation, as a trusted name in the community, provides the service of recirculating books when children have grown out of them. In addition to receiving small donations from the community directly, we work with a variety of partners to gather both new and gently used books during book drives. In 2009-10, individual donations and book drives brought in over 54,000 books. Organizations that held book drives include: Barnes and Noble, Borders, and the Valley Athletic Club. In the spring, we co-sponsored the 10th annual “Well-Fed/Well-Read” food and book drive through which Washington State employees donated over 12,000 books.
We also buy some books, when specific needs (such as Spanish books or board books) are not met by donations. Scholastic warehouse sales and First Book are reliable sources of bulk purchases of affordable books. First Book is a nonprofit organization that works with book publishers to provide affordable access to new books for children in need. First Book relies on local groups like ours to go the last mile to get these books to the children who need them. Training: Every year, two AmeriCorps members join SSRF from mid-September through mid-July. Before they start, they train for two weeks with the Washington Reading Corps and Community Youth Services. That training program continues each Friday throughout the year. With us they receive orientation and on-the-job training from our director and some of our more seasoned volunteers. We also have quarterly training workshops on topics like story time reading skills, early brain development, literacy development, and at-risk youth. Our training materials include the "Healthy Beginnings" program from Comprehensive Health Education Foundation, and story time basic training materials from Timberland Regional Library, among others.
Distribution: Last year we distributed more than 29,800 new and used books to children through the book van. With each book we promoted the “Read with your Child 20 Minutes a Day” message. The book van program is part of our ongoing public awareness campaign to educate all families about the importance of reading with children daily. We visit low-income housing units, schools, community events, and rural areas to share this message and distribute free books to children. We also take the book van to prenatal classes, parenting groups, and high school family and consumer science classes, delivering presentations and conducting discussion groups about the importance of reading to children. When the book van brings a volunteer to a story time event, kids experience a great story read by a well-trained volunteer. But more importantly, parents of young children learn from example such skills as enunciation, expression, funny voices, and other methods of engaging kids with a book.
Within the family of local organizations working on the comprehensive solution to early childhood education, SSRF plays a vital role as the only one with the expertise, resources, and focus to provide books and literacy information when and where they're needed. When the Thurston County Food Bank fills the backpacks of low-income kids with food for the weekend, we provide books once a month. When the Hands On Children's Museum opens for free on the first Friday night of each month, the book van is there. When the United Way and Thurston Early Childhood Coalition established Right From the Start, a new early learning resource center at Rochester Primary School, we provided free books to give to young families.
Our main goal is to increase the amount of time that parents read to their children. To achieve this goal we plan to continue to work closely with partners that help us reach families in need. Every month we work with partners like Boys & Girls Clubs, SafePlace, Evergreen Vista, Cabela's, Rochester Organization of Families (ROOF), and the Shelton Farmer's Market. During the summer we enhance programs like Thurston County Food Bank's mobile summer lunch and Lacey's Playground Pals. We also share our message at diverse yearly events such as Sand in the City, Little Red School House, Sea Mar Community Health Fair, Mason County Family Resource Fair, and Military Family Day. When children come home from these events with a free book and literacy information, parents learn that kids need reading time outside of school. Kids will want to read the book they’ve chosen for themselves. With books, parental involvement, and desire, these children will learn to read.
Our book van literacy outreach program requires lots of volunteers to distribute books and read to children at events, deliver family education presentations, and sort book donations. SSRF recorded over 1800 hours of volunteer work last year, much of which served the book van program directly.
There are approximately 10,000 children aged 0-8 in low-income families in Thurston and Mason Counties. Many of these children don't have enough books at home, and don't get taken to the library often enough to ensure access to age-appropriate books that interest them. Because we measure books distributed, not children served, we cannot tell exactly how many of these 10,000 we are able to reach. But by reaching the ones we do, our work benefits everyone. Three recent studies (Rolnick and Grunewald, 2003; Heckman and Masterov, 2004; High/Scope Educational Foundation, 2004) all conclude that investment in the early education of low-income children yields high returns that benefit everyone in the form of reduced expenditures for incarceration and public assistance programs.
We survey program participants to ensure that they are aware of our mission. Partners provide valuable feedback that keeps us on top of which aspects of our program are most effective. We also monitor our programs through outputs, by keeping track of the number of books delivered to children and the number of diverse sites served with books and literacy information. Because child literacy is dependent on so many factors, quantitative analysis of outcomes is not cost effective for us, but the highest measure of our success is the excitement expressed by the children receiving books, and we get a lot of that!
Well-educated people are essential to a strong community. Whether it’s exposure to the arts and humanities bringing the perspective of matters beyond their personal interest, the historical perspective to understand political realities, or just the reading skills to hold a family-wage job in today’s economy, education matters to community life. Active participation is also important to a strong community. According to the National Adult Literacy Survey, people with lower literacy levels are far less likely to use print media like newspapers, and are far less likely to vote. Lower literacy levels are also associated with lower wages and higher odds of incarceration. Without a living wage, it’s harder to donate time or money to local organizations, or support levies for parks, schools, and libraries. It’s harder to participate in neighborhood or school events when you can’t read the newspaper or the flyers the kids bring home. Our literacy outreach program makes a difference for generations to come. A 20-year study recently published in Research in Social Stratification and Mobility showed a high correlation between the number of books in the home with the educational level attained by the children in that home. In the study, children of less-educated parents appeared to benefit the most from having books in the home. The lead researcher, Mariah Evans from the University of Nevada, Reno, said, “The results of this study indicate that getting some books into their homes is an inexpensive way that we can help these children succeed.”
| Last edit: Dec 14 2011 |
