NYC Reads Expands to East Harlem
Building on the success of the Reads Initiative in South Jamaica and East New York, and with the generous support of The Pinkerton Foundation and The Carmel Hill Fund, LINC is leading a 9-month planning phase to launch East Harlem Reads. Expanding in East Harlem includes welcoming the New York Public Library into the Reads network of partners and growing LINC’s footprint into an eighth neighborhood!
“We have witnessed the positive results of the Reads Initiative in South Jamaica and East New York and we are very excited to support the expansion of this collaboration of literacy providers into East Harlem and the potential impact it can have on the community. Since the pandemic there has been a significant loss of instruction and learning time and the extra literacy support provided through the Reads model is needed especially now. We are eager to see the plan of action for East Harlem partner schools, programs and services that will best address the community needs.”
-Danielle Pulliam, Program Officer, The Pinkerton Foundation
Central to the planning process is LINC’s expertise in hyperlocal community development and organizing. This includes the creation of an East Harlem Task Force to learn from LINC staff who live in and are connected to the community.
We are thrilled to lead this expansion which will enable us to reach more families than ever.
For more information about NYC Reads, visit: www.nycreads.org.
Dynamic New Website Connects City’s First Readers Families in 51 Council Districts
The COVID pandemic changed the way families engage with digital resources, and with the world at their fingertips, many caregivers felt overwhelmed with the volume of information available online.
City’s First Readers responded!
We refocused the City’s First Readers’ website, transforming it into a family facing city-wide resource. A key feature is the dynamic activity finder that connects families to CFR partners and programs that meet their unique needs. The new design integrates learning activities and makes finding unique literacy events quick and easy. We also added a section “For Grownups” that includes a growing library of resources to support early literacy development and help caregivers raise readers with a social justice perspective.
Check out https://citysfirstreaders.com and see how we are able to reach families in 51 different council districts with this new site.
