Leading Literacy Summit: Turning Research into Results for Every Student

Literacy in Community (LINC) works in partnership with local community-based organizations and other early literacy program providers to serve New York City’s families and children from birth through five with quality literacy programming. Collaboration is baked into our mission and our methods of mobilizing communities around early literacy. On Wednesday, October 15, LINC’s Chief Program Officer, Laura Walsh, and Senior Director of Early Literacy, Josh Barocas, were pleased to attend the Leading Literacy Summit: Turning Research into Results for Every Student hosted by the Science of Reading Center at SUNY New Paltz.

They were especially excited to hear the panel on Creating a Birth to 8 Literacy Ecosystem. Several of LINC's partners from the New York City Council’s birth through five early literacy initiative, City’s First Readers (CFR) were presenting, including Danielle Guindo from READ Alliance, and Kari Kurijiaka from Reach Out and Read. An additional partner, Jenn Ramos from Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL), joined them. They discussed the collaborative work we are doing with CPRL, City’s First Readers, and NYC Reads and how this collaboration helps to reach more families as well as strengthening each organization’s own programming. LINC is the facilitating partner for City’s First Readers, which has seventeen partner organizations.

Other highlights from the day included: 

• An inspiring keynote speech given by Deon Butler, Dyslexia Advocate and Former NFL Tight End who shared his family's struggles with poverty and his own personal struggle with dyslexia. He described the way that certain adults around him (his grandmother, his teachers, his coaches) provided him with the motivation and support he needed to become the first college graduate in his family and go on to play in the NFL.

• Dr. Kymyona Burk spoke on what it took to turn around Mississippi's literacy crisis and transform the education system into a nationwide and globally recognized leader in literacy.

• Journalist Emily Hanford spoke about her work bringing the reading crisis to the attention of the public through her popular podcasts, including Sold a Story.

• State policymakers and district leaders, including Assemblymember Robert Carroll and Assemblymember Jo Ann Simon joined superintendents from Yonkers and Dobbs Ferry to discuss how policy, partnerships, and teacher training are transforming literacy instruction statewide and what more needs to be done to improve student outcomes.

  
  

Laura and Josh were thrilled to make new connections with a range of folks from the New York State Education Department, as well as the Western New York Education Equity Task Force, which invited LINC to speak at their December meeting.

For more information about LINC’s workshops and programs, please get in touch with Josh Barocas, Senior Director of Early Literacy at jbarocas@lincnyc.org.