Josiah Brown, a volunteer member of the board of the Literacy Coalition of Greater New Haven, submitted this piece in anticipation of an Oct. 24 panel at the downtown public library entitled “Reading Instruction and Interventions in School: Science, Policy, and Practice,” providing an update on the coalition.
Courtesy of Marcum LLP, pro bono design/production
October brings Dyslexia Awareness Month. Read to Grow celebrates its 20th anniversary, and honors founder Roxanne Coady, Oct. 3 at the Lawn Club. The Public Library will host, at its Mitchell branch in Westville, an Oct. 8 “lunch and learn” presentation about the New Haven Children’s Ideal Learning District (NHChILD). The main branch will then be the site of an Oct. 16 program, “Reevaluating Our Approach to Autism,” with Jeremy Farrell and Haskins Laboratories. Oct. 25 is the annual Spelling Bee, to benefit New Haven Reads, at the Yale School of Management.
Such fall events follow a summer that included readings from the annual Hear Our Voices publication of writing by adult students at Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven, which launched a new strategic plan this year. Also in recent months, the Public Library earned the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ (IMLS) National Medal for Museum and Library Service—after which Martha Brogan announced her intended retirement, prompting a search for her successor as library director. Throughout the year, the library has continued its series on “Democracy in Crisis: Conversations with New Haven Scholars,” in partnership with Public Humanities at Yale.
ConnCAT‘s summer included a commencement for its adult students as well as a youth arts program that engaged middle-schoolers in studying the history and music of Motown — complete with a block party on the once and future site of the Dixwell “Q” House, followed by a day trip to D.C. In September, ConnCAT opened a satellite of its Orchid Cafe in the library’s main branch downtown. Veronica Douglas-Givan and colleagues at New Haven Adult Education collaborated to organize a “No Excuses March for Education.”
Also this month, Concepts for Adaptive Learning (CfAL) held its annual benefit — with Keith Kountz of WTNH and CfAL founder (and longtime Coalition board member) Curtis Hill both recognized. Earlier in the year, another Coalition board colleague and SCSU faculty member J. Gregory McVerry organized an “IndieWebCamp” conference on the SCSU campus. Following a 2018 forum at SCSU on “Equity and Digital Literacies” that was the subject of prior Independent coverage, this IndieWebCamp session has led to an ongoing “Homebrew Website Club” that Greg McVerry and others — such as the Elm City Webmakers — will be engaged in the first and third Wednesdays of the month. (Contact him via Twitter @jgmac1106 and see this link for information on the most recent, September 18 gathering.)
The Literacy Coalition itself has seen a few changes to its board in recent months. After years of dedicated board service for which her colleagues expressed appreciation, Genevive Walker of ConnCAT rotated off, as Kyn Tolson of Read to Grow will also be doing — to similar praise.
Allan Appel
Daniel Reyes, a new Coalition board member as the executive director of Junta for Progressive Action, and his Junta colleagues marked that organization’s 50th anniversary with a tribute to its leaders over the decades, along with members of a new generation.
Jamiah Green
An even newer Coalition board colleague is Abdul-Razak Zachariah, who joined in September following an eventful summer that included publication of his book for children (The Night Is Yours), a related series of readings as well as an interview with Paul Bass, and Abdul’s orchestration with his LEAP colleagues of that organization’s annual July Read-In on the Green.
A longtime Coalition board member, Dave Braze, will be moderating the Coalition’s next event, on Oct. 24.
“Reading Instruction and Interventions in School: Science, Policy, and Practice”
That event will include three panelists:
*Waltrina Kirkland-Mullins, a career classroom teacher, now of grade 3 at Davis in New Haven, who embodies lifelong professional learning. She was the New Haven Public Schools’ Teacher of the Year for 2003-04 and has served in many teacher leadership roles, including as Sierra Leone-New Haven Sister Cities Teacher Representative. She has been recognized for integrating reading and writing instruction with science, history, geography/social studies, arts, and math.
*Nicole Landi, Professor of Psychology at UConn and Senior Scientist at New Haven’s Haskins Laboratories. She conducts research on language and reading development in typically developing children, and children with developmental disorders, including dyslexia and Developmental Language Disorder.
*Joanne R. White, a Language Arts Consultant in the Academic Office at the Connecticut State Department of Education, where she is responsible for implementing state reading policies and serves as project manager for the statewide K‑3 literacy professional learning series, ReadConn.
As an invitation details, the event on Thursday, Oct. 24 will run from 5 – 7:30 p.m., with free admission and refreshments. All are welcome, but please register in advance: davebraze[at]gmail[dot]com
(A Spanish-language version of the invitation is also available in electronic and printed form, via the Public Library, Junta, and other sources.)
Special thanks to Marcum LLP for donating promotional design/printing services, and to Curtis Hill and his CfAL colleague Irianelly Romero for the Spanish translation.
The Literacy Coalition, an all-volunteer nonprofit organization with a mission to promote, support, and advance literacy in the region, was established in 2003 by a board led by the late Christine Alexander, who also founded New Haven Reads.
The Coalition sponsors events such as the Literacy Forum series. Beyond this convening function, the group connects people and resources informally, and serves as a mechanism for exchange of information across communities, organizations, and individuals.
While the LiteracyEveryDay website is undergoing an update (its fourth iteration since the Coalition’s founding in 2003), see the Twitter page at @LiteracyGNH. (Facebook: literacy.everyday)
Once the revamped website is online, the organization will again have a LiteracyEveryDay site with portals to Get Help, Volunteer, Donate, and Learn More, as well as a listing of News/Events. For now, the Coalition invites inquiries and announcements via board secretary davebraze[at]gmail[dot]com.
There is a need for additional volunteer tutors and mentors at such organizations as the Boys and Girls Club, Jewish Coalition for Literacy, Junta for Progressive Action, LEAP, Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven, New Haven Public Schools, New Haven Reads, and Solar Youth.
Neighbors are invited to visit the Literacy Resource Center on Winchester Avenue, in space at 5 Science Park donated by Science Park Development Corporation. The Literacy Resource Center, or LRC, represents a partnership among Concepts for Adaptive Learning, the Coalition, New Haven Reads, and Literacy Volunteers. Around the corner, in the same complex at 4 Science Park, are the offices, classrooms, kitchen, cafe, and art gallery of ConnCAT.
You can help by:
• Reading in the home, promoted by libraries such as the New Haven Public Library — and involving grandparents as well as parents, and free books from sources including Read to Grow and New Haven Reads;
• Encouraging friends, family, and others to seek literacy assistance whenever useful;
• Volunteering as a tutor or mentor;
• Bolstering literacy in other ways, such as through donations of money — whether directly, via the Community Foundation or the United Way — or of books and by advocating and voting.
Articles on the Coalition and Its Events:
“Young Voices on Reading, Writing, and Learning”
“Youth Forum April 25 at Public Library; Literacy News”
“Equity and Digital Literacies”
“Language and Learning: Home, School, and Community”
“Philanthropy, Literacy, and Youth Development Explored”
“Language, Bilingualism, and Literacy – in School and Beyond”
“Literacy Coalition Welcomes New Colleague, Previews Forum”
“Early Literacy Experiences, the Brain, and Child Development”
“Literacy Coalition Welcomes New Board Members; Forum Approaches”
“Libraries in the 21st Century”
“Literacy Coalition Welcomes New Board Colleagues”
“Learning in the 21st Century, in Ways New and Old”
“Reading, Culture, and ‘Quality Time’ at Home”
“‘Empowering Teachers,’ Reading Research, Instruction, and Supports”
“Margie Gillis Discusses Using the Latest Research on Reading”
“Early Reading, Community Action, and Catalytic Philanthropy”
“Literacy Coalition Forum: State Legislative Update and the Big Read”
“Commissioner Ted Sergi: Their ‘Second Chance’ Starts with Reading”
