Participants in a July 2020 Zoom forum: “Virtual Teaching and Learning: Supporting Youth and Families in 2020”
Josiah Brown, a volunteer member of the board of the Literacy Coalition of Greater New Haven, sent this update and account of an event in which the Coalition was involved.
As the New Haven Public Schools began the academic year remotely amid the coronavirus pandemic, community organizations from ConnCAT’s “safe space” to the Boys and Girls Club’s learning hub have emerged as sites for children to engage with school from a distance.
One of the NHPS teachers (and parents) responding to the pandemic circumstances is Rashana Graham of Troup, featured by the Independent last spring and again as the 2020 – 21 year began. In between, Rashana Graham was a panelist as the New Haven Free Public Library and the Literacy Coalition of Greater New Haven joined to offer a July Literacy Forum on “Virtual Teaching and Learning: Supporting Youth and Families in 2020” — a recording of which is now freely available on the Coalition’s new YouTube channel.
In addition to teacher Rashana Graham of Troup School, the participants included representatives from:
*LEAP (Lee Osorio)
*New Haven Reads (Kascia Williams)
*Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning (Sarah Cussler), and the
*New Haven Public Library (Luis Chavez-Brumell, moderator).
The event reflected a collaboration between the Literacy Coalition of Greater New Haven, an all-volunteer nonprofit organization, and the Public Library (whose director, John Jessen, is among the Coalition’s board members). This was the third Literacy Forum in which Luis Chavez-Brumell of the Library has appeared; his prior roles included panelist in fall 2017 and as moderator of a “Young Voices” event—with Coral Ortiz among others — in spring 2019. (photos here)
Literacy Coalition News
The July Zoom session was part of the long-running Literacy Forum series. For example, current Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona (then in Meriden) was among the panelists in fall 2016, for “Language, Bilingualism, and Literacy — in School and Beyond.” More recently, the series addressed “Reading Instruction and Interventions in School: Science, Policy, and Practice.” (photos here)
While the fourth iteration of the all-volunteer Literacy Coalition’s website is evolving, its Twitter page(@LiteracyGNH) is the primary source of news and information on related happenings.
The Coalition’s newest board member is Suzannah Holsenbeck, who succeeded Kyn Tolson (also her predecessor on the Coalition board) as executive director of Read to Grow. Read to Grow formed a book-distribution partnership in recent months with the NHPS and New Haven Reads (whose executive director, Kirsten Levinsohn, is also a Coalition board member, as was her predecessor, the late Chris Alexander). New Haven Reads has adjusted in other ways, bringing tutors and students together electronically, as Kascia Williams explained in July.
Another Coalition board member, John Jessen, is director of the New Haven Free Public Library — which has partially reopened, with its books and other materials back in circulation and study spaces expected to open in October. (John reports that the next iteration of the Stetson Branch, within the new Dixwell Community “Q” House, should open in spring 2021.) A third Coalition board colleague—author Abdul-Razak Zachariah—has headed off to graduate school at Harvard, but his erstwhile colleagues at LEAP continue offering learning and recreation opportunities to young people around town, even if some of the options are now virtual. Lee Osorio elaborated on this as a participant in the July Zoom forum.
Abdul-Razak Zachariah and Waltrina Kirkland-Mullins, after a fall 2019 Literacy Forum at which she appeared
Two other Coalition board members, Curtis Hill of Concepts for Adaptive Learning (which is separately now teaming with the Farnam Center, formerly Neighborhood House) and J. Gregory “Greg” McVerry of the Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) faculty, are collaborating to orchestrate the Elm City Webmakers, which had begun meeting at the Literacy Resource Center, 5 Science Park #Suite 2C in New Haven, before the pandemic. As detailed in a February 2020 article, the Webmakers offer a chance for participants to tell their stories while developing skills in digital literacies.
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The Literacy Coalition of Greater New Haven promotes, supports, and advances literacy for all ages. The Coalition pursues this mission by:
*communicating about literacy needs, resources, and ways to get involved — from advocacy to direct volunteering — to strengthen reading and education in our region;
*convening occasional forum events, including online;
*connecting literacy professionals, volunteers, learners and parents — from early education to schools and colleges, from libraries and youth development nonprofits to adult education, English-language learning, and workforce development.
The Literacy Coalition 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 handle at @LiteracyGNH; Facebook at literacy.everyday; and now the YouTube channel.
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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, Literacy Volunteers, and New Haven Reads. 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.
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Articles on the Coalition and Its Events:
“Elm City Webmakers Meet February 3 to Build Digital Literacies; Literacy Coalition News”
“Reading Instruction and Interventions in School: Science, Policy, and Practice” (photos here)
“Literacy Forum Oct. 24 at Public Library; Literacy News”
“Young Voices on Reading, Writing, and Learning” (photos here)
“Youth Forum April 25 at Public Library; Literacy News”
“Equity and Digital Literacies” (photos here)
“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” (photos here)
“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”
