Early LiteracyOut-of-school or Underperforming YouthLibraries/Access to Education Resources
2023-24
United States of America
RC Grove OK
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Project Impact
Description
RC of Grove Oklahoma has established an education foundation that supports a number of scholarships and charitable community grants. They learned that the literacy rate in their county was at unacceptably low levels and realized their focus had been at the higher end of the education spectrum while many third graders, who received the Rotary Dictionaries, had never before owned a book. They learned that 41% of their students were at risk for reading difficulties in 2019-2020 and this only increased during and following the pandemic. They understood that, unless children succeeded in the early grades, they were not likely to be successful in their later schooling.
They researched programs that would help them to purchase books for children and decided to engage with the Dolly Parton Library which provides free books to children from birth to age five. They located and enrolled local children and paid approximately $1.10 per child to receive a new book each month to create a home library. In the first seven months they had located 950 eligible students and continue to locate more children until they have reached ALL eligible children, estimated to be 2020 children. This is a complex outreach using social media, flyers, brochures and personal outreach. These Rotarians realized that they had found the best way to get books into the hands of young children who might not otherwise have them.