EDUCATION
HELPING CHILDREN AND YOUTH ACHIEVE THEIR POTENTIAL
There are many indicators that will help United Ways determine if they truly have helped children and youth achieve their potential, if they have made an impact in education in their community. Some indicators can include how well prepared or "how ready" children are to succeed in school; reading proficiency and graduation rates; or the extent to which youth are productive and engaged in their schools and in their communities.
Born Learning Trail
Build a Born Learning Trail and announce your intention to build one in every quadrant of the city - one per season, one per year - whatever makes sense for your United Way. Invite early childhood stakeholders and government officials to participate in building the trail or to attend a ribbon cutting and to bring their children or grandchildren to experience the trail. Help your volunteers become your advocates by getting them to pledge to bring a certain number of people to the trail, to help spread the word about its value, or commit to keeping the trail maintained. In addition, United Way of America has a national partnership with the National Parks and Recreation Association. They're willing to help pave the way for local United Ways with installations at local parks. For more information about the Born Learning Trail and to order a kit that will make it even easier to build one, visit these websites:
Recognize Volunteer Readers
Reach out to literacy and childcare groups to obtain names of their volunteers. Create a means to celebrate and recognize those individuals - through email, an advertisement in the newspaper, an insert in the utility bill - and include a call to action for more volunteers.
Imagination Library
Bring the Imagination Library to your community. Children enrolled in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library receive a new, age-appropriate, hard-cover book at home each month until the age of five. The program is offered to families at no cost. In St. Cloud, Minnesota, Imagination Library is a partnership between United Way of Central Minnesota, Success By 6 and the Dollywood Foundation. It is funded locally by individual donations from parents and other community members, corporate gifts and special grants. A child can be sponsored for $35 per year. Last year, this United Way kicked off their first annual Llama Llama Read-A-Rama event where thousands of children in the St. Cloud Area stopped what they were doing to read. United Way of America has a national partnership with Imagination Library. Read more about the good work of the Imagination Library here http://online.unitedway.org/site/soe/cafe/index.cfm?PPID=4257.
Book Reading to Inspire Community Service in Children
Established by the Metropolitan Atlanta Corporate Volunteer Council, the Carol D. Reiser Book Award is given annually to the children's book or books published the preceding year that most effectively inspires community service and volunteerism in children. Choose from this list of books and hold a public reading and volunteering day at the local library with parents and children.
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Anna Casey's Place in the World by Adrian Fogelin
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Markovers by Marcia by Claudia Mills
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The Giving Book by Ellen Sabin
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Boxes for Katje by Candace Fleming
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Ryan and Jimmy and the Well in Africa That Brought Them Together by Herb Shoveller
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Mother Teresa by Demi
Recruitment Drive for Mentors
Many Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations have a waiting list of children who need a "Big." United Ways can sponsor "Act Big" day on June 21 and offer people who may be interested in mentoring the opportunity to engage with children and "try it out" on the longest day of the year. United Ways can create a communications effort (or partner with an advertising firm and local media outlets) to publicize the need for mentors through an "Act Big" opportunity, and companies can let employees know how they can incorporate mentoring into the work week. For additional information and ideas, read about United Way of Treasure Valley's mentor recruitment initiative.
Raising Reading Levels
Improve the reading levels of first- and second-graders in your community. Ten to fifteen percent of children who don't read at grade level by third grade are very likely to drop out of high school, and only two percent are likely to complete a college degree. United Ways can recruit and train volunteers and mobilize them in their community's classrooms. Corporations and other organizations can get involved by adopting a school and committing a certain number of employees to volunteer. For additional information and ideas, read about United Way of Southeastern Michigan's Operation ABC program.
Other Ideas for Promoting Education
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Consider partnering with skills-based volunteers and/or with a group "outside your box" to achieve a common goal. For example, Public Architecture is a 501c3 organization of architecture firms that have pledged to donate 1% of their time and resources. United Ways can partner with Public Architecture members to raise money to donate books to a school, with the architecture firm building new bookcases or even a new wing for the library.
