Literacy Connects

Stories that soar is a literacy and arts integration program that promotes writing and creative expression by honoring children's original stories through the arts. This fiscal year, their professional theatre program inspired 5,727 elemetary children to write 10,502 stories, 25 of which were presented back to students via on-line platforms, 329 through live theatre, and 8 through public radio. See schedule o for more information on revenue and the value of volunteers labor not reflected on this return.

Literacy connects' reading seed program trained and supported 287 volunteer reading coaches to work one-to-one with 815 kindergarten through second grade students in title i schools. The students were provided extra support in improving their literacy skills and developing healthy relationships with books and reading through the mentorship of a caring adult. Reading coaches contributed 19,727 hours of service, resulting in students averaging 24 hours of reading support throughout the school year. The program offered a lending library of 23,217 books that match students' interests and distributed over 22,892 free books throughout the county to help children build home libraries and become independent readers so that they can become lifelong learners. Our long0term goal is to expand our k-1 loop program to increase our impact at each school, resulting in an increased number of students reading at grade level by the end of third grade.

Reach out and read southern arizona (rorsa) promotes healthy brain growth, positive social-emotional development, and school readiness by giving families resources and information to make reading aloud part of their daily routine. By integrating reading into pediatric practices, rqrsa partners with doctors in 58 clinics, reaching 85,710 children from birth to five.