Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 30, 2002
Contact: Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136
Alt Contact: Washington Literacy, Karen Shaw, 206-284-4399 ext.100
OSPI, Kim Schmanke, 360-725-6015
Verizon, John Gustafson, 425-261-5844
Locke and Bergeson addressed more than 350 educators, community volunteers, policy makers and business leaders gathered at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center for the second annual Washington State Literacy Summit. Washington Literacy, the Washington Reading Corps and Verizon co-sponsored the event as part of an ongoing effort to raise literacy awareness throughout the state.
“To be engaged in one’s community is a critical and, in many ways, timeless mission,” Locke told the summit participants during his luncheon keynote address. “All of you in this room are living examples of what I mean. You’re changing lives -- and by extension enriching families and communities -- by imparting the gift of reading.”
Bergeson kicked off the day’s activities, which centered on current funding challenges and best practices for teen literacy programs.
“In the past few years, there has been an increased focus on improving the literacy of our students,” Bergeson said. “A lot of the credit should be given to parents and volunteers who recognize the tremendous challenges faced by our diverse schools and are making a difference in their communities. Not only are they helping students improve their reading, but they are also showing that literacy is key to a successful life.”
The summit, themed “Literacy For Life – Connecting with Children and Teens,” included sessions on best practices for teen literacy programs, teen challenges with English as a Second Language (ESL) programs, successful funding models, effective cross-age programs, timely strategies for tutoring and tutor training, and successful strategies for increased family involvement.
Locke also announced his “Summer Reading Challenge,” which will operate in partnership with families, neighborhood libraries, community centers, summer camps and literacy organizations to provide encouragement to students to read over the summer.
The Verizon Foundation awarded 20 literacy grants totaling approximately $300,000 to organizations in the Northwest this year. Of these, Verizon executives John Gustafson and Allan Thoms awarded approximately $190,000 to 11 nonprofit organizations in Washington.
“This is an excellent venue for everyone involved with literacy to come together,” said Gustafson, director of external affairs for Verizon. “The grant recipients competed with dozens of agencies across the Northwest for Verizon's literacy funding -- they truly are the best of the best.”
The Verizon literacy grants will fund a variety of Washington programs covering adult and youth literacy and ESL in urban and rural settings.
The governor launched the Washington Reading Corps to connect community volunteers with young people who needed extra help with their reading skills. Since 1998, an average of 15,000 community volunteers a year have given their time to tutor children in the Washington Reading Corps. The majority of these volunteers have been recruited by national service members -- AmeriCorps and VISTA -- to serve in schools with the lowest test scores in reading and with children from families at or below the poverty level.
Washington Literacy (www.waliteracy.org) is a statewide, nonprofit organization that works to improve literacy and literacy services for Washington residents. Washington Literacy provides training, technical assistance and consultation to nearly 1,000 literacy providers and practitioners, who in turn work with more than 5,000 literacy students each year. Washington Literacy also provides information and referral services to students, volunteers and the public.
Karen Shaw, Washington Literacy executive director, said, “I am excited about the opportunity to continue Washington Literacy's role of convening literacy practitioners and supporters to share information and strategies about programs that are truly making a difference in the fight to eliminate illiteracy in our state.”
Related Links:
- Washington Literacy
- Washington Reading Corps
- AmeriCorps/VISTA
- Alliance for Education
- Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction
- Page Ahead
- Verizon Foundation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 30, 2002
Contact: Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136
Alt Contact: Washington Literacy, Karen Shaw, 206-284-4399 ext.100
OSPI, Kim Schmanke, 360-725-6015
Verizon, John Gustafson, 425-261-5844
Gov. Locke, Superintendent of Public Instruction Bergeson promote literacy at statewide conference
SEATTLE – Gov. Gary Locke and Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson today encouraged innovative teen education programs and increased awareness about local youth literacy issues at a statewide literacy conference.Locke and Bergeson addressed more than 350 educators, community volunteers, policy makers and business leaders gathered at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center for the second annual Washington State Literacy Summit. Washington Literacy, the Washington Reading Corps and Verizon co-sponsored the event as part of an ongoing effort to raise literacy awareness throughout the state.
“To be engaged in one’s community is a critical and, in many ways, timeless mission,” Locke told the summit participants during his luncheon keynote address. “All of you in this room are living examples of what I mean. You’re changing lives -- and by extension enriching families and communities -- by imparting the gift of reading.”
Bergeson kicked off the day’s activities, which centered on current funding challenges and best practices for teen literacy programs.
“In the past few years, there has been an increased focus on improving the literacy of our students,” Bergeson said. “A lot of the credit should be given to parents and volunteers who recognize the tremendous challenges faced by our diverse schools and are making a difference in their communities. Not only are they helping students improve their reading, but they are also showing that literacy is key to a successful life.”
The summit, themed “Literacy For Life – Connecting with Children and Teens,” included sessions on best practices for teen literacy programs, teen challenges with English as a Second Language (ESL) programs, successful funding models, effective cross-age programs, timely strategies for tutoring and tutor training, and successful strategies for increased family involvement.
Locke also announced his “Summer Reading Challenge,” which will operate in partnership with families, neighborhood libraries, community centers, summer camps and literacy organizations to provide encouragement to students to read over the summer.
The Verizon Foundation awarded 20 literacy grants totaling approximately $300,000 to organizations in the Northwest this year. Of these, Verizon executives John Gustafson and Allan Thoms awarded approximately $190,000 to 11 nonprofit organizations in Washington.
“This is an excellent venue for everyone involved with literacy to come together,” said Gustafson, director of external affairs for Verizon. “The grant recipients competed with dozens of agencies across the Northwest for Verizon's literacy funding -- they truly are the best of the best.”
The Verizon literacy grants will fund a variety of Washington programs covering adult and youth literacy and ESL in urban and rural settings.
- Alliance for Education will teach computer literacy to K-12 classroom teachers, who, in turn, will integrate literacy into the classroom.
- Communities in Schools will support literacy programs in four high-poverty schools.
- Everett Community College will help establish the community-based adult and youth ESL wireless computer lab.
- Monroe School District, with the Everett Community College, will provide ESL classes in east Snohomish County.
- North Central Education Service District will improve family literacy for migrant families in the Wenatchee area through a computer literacy project with Internet access.
- Page Ahead, through The Children's Literacy Project, will give more than 42,000 new books to at-risk children in Benton, Franklin, Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan, King, Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom counties.
- Refugee and Immigrant Forum will assist the Key Links Access Guide Audio Translation project in providing community service information in 16 languages.
- The Seattle Times Newspapers in Education will help supply more than 1 million newspapers for use in student studies.
- University of Washington / Okanogan Pipeline Literacy and Book Project will help K-12 students in Okanogan County improve reading and writing skills by helping them voice personal and community histories through book making.
- Whatcom Literacy Student-Tutoring Project will provide ESL students with individual learning assessments, lesson plans, books, materials and tutors.
- Washington State Literacy Summit / Literacy for Life – Connecting with Children and Teens is providing training in two tracks: Washington Reading Corps and teen literacy.
The governor launched the Washington Reading Corps to connect community volunteers with young people who needed extra help with their reading skills. Since 1998, an average of 15,000 community volunteers a year have given their time to tutor children in the Washington Reading Corps. The majority of these volunteers have been recruited by national service members -- AmeriCorps and VISTA -- to serve in schools with the lowest test scores in reading and with children from families at or below the poverty level.
Washington Literacy (www.waliteracy.org) is a statewide, nonprofit organization that works to improve literacy and literacy services for Washington residents. Washington Literacy provides training, technical assistance and consultation to nearly 1,000 literacy providers and practitioners, who in turn work with more than 5,000 literacy students each year. Washington Literacy also provides information and referral services to students, volunteers and the public.
Karen Shaw, Washington Literacy executive director, said, “I am excited about the opportunity to continue Washington Literacy's role of convening literacy practitioners and supporters to share information and strategies about programs that are truly making a difference in the fight to eliminate illiteracy in our state.”
Related Links:
- Washington Literacy
- Washington Reading Corps
- AmeriCorps/VISTA
- Alliance for Education
- Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction
- Page Ahead
- Verizon Foundation
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