“We know that educators cannot do this work by themselves, and so it is imperative for all of us as a community to be able to support our children in closing that gap.”  

– Maya Dorsey, Learn to Earn Dayton 

This session featured leaders from the early grade literacy coalition initiative with Learn to Earn Dayton, representing the CGLR communities of Dayton and Montgomery Counties in Ohio. As the backbone for the community-wide approach, Learn to Earn Dayton convenes local partners and nonprofits to address chronic absenteeism and the literacy proficiency gap impacting children in their area. The team presented data-driven strategies related to early reading with family engagement as a central component.  

“I want to emphasize and reiterate that building relationships, trust and connection with the families and the schools is the most essential piece to family engagement. Building those relationships is extremely important to be able to utilize the strategies that we have in place.” – Erika Pimentel, Learn to Earn Dayton    

The strategies they shared included examples such as the “Mighty Classroom” to support attendance; trusting relationships with families; support to families with how to engage with schools and advocate for their children; connect families with resources to address basic needs; and provide free literacy-based materials such as “Reading is Lit” boxes.    

“Families can see the value of the activities and can help guide their children. We don’t want to lecture parents about terms like dialogic reading, but we want to provide parents with ways of helping them engage their children in reading.” – Jane McGee-Rafal, The Dayton Foundation 

Following the overview of Learn to Earn Dayton’s strategies, all attendees engaged in a group conversation using a set of structured questions and Padlet to document the discussion. 

“Partnerships are so important because at the end of the day, the result of what happens with these strong partners enables you to get to the goal.” Wesley O. Biles, II, Learn to Earn Dayton