District Literacy champions unite: guest blog from the Junior League of Washington

This month, the Junior League of Washington (JLW) is thrilled to kick off a new partnership with Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) to support homeless families in Washington, D.C. Over the next three years, JLW and RIF will bring a wealth of books, literacy resources, and family-friendly fun to the children and families served by Coalition for the Homeless and Kia’s Place. This partnership follows RIF’s launch of Literacy Network, a free digital destination filled with tools, resources and ideas to help volunteers make a local literacy impact.

The Junior League of Washington is committed to helping the community thrive through the efforts of our trained volunteers and has embraced the call to action around the complex issues surrounding literacy in Washington, DC. Since 1999, the League has chosen to devote our resources – volunteer and financial – to improving literacy for children, adults, and cultural pursuits. We do this by emphasizing the importance of reading aloud to children and by ensuring DC-area children have greater access to literacy resources in their homes, schools, and libraries.

JLW awarded RIF a three-year targeted grant to provide funding for this initiative, and Junior League members will be volunteering and instilling a love of reading in children at biannual family literacy events.

JLW President Aimee Picard Soller shared her enthusiasm about this collaboration: “Our League is pleased to partner with Reading Is Fundamental on this important initiative. We are providing these families with the building blocks for educational success, and the League and our members are excited to volunteer and be a part of this effort.”

This partnership is important to the League as we help families in need discover the importance of literacy, fill their homes with books, and make sure their parents are armed with the support resources to continue learning outside of the classroom.

JLW also partnered with Reading Is Fundamental in 2012 during our centennial year effort to distribute 100,000 books to children in Washington, DC – part of JLW’s ongoing Resolution Read initiative. The significant impact and success of that collaboration gave us the confidence to know that through our partnership with RIF, we can unite literacy advocates to make a difference in the lives of D.C.’s youth. - Amber Huffman Junior League of Washington RIF Grant Relationship Manager