The Literacy Connects Infusion Project — a three-year effort to improve literacy and language skills in neighborhoods around schools in the Sunnyside Unified School District – touched the lives of 133 adults and more than 1,100 children in its inaugural year.
The project was piloted at Mission Manor Elementary School starting in August 2013. In addition to Mission Manor, the project will expand in the upcoming 2014-2015 school year to offer programming at Los Niños Elementary as well.
“Through our partnership with SUSD and other key literacy organizations in Sunnyside, we’ve been able to improve coordination and provide educational opportunities for community members from birth through adulthood all year long,” said Executive Director Betty Stauffer. “The project has also helped Literacy Connects further integrate our programming, leading to some exciting innovations such as Reading Seed coaches working more closely with the writing curriculum of the Magic Box.”
- 36 third-graders worked twice-weekly with a volunteer reading coach to improve their reading skills through Reading Seed Intensive.
- The Stories That Soar! Magic Box curriculum encouraged 597 children to write original stories. Of those, 16 participated in afterschool Readers Theatre writing and performing stories for their parents and schoolmates.
- 37 children from Mission Manor and Desert View High School collaborated in the Stories That Soar! Book Project, which professionally published two books of stories written by elementary students and illustrated by high school students.
- 4 children and 16 parents participated in Teach the Parent, Reach the Child, with children engaging in literacy activities while parents learned how to help their children become more effective readers.
- 79 adults participated in Family Education Night classes in basic literacy and English.
- At other sites in SUSD, 587 students from Summit View and Desert View participated in Stories That Soar! High, a new program in which stories written by elementary students were adapted and performed by high school students. In addition, 38 adults participated in morning English classes at Esperanza Elementary School taught by volunteer tutors from our English Language Acquisition for Adults program.
The Infusion Project has continued this summer, with a new Science Club, Story Time and Clubhouse Drama programs at Roy Drachman Boys and Girls Club. More than 40 young people are attending.
In its first year, the Infusion Project was funded by the Helios Educational Foundation, Pima County Board of Supervisors and the Stocker Foundation. This year, funders will also include the Knisely Family Foundation, the Community Finance Corporation and the Jewish Community Foundation. Partners in the project include the Sunnyside Unified School District, United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, Pima Community College Adult Education, Sunnyside Parents as Teachers, and Pima County Public Libraries.
