Youth and Family Services
In Memphis, 3 out of 5 children come from low-income homes. National studies indicate that children from low-income families have been exposed to an average of only 25 hours of one-on-one reading time compared to an average of 1,000 to 1,700 hours for children from middle-class families. This is an important statistic since, according to the Urban Child Institute, children in Memphis score in the lower 20th percentile on national tests of kindergarten readiness. Parents who regularly read to their children have a tremendous impact on a child's love of reading as well as school and life success. In fact, research tells us that children who are read to regularly at home hear twice as many words every year and have a third larger vocabulary by age three than children who are not read to. (Hart & Risley, 1995) Literacy Mid-South understands, as Emilie Buchwald once said, "children are made readers on the laps of their parents."
Family Literacy
The Family Literacy Program's goal is to increase parental involvement in the early learning experiences of pre-school age children. The program teaches parents how to build a strong and supportive literacy environment at home and emphasizes the importance of reading aloud to children. This program is an outreach effort that works in partnership with schools, early education programs, and social service agencies. Parent training workshops are conducted at over 20 partner sites throughout the year.
Literacy Mid-South’s Family Literacy Program utilizes two series of workshops (Scholastic’s Read and Rise and the American Library Association’s Every Child Ready to Read) to best serve families at its partner sites. The Family Literacy Program also facilitates a Family Literacy Collaborative, working with local agencies to create more concerted family literacy efforts in the Memphis community.
ON-LINE ACTIVITIES
Click here to visit our comprehensive list of family literacy websites.
Contact Information
For more information about Family Literacy, contact Shelley Thomas, Youth and Family Services Manager, at 901-327-6000, ext. 1007 or sthomas [at] literacymidsouth [dot] org.
