Early grade reading can be a galvanizing issue for affinity groups. Women United is a global, growing force of 70,000+ women dedicated to creating a world of opportunity – for everyone.
Women are galvanizing to support reading initiatives, to provide books for low-income kids, to advocate for community literacy programs and to volunteer with struggling readers. In fact, the NWLC is recruiting 100,000 education volunteers to boost kids’ reading skills. Macy’s has underwritten a toolkit for Women’s Leadership Councils (WLC) to use to recruit their colleagues, friends and neighbors as volunteer readers. Download the United Way Women’s Leadership Council Early Grade Reading Toolkit for Action.
- In Miami, the United Way of Miami-Dade’s WLC is recruiting women leaders to be volunteer readers in child care centers the United Way’s Center for Early Childhood Excellence already serves. Find out more.
- IIn Lafayette, LA, the United Way of Acadiana leveraged its Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library initiative to make a public appeal for early grade support. Now, over 2,700 children get one free book per month and the percentage of those families reading together every day has jumped from 45 percent to 71 percent. The United Way won a national Literacy Awareness Award for its WLC video, which appealed to women leaders to be part of building a more literate community. Watch the video.
United Way Worldwide has begun to develop strategies to help the national Women’s Leadership Council raise its voice on early grade reading policy, including visits with members of Congress, testimony on Capitol Hill.
For more information about Women’s Leadership Councils.
