PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS INVITED TO LITERACY WORKSHOP

WATERLOO, IA –Cedar Valley United Way and Operation Threshold are offering a literacy workshop Friday, January 8 from 10 to 11 a.m. as part of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. The workshop will be held at Operation Threshold, 1535 Lafayette St., Waterloo.

Participants will learn simple ways to incorporate literacy in everyday interactions with children, as well as give parents easy ways to promote reading and literacy with their children. The workshop will provide practical tools to create a literacy-rich environment for children. All who work or interact with children – parents, home visiting staff, daycare staff, teachers, etc. – will find the workshop beneficial.

Dr. Paula Bennett, assistant professor of literacy at the University of Northern Iowa, and Dr. Deb Rich, assistant director of the Jacobson Center for Comprehensive Literacy Reading Recovery Program at the University of Northern Iowa, will conduct the workshop.

The event is free and open to the public. RSVPs are requested and can be made by emailing lekeisha.veasley@cvuw.org.

The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading is an initiative aimed at disrupting generational poverty by targeting third-grade reading proficiencies as a means to increase graduation rates. Up to third grade children are learning to read; after third grade children are reading to learn. Locally, the program is a collaborative effort spearheaded by United Way that is working to increase reading scores by focusing on school readiness, summer learning loss and chronic absenteeism with an emphasis on under-resourced families.

For more information about Cedar Valley United Way or the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, visit www.cedarvalleyunitedway.org.

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