When Johns Hopkins University researchers labeled Providence Public Schools as one of the worst districts in the country in 2019, the Rotary Club of Providence was already three years into an effort to make it a little better.
It began in 2016 when Rotary volunteers brightened the halls at Harry Kizirian Elementary School with fresh paint on the doorways and a welcoming mural based on students’ artwork in the entry hall. Since then, the Providence Rotary Club’s support for city schools has evolved into a focused effort to help improve the literacy skills of early grade students in two partner schools.
Working in collaboration with principals, literacy coaches and teachers at Harry Kizirian and George J. West Elementary Schools, we identified and purchased books and innovative literacy teaching tools.
Member enthusiasm for those early projects led Rotarian George Babcock to pursue a vision of committing the bulk of the club’s philanthropic and volunteer support to literacy education on an ongoing basis. In recognition of that vision and George’s generous financial support, our activity was formally named the George W. Babcock Literacy Initiative in his honor and memory.
With funding growth provided by the annual Legends for Literacy galas, the initiative has been able to experiment with innovative teaching tools and fund proven activities the schools could not afford.
An exciting new wrinkle has been the multi-faceted relationship between our initiative and the extensive community of locally based, nationally recognized children’s book authors and illustrators. A growing number of these authors and illustrators are among the Legends attending our Legends for Literacy fundraising gala each year. Gala attendees have responded very generously to an appeal for funds to purchase books by these legends for donation to the classroom libraries in our partner schools. And several legends have joined Rotarians who take part in read-aloud sessions at the schools.
We have recently added two new community collaborations to strengthen the initiative.
Joining with volunteers from the Lifelong Learning Collaborative (LLC), we provided Rotarian literacy tutors at the Kizirian school.
And in collaboration with Books Are Wings, we are testing an innovative program to provide take-home books for early grade students at George J. West school coupled with custom-designed supporting materials and regular family contact to encourage reading beyond the school day.