This week’s meeting was really fun and full of energy. Maeve Johnson, our

interim President, conducted the meeting with 17 members present as well

as some very special guests, including PDG (Past District Governor)

Shirley Grace and husband Di Jack Jackson from Fresno, CA. A Rotary

classmate of our very own PDG, Randy Brooks, Shirley led us in our song.

And we all know we need to be led on that.

Also with us was Bruce Johnson, a winter visitor from Aurora NW Rotary in Spokane, WA, and Paul Oatman, a local guest of   Javier and Dave. We also had the pleasure of Miss Lilly’s company! Needless to say, everyone was on their best behavior in order to impress our guests. Well, most everyone.

 

Our speaker was Jill Falkoff, the Director of Read On Tucson, a project of the United Way of Tucson & Southern AZ. Although Read On Tucson is not yet an active program in Marana, it has been very successful in Tucson and will likely grow. Jill reminded us that reading proficiency in 3^rd grade is the most important predictor of high school graduation. And that the state of AZ uses 4^th grade illiteracy rates to estima te future prison needs. She told us that a little over 60% of Tucson children from low income homes have no (as in zero) books at home. Poverty and illiteracy go hand-in-hand. The Annie E. Casey Foundation has determined that illiteracy in children stems from 3 factors:

            A readiness gap (children aren’t ready for education)

            Poor attendance (can’t, won’t, or don’t regularly attend school)

            The “summer slide” (no literacy resources during the summer)

A simple, powerful intervention? BOOKS. So, in 2011, Read On Tucson chose 20 Tucson schools having high populations of students that qualify for free or reduced lunch. Read On Tucson provides early childhood care and educational facilities, parent education and literacy resources, quality after-school programs, a public information campaign promoting school attendance, and My Summer Library.

 

Jill closed with a conversation she had with a young student in Read On Tucson. She asked him if he read at home. No, he said. She asked him why not…? He replied “Because I don’t got no books.”