“Reimagining Intergenerational Illiteracy”
LITERACY BALTIMORE: Reimagining Intergenerational Illiteracy
“Adult literacy providers must collaborate with a broad cross-section of partners to stop the intergenerational impact of illiteracy” – Shirley Bigley LaMotte, Baltimore Reads, Inc.
Earlier this year, three well-established Baltimore institutions – Baltimore Reads, Inc., Enoch Pratt Free Library, and the Dyslexia Tutoring Program – decided to affirm and model the value of collaboration, forming Literacy Baltimore as a “big tent” under which literacy advocacy and services can be delivered.
“Students in adult literacy programs often can access a range of other services provided by government and not-for-profits. But these service providers often are competitors for dwindling philanthropic gifts and restrictive government funding. We now want to build a continuum of services that includes the City and State governments, religious 
organizations, immigrant groups, workforce agencies, schools and universities, and other community-based organizations so that adults and families can receive comprehensive, effective literacy services,” says Baltimore Reads’ CEO LaMotte.
Rebuilding Program Services
Literacy Baltimore welcomes organizations and agencies committed to strengthening families, promoting literacy and lifelong learning, improving the workforce, and building community through shared resources to join the new consortium. Literacy Baltimore will begin its work on June 23 2010, when Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake declares it Literacy Day in Baltimore, and welcomes Assistant Secretary Brenda Dann-Messier of the USDE Office of Vocational and Adult Education as the keynote speaker at the “Why Can’t Grandma Read? Intergenerational Illiteracy in Baltimore” conference.
Reshaping Advocacy
Highlighted at the Literacy Baltimore June 23rd conference will be the Declaration for the Right to Literacy. Mayor Rawlings-Blake and City Council President Jack Young will lead a host of dignitaries and conference participants in signing a scroll affirming our commitment to work for everyone’s Right to Literacy. This scroll[1], which already has tens of thousands of signatures on it, will be delivered to President Obama in the fall of 2010. “Literacy Baltimore hopes that this Declaration will strengthen Baltimore’s commitment to building a fully literate community,” said Jeff Spence of Baltimore Reads.
For more information about Literacy Baltimore and its June 23 Literacy Day Conference, visit www.literacybaltimore.org. Additional information about Baltimore Reads, Enoch Pratt Free Library, and the Dyslexia Tutoring Program is also available at the Literacy Baltimore website.
[1] See the full Declaration for the Right to Literacy on Literacy Powerline’s accommpanying Home Page article, www.literacypowerline.com.