“Cultivating a Landscape for Learning” event held October 23
NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Raising Readers Nashville, a collaborative community partnership supporting early literacy efforts in Davidson County, unveiled recent accomplishments and upcoming strategic actions at their event “Cultivating a Landscape for Learning,” held on Wednesday, October 23 at the Noah Liff Opera Center in Nashville, TN.
The ultimate goal of Raising Readers Nashville is to increase Davidson County third graders literacy skills. To do this, the group of over 65 early literacy-focused organizations are working together to develop and implement shared strategies to support children ages 0-8, families and caregivers, and early childhood educators. Many of their efforts are designed to support early literacy, in zero-to-five age range, as multiple studies have shown that creating a strong learning foundation during this time is critical to later learning success.
Lonnell Matthews, Co-Chair at My Brother’s Keeper Nashville is one of those partners. “Working together as a community is essential to creating and sustaining high-quality early childhood education, because collaboration allows us to meet the diverse needs of children and their families, paving the way for future success.”
Recent accomplishments of the group include supporting over 200 families and over 1,000 local early childhood educators with key resources in helping children and families be more prepared in registering and entering their child for kindergarten in Metro Nashville Public Schools.
Efforts to support educators included the launch of Core Network Nashville, a resource for early childhood educators and centers to access trainings, mentorships, business support, and other resources. Additionally the group fostered the recent formation of the Nashville Early Education Coalition (NEEC), a coalition hosted by the Community Foundation of Middle TN, aimed at improving workforce development, expanding childcare options, and supporting early childhood providers to give Nashville’s children the best start in life.
Other tools for educators and local policymakers include publicly-available published reports and guides. The “Davidson County Child Care Landscape Study” is a report published in partnership with the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at Vanderbilt University and shows there are areas in Davidson County where childcare is limited or non-existent. “Guide to Expanding Child Care Seats” is a comprehensive tool to help center directors expand capacity to meet the needs of working families in our growing city.
Recent advocacy efforts included hosting a panel event where state and local lawmakers were able to directly connect with child care directors for greater insight about current funding challenges, as well as a partnership with the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce to better inform the business community about the opportunities to improve child care access and early literacy for their employees.
At the luncheon event, Raising Readers Nashville also announced their next phase of work, which will be implemented over a three-year period. Upcoming strategic actions are centered around four key domains: Ready to Read (0-5), Literacy Skill Development, Educator Support, and Family and Caregiver Engagement. To reach set goals, individuals from local organizations will work together and perform progress evaluations every 18 months.
“Everyone in our community has a role to play in increasing childhood literacy rates,” says Megan Godbey, Director of Raising Readers Nashville. “We need literacy champions. There are many ways to support, from donating funds to volunteering with our partner organizations.”
