July 26, 2004

Flanked by preschoolers and parents, literacy activists, teachers and nonprofit and corporate leaders, Mayor John Peyton announced June 24 a community-wide early literacy initiative, "RALLY Jacksonville," along with the formation of the Jacksonville Partnership for Literacy (JPL).

The $10 million initiative will be funded by the city of Jacksonville, which will commit a total of $7 million to the effort this year — primarily through the Jacksonville Children's Commission — and will continue funding over the next three years. City funding will be supplemented by $3 million from the Ready Child Coalition, with additional support coming from other community and corporate partners including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, CSX, Holland & Knight Charities and the United Way of Northeast Florida.

The initiative and the partnership represent the culmination of a year-long research and outreach effort by the mayor and key staff to determine how to make a meaningful difference in Jacksonville's literacy rate. With a functional illiteracy rate estimated at nearly 47 percent among adults (source: JCCI), the city faces significant challenges in terms of workforce development — the key long-term issue determining success or failure in today's knowledge-based economy. Knowing that a significant portion of the education battle is won or lost in the preschool and early elementary years, the mayor made enhancing early literacy one of the cornerstones of his campaign for office and one of the key goals of his administration.

"Some experts say it will take a generation to make a difference in early literacy in our community," said Peyton. "I say, that is not an option. We don't have a generation — and our children don't have a generation, either. We must begin to make a meaningful difference right now, or we are condemning the young people of this community to lives of frustration and lost potential — and we-re condemning our city to the same thing. As the global economy becomes more and more knowledge-based, the single most important factor in attracting jobs and developing our economy is having a workforce that is educated and can learn and re-learn new skills throughout their working lives."

In addition to a four-point plan to address early literacy (detailed below), the mayor's efforts will extend into collaborations with the Jacksonville Public Library and other organizations seeking to provide remedial literacy instruction for adults. He has already established literacy programs as a core volunteer opportunity for City of Jacksonville employees through the JaxCares about Literacy program, instituted a literacy support requirement for the city's Public Service Grants application process, and partnered with Learn to Read to provide classes for city employees that will help improve basic reading skills and comprehension needed to get and keep a job.

"We-ve spent a year exhaustively studying both the problem and the remedies that exist in our city," said Peyton. "We-ve reached out to literally hundreds of groups and individuals with an interest in this issue, and we have put together a partnership and a plan that can move the needle."

The Partnership's four-point plan is as follows: *(Tasks/Responsibilities not specifically referenced in text are specified in parentheses following each item)

1. Make Literacy And Reading A Core Value In Jacksonville

• Use the bully pulpit to raise awareness of the importance of early literacy (Mayor's Office)
• Conduct a Literacy Summit to explore best practices and new ways to enhance literacy across the broad spectrum of the city's population (Mayor's Office)
• Distribute one million books to Jacksonville children through partnerships with the United Way of Northeast Florida, Holland and Knight Charities, the Ready Child Coalition and Rotary, as well as other philanthropic groups.
• Invite business, faith and civic groups to provide volunteers to read to children in child care centers. The goal is to recruit 200 readers to work in 20 child care centers, reaching more than 2,000 children. (Children's Commission)

Invite all 4-year-old children in Duval County to join the Mayor's Reading Club as a way to prepare for kindergarten. Every month, club members and their families or caregivers will receive a specially written book that emphasizes a core pre-literacy concept. The books will also feature techniques that parents and caregivers can use to develop each concept, and will encourage parents and caregivers to read aloud to children. Reading to children is crucial to their development of literacy skills. (The Jacksonville Children's Commission is charged with developing and deploying this aspect of the effort.)

2. Enhance The Quality Of School Readiness Programs

• The Partnership will launch a quality rating system to allow parents to easily identify the best child care centers in their communities. (Ready Child Coalition)
• The Jacksonville Children's Commission, Episcopal Children's Services and the Jacksonville Urban League's Headstart will deploy teams of coaches, technical assistance staff and trained volunteers into up to 200 child care centers to help directors and teachers to improve the quality of their environments, teaching methods and curricula. (Jacksonville Children's Commission)
• Create a career ladder for pre'school practitioners. With the mayor's support, Florida Community College at Jacksonville, the Florida Institute for Education at the University of North Florida and the Duval County Professional Consortium are working together to create an articulated post'secondary system of professional education beginning with entry-level training and progressing to associate and bachelor degree levels — all with a literacy focus. (FCCJ)

3. Create Neighborhood Early Literacy Demonstration Zones

Over the next three years, the initiative will undertake six demonstration projects, all located in or near current Intensive Care Neighborhoods. Projects will identify barriers to early learning, along with neighborhood assets that can be brought to bear to overcome these barriers. Each project will test a unique strategy for engaging the entire neighborhood, including families, businesses, community groups and faith organizations in the use of methods and materials to increase early literacy. In this comprehensive approach, resources will be used to improve health and nutrition, develop parenting skills and resolve family issues as needed, and make books and technology available to children and families.

The first project will be launched in January 2005 and will center around the Jacksonville Children's Commission's new Don Brewer Center for Early Learning, a model child care center and research facility located on the city's east side. (Jacksonville Children's Commission and the Florida Institute for Education)

4. Measure And Share Results And Progress

The Florida Institute for Education has agreed to coordinate data collection and evaluation of all initiatives. Evaluation will be rigorous and findings will be used to improve and replicate successful projects, and results will be shared with the community.

The initiative will be implemented by the entities detailed above, and guided by the Jacksonville Partnership for Literacy Community Advisory Board and Early Literacy Policy Council. The members of the Community Advisory Board will be individuals with a keen interest in the issue of literacy, who will meet quarterly with the mayor to provide counsel on policy matters relating to the initiative. The policy council will be largely comprised of the same individuals who participated in the Mayor's Work Group on Early Literacy over the past year, and will have responsibility for overseeing the actual implementation of the strategy.

"I want to thank Jim Van Vleck, my literacy liaison, and the members of the work group for a year of incredible service to this community," Peyton said. "Their many hours of hard work have laid the foundation for a literacy initiative that is both bold and solidly grounded in research and curriculum, and I deeply appreciate their help and support. This is an effort that will require our entire community's participation, and if this group is any indication, we will get it!"