November 22, 2004

Mayors from across the country have been very active in visiting schools, reading to students, and making literacy a priority in their city. The annual Reading Is Fundamental Community Reading Challenge begins January 2 to March 2, 2005. The U.S. Conference of Mayors is again partnering with Reading is Fundamental (RIF) to engage mayors in this literacy effort. The goal of the effort is to foster a new generation of lifelong readers by bringing an entire community together to participate in two fun-filled weeks of literacy activities.

More than 1,100 RIF sites across the country select two weeks during this two-month period to participate in the challenge which is sponsored by MetLife Foundation. The challenge is to bring kids, families, and community members together for two weeks of creative reading activities. These range from family literacy nights, group read-aloud sessions, guest readers, book buddies, book distributions, and reading rallies. Each activity helps the site earn points to win a state or national award and additional funds to buy books.

The Conference encourages mayors to take a lead role in their community and work with the local RIF chapter to make the Community Reading Challenge a success in their city. Mayors can have an active leadership role in planning and participating in this two-week event and assist the city in competing for a state or national award.

Mayors and their staff can access a step-by-step resource kit to assist them in becoming engaged in the local challenge effort by going to www.rif.org/crc_kit.mspx. For more information about the Challenge contact, Seung Yu at 202-673-1614 or syu@rif.org.

Please send your stories and pictures to Fritz Edelstein at the U.S. Conference of Mayors to be included in future editions of US Mayor.