(From the City of Joplin)
Many families in Joplin will receive free books this spring, thanks to a grant designed to enrich public library early literacy services for young children. The Joplin Public Library is a recipient of $15,000 in Racing to Read funds, a grant established by the Missouri State Library, made possible by the federal Library Services and Technology Act.
Throughout 2015, the Joplin Public Library will host family-focused early literacy events, at the Library and through out the community, where children and caregivers will participate in a variety of early literacy activities and receive a copy of a free book. Racing to Read grants were designed to expand and improve the quality and availability of programs that expose kids from birth to age six to critical pre-reading skills.
The Joplin Public Library will partner with local agencies, Joplin Public School’s Parents as Teachers, Alliance of Southwest Missouri, Educare, and United Way’s Success By 6, to host multiple grant-sponsored events aimed to improve parental knowledge of five key pre-reading practices. All families who attend Racing to Read events will receive a free children’s book to add to their home library. The Racing to Read funding will also allow the Joplin Public Library to offer an early literacy training for early childhood educators and youth service librarians, and will aid in the purchase of early literacy materials for use at in-library and outreach events.
The next Racing to Read event, a toy check-out will be held on Wednesday, March 4th. Families and caregivers of children age five and under will have to opportunity to utilize the United Way’s Success By 6 Mobile Toy Lending Library to select a toy for check-out. Any family who checks out a toy and returns it on March 18th will receive a free children’s book.
For more information on this and other Racing to Read events, contact Jeana Gockley by calling 417-623-2184.
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