A message from Words Alive’s Program Director, Amanda Bonds
Words Alive is determined to deliver hope, joy, and a sense of community to children, teens, and families in the coming school year. With the help of extraordinary volunteers and remarkable philanthropists, we aim to create 100,000 meaningful moments of connection to the power of reading this year.
Why is this important right now? Experts predict the COVID-related learning loss we’ll see in schools this year is substantial. An escalating literacy crisis threatens more than 400,000 children across San Diego.
Students need our support and resources, quickly, to build on the resilience they have demonstrated during the recent reimagined school year, and to work toward repair of our communities. They also need uplifting, joyous moments to add warmth and connection to what’s been a long, often lonely path since March 2020.
When we see ourselves in the stories of struggle and success of others, we realize what we’re made of and what’s possible. When we are resilient, we are braver, more curious, more adaptable, and more able to extend our reach into the world—we can reflect on our resilience and its role in repairing our communities. This is our hope for each person who participates in our programs.
Words Alive will bring people together to focus on connecting youth to stories of resilience and repair in the 2021-22 scholastic year.
Informed by our courage to collaborate creatively and our commitment to what works, the titles we read this year will tell these stories, reigniting the joy children, teens, and families hold in their heart for learning along the way. You’ll find us reading books such as:
Throughout the year, we will track every touchpoint – each one of those meaningful mission moments – where we create a connection for a child, a teen, or a family to the power of reading. This might look like a book that goes home with a student, a view of our online Story Station videos, a text message from Words Alive received by a family, and more. These touchpoints will be delivered through our volunteer-facilitated core programs and inspired through our online resources and the books and learning kits we bring to our community.
At Words Alive, we believe that everyone has something to give and to gain in the movement to make reading matter, and so we welcome your involvement on the journey to 100,000 touchpoints, whether you want to donate, volunteer, or just cheer us on.
We are proud to come together as a community to strengthen our resilience, embolden our efforts at repair, and joyously celebrate the power of reading.
