Sunday, April 14^th RAR will be kicking off Week of the Young Child in San Francisco with a Dia De Los Ninos Celebration!  This year’s Dia celebration will be held in partnerships with Sunday Streets, in front of the Mission Branch Library.  From 11am to 3pm families can come enjoy the many great activities, music, and a free picture book to celebrate the importance of literacy for all children.  Stop by the RAR table (on 24^th Street in front of the Library) for some family fun with stories and face painting!

ACTIVITY TABLES PROVIDED BY:

Raising A Reader, Green Bookmobile, Tree Frog Treks, Jamestown’s Youth In Charge Board, Jumpstart, Friends School, Reading Partners

MAIN STAGE SCHEDULE:

11:15am – Family Dance Party with Pulsing Word

12:00pm – Cat Doorman, music concert

1:00pm – Memorias, Puentes y Caminos

1:30pm – Francisco Herrera, folk musician

For more information visit: http://www.diasf.org/

What is Dia De Los Ninos?

“Día is a nationally recognized initiative that emphasizes the importance of literacy for all children from all backgrounds. It is a daily commitment to linking children and their families to diverse books, languages and cultures. The common goals of all Día programming are to:

- Celebrate children and connect them to the world of learning through books, stories and libraries.
- Nurture cognitive and literacy development in ways that honor and embrace a child’s home language and culture.
- Introduce families to community resources that provide opportunities for learning through multiple literacies.
- Recognize and respect culture, heritage and language as powerful tools for strengthening families and communities.”

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We are so happy to welcome our newest Program Coordinator in San Francisco, Gabriela Rodriguez, to the Raising A Reader team! Gabriela joins Raising A Reader with experience teaching as a college professor, as well as an English language teacher for kindergarten public programs in Chiapas, Mexico. She also most recently served as the Assistant to the Class Program Coordinator at the Spanish Institute in New York City, working on enrollment and developing new approaches for teachers to teach Spanish to young children. Gabriela is passionate about working with children and providing access to much needed educational resources. At Raising A Reader, she is looking forward to working with families to pass on an understanding of the importance of reading with their children. Welcome Gabriela!

Gabriela doing a "read aloud" for preschool children at Noreiga Early Education School

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If you or anyone you know uses givesomethingback.com for your office supply needs, please follow this link to vote for your 6 favorite local organizations!  The organization with the most votes will receive a donation to help support their mission — and for RAR that means helping more low income families build great reading routines!

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Part of Raising A Reader’s mission is to provide culturally and linguistically relevant books that reflect the communities we serve and respectfully portray diverse peoples.

In honor of Indigenous People’s Day, Oct. 8, below are two books from Raising A Reader’s collection on Native American culture and beliefs.

“Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message” is written by Chief Jake Swamp, and illustrated by Erwin Printup, Jr.

This story illustrates an Iroquois-Six Nations message of gratitude for nature, nourishment, and shelter. The act of giving thanks is presented in a tangible way that children and families can relate to their daily lives.

“How the Stars Fell into the Sky” is written by Jerrie Oughton, and illustrated by Lisa Desimini.

This story shares the Navajo legend of the stars as a guide for people. The main protagonist takes on the meticulous task of placing the stars in order, however an impatient friend changes her plans.

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Earlier this week, Raising A Reader staff was invited to take part in a literacy event at San Francisco’s Cleveland Elementary School, where RAR will launch its program soon. Antonio Sacre, a fantastic storyteller and book author, was there to help celebrate the day. Among other stories he shared with the children, Antonio told the story from his book, “The Barking Mouse.” His way of sharing the story was mesmerizing to watch and had the kindergarteners completely engaged. The children absolutely loved the part about Mama and Papa “smooching,” and the room erupted with giggles and shouts of “ewwww!”

Click below to see an example of his recent performance:

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Raising A Reader’s annual Book Sort was a tremendous success thanks to a record 67 volunteers!

The large groups that turned out on Sept. 14 and 15 made it possible to organize thousands of books and little red bags which will reach children and families across Alameda and San Francisco counties.

For the third consecutive year, the Book Sort was held in the Caltrans building warehouse in Oakland. The staff is especially grateful to Brigetta Smith, Abdullah Mahmud, and the entire Caltrans staff for extending a warm welcome and hosting the event. We are also thankful for the support of volunteers from Wells Fargo, Western Digital, and Girl Scout Troop 30646, as well as photographers Jamie Manley and Cris Nicole.

On behalf of the entire staff and the 10,000 families with which we partner, we extend our gratitude to everyone who helped out. The dedication and hard work was heart warming!

If you’re interested in volunteering with Raising A Reader, San Francisco and Alameda Counties, please email Veronica Flores at veronica.flores@rarbayarea.org.

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We are thrilled to announce that Raising A Reader’s Executive Director, Molly Wertz, was profiled by the San Francisco Business Times. Below is the article that ran on Friday, Sept. 7.

Molly Wertz, executive director of Raising A Reader San Francisco

Premium content from San Francisco Business Times by Renée Frojo, Reporter

What it does: Rotates bags filled with books into kids’ homes weekly. Provides parent training on sharing books to promote family literacy.

Mission: To close the achievement gap before it appears by engaging limited-income families in daily book sharing with their young children.

Milestones: Raising A Reader of San Francisco and Alameda County launched as an independent 501c3 last year and now serves 9,000-plus families.

Annual budget: A little over $1 million.

Corporate supporters: Clorox, Dodge and Cox, Heffernan Group, Pinotti and Associates, Premier Staffing, S.S. Papadapulous and Associates, Safeway, Target, Wells Fargo, Western Digital.

Board members: Grace Carter, Rebecca Johnson, Donna Duhe, Saeed Mirfattah,Donna Dolislager Johnson, Laurie Edelstein, Kirsty Traill.

Employees: 8.

Volunteers: 50.

Telephone: (415) 683-5460.

Website: www.rarbayarea.org.

Office issues

Recent challenge: We have had tremendous demand. The challenge then becomes how to find resources to support this effective program. We’re now serving nearly 10,000 children every year.

Measures of success: We consistently get strong results. We see through research studies on the program that children are entering kindergarten more ready to learn. Their academic skills are better and self-regulation is better. Teachers report that the kids in the program love reading more, have a bigger vocabulary and have a greater knowledge of books.

Missed opportunity: We don’t have a presence in Fremont or Hayward yet.

Misconception: That we just send books home. People don’t understand that we do extensive development for early education educators and parents. We’re not just meeting the access-to-book gap. We’re also helping build connections between parents and their kids so that home-school learning is stronger.

Professional insights

Personal path to nonprofit work: I was a young mom that loved teaching my kids, but I wanted to be more involved so I became an aide at school. Then I became an administrator. But I realized the funding system was in my way, so I started doing policy work. Then realized I should be a funder to really be able to influence, which led me to United Way of the Bay Area and eventually Raising a Reader.

Most surprising aspect: How much everyone really cares about the children in our community. There is no lack of commitment. There are lots of structural barriers within our system, but there are so many folks working hard everyday to make an equitable society.

Biggest pain: The gap between the need out there and what we’re able to provide.

Greatest pleasure: My favorite experience is watching parents’ face light up when they learn that they’ve been doing the right thing. There’s this sense of empowerment they get when they understand how this all works. It’s not that complicated, but it’s not something that is taught.

Best recent moment: When a funder asked me how I was solving a certain problem and then said, “How can I help you do that?”

Dream for another life: None. This is the perfect place for me to be.

Greatest inspiration: Babies. They’re curious about everything, they’re willing to try everything, and they assume that everything will work out. Those are the qualities I admire in anybody.

Causes: Youth development, especially teenagers.

Most like to meet: Anyone who is interested in helping us deliver our mission. I don’t seek out star power. I want commitment to action.

Renée Frojo covers hospitality, restaurants, retail and nonprofits for the San Francisco Business Times.

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September is Latino Heritage Month and what better way to celebrate than through great children’s books! Latinos account for 24% of children ages 0-5 in the U.S. currently. The following book reccommendations provide a way for children of every ethnicity to see themselves and/or develop intercultural understanding and empathy.

“Hairs/Pelitos” is illustrated by Terry Ybàñez and written by Sandra Cisneros, acclaimed author of “The House on Mango Street.” Cisneros’ book rhythmically and bilingually celebrates the diversity of Latinos. Publisher Weekly describes “Hairs/Pelitos” as: “rendering the family members in a variety of unusual skin tones as well as with distinctive hairstyles. Purple-faced Papa has hair ‘like a broom, all up in the air,’ while Nettie’s ‘slippery’ orange hair contrasts vividly with her blue skin. The narrator waxes lyrical on the subject of Mama’s hair: ‘sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, [it] is the warm smell of bread before you bake it.’ Each spread is framed by bright borders ornamented with everyday objects — shoes and bikes; steaming cups of coffee; dice, jacks and jumpropes. Inside, the characters seem to float across swirling blocks of color. A spirited and buoyant celebration of individuality and of the bonds within families.”

“Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English” is written by Alma Flor Ada and illustrated by Simón Silva, one of Mexico’s most influential contemporary painters. The book delights readers with short, bilingual poetic vignettes for each letter of the alphabet. From Cesar Chavez to Yucatan, children will enjoy the beautiful illustrations while learning new words and letters.

Junko Yokota, professor of children’s literature, explains the importance of diversity in children’s books: ”Mirrors let people see reflections of their own lives: windows let them see others’ lives. Seeing oneself represented in literature engenders a sense of pride, it encourages a reader to take more interest in a book and feel a sense of involvement in literary discussions that follow a reading selection. Books that act as windows allow readers to see experiences that are different from their own lives and stretch the range of experiences that we have had.”

Parents and educators can provide those book experiences that truly serve as as windows and mirrors!

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As those Raising A Reader red bags start their weekly journeys home again, among the hundreds of great titles to discover parents and teachers can keep an eye out for some of our new, school-themed books. Sharing stories about being at school can help remind children what they did during the day and spark conversations about new experiences.

Here are some of our favorites from the collection:

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