By the end of fifth grade, low-income children are approximately 2.5 years behind their peers in terms of reading ability – primarily because of summer reading loss, which is the gradual decline of reading proficiency while children are away from the classroom. Heart of Florida United Way’s (HFUW) annual Day of Action – a community-wide, one-day volunteer event – recently helped to change this.
More than 400 community members dedicated their time to participate in literacy projects throughout Central Florida and to distribute donated books. According to HFUW, this year’s sixth annual event impacted more than 1,600 children at 20 HFUW partner agencies, including Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida, Winter Park Day Nursery, Orlando Day Nursery Association and Schools and Communities: Together for Tomorrow.
To encourage reading and foster literacy in young people, volunteers engaged in a variety of activities, including reading aloud and playing word scramble and spelling games. Additionally, each child received at least four free books from the nearly 20,000 collected prior to the event. Research shows that reading four books over the summer months can maintain or possibly increase a child’s reading level.
“We look forward to Day of Action every year because of the community support and enthusiasm we receive,” said Traci Blue, director of United Way’s Volunteer Resource Center. “We have doubled the amount of volunteers and tripled the amount of books donated over last year. This just shows how much the issue of child literacy affects the lives and education of children in our area.”
With price being the number one barrier to book ownership, children in low-income families don’t have sufficient access to age-appropriate books. In fact, a recent study found that in middle-income neighborhoods, the ratio of age-appropriate books per child is 13 to 1, while in low-income neighborhoods, it is 1 for every 300 children.
“At Heart of Florida United Way, we know that education is the key to ensuring that our young people have the tools they need to succeed and prosper,” said Robert H. (Bob) Brown, president and CEO of Heart of Florida United Way. “Laying a solid foundation through initiatives like Day of Action is one of the many ways we are investing in results and bettering our community for the next generation.”
To learn more about addressing summer reading loss, visit http://hfuw.org/Day_of_Action.php.
