Literacy Means Opportunity
Recent editorial for Downtown Fort Worth Rotary - thank you to all Rotarians that support local literacy efforts in their community.
Rotarians are mentoring, starting coalitions for adult literacy, supporting local schools, and spending vast amounts of volunteer hours toward the increased literacy of our community. We have Rotarian leaders and members with decades of work in these efforts and they never ask to be recognized or spotlighted. Much of the work goes uncelebrated but it does not go unnoticed.
Literacy means opportunity. Literacy is a key that unlocks doors out of unemployment, underemployment, and poverty.
One of the areas of focus for Rotary International is Basic Education and Literacy. It is a priority of the Downtown Fort Worth Rotary to support literacy efforts and the club has a long history of putting action to words by supporting various initiatives that promote literacy. About one in five adults in Tarrant County cannot read. That means that more than 200,000 friends and neighbors cannot read well enough to succeed at a fourth-grade level.
Rotarians are mentoring, starting coalitions for adult literacy, supporting local schools, and spending vast amounts of volunteer hours toward the increased literacy of our community. We have Rotarian leaders and members with decades of work in these efforts and they never ask to be recognized or spotlighted. Much of the work goes uncelebrated but it does not go unnoticed.
It is easy to demonstrate ROI in the for-profit and even non-profit realm. However to demonstrate that ROI as an organization focused on service, like our club, can be difficult. Downtown Fort Worth’s ROI on literacy can look like a parent reading to their child for the first time or reading their child’s homework for the first time. ROI for literacy can look like a mother leaving an abusive environment because she’s empowered to stand up for her future now that she can read. ROI for literacy can look like a child speaking for the first time because a key has been given and a lock, to a hidden world, has been unlocked. ROI on literacy is an adult being able to read his or her ‘over the counter’ medicines and not risk their lives because they do not know how much is too much. There is no one way to tell our leaders and members in the Downtown Fort Worth Rotary the ROI on their investment in literacy, but I can tell you it is changing the face of our Tarrant County community because I have witnessed the efforts. People are engaged. To become engaged you must be able to read about the community around you.
Now stop and imagine for a moment, a day of not being able to read: no emails (okay that might not be so bad), no contracts, no news articles (fantasy or real), and no books that help you improve upon the many skills we all need to develop or improve…AND no fun book readings. How will I live without my mystery novels and yes my romance novels? So much of our world is reading and enjoying the written word. So thank you to all the Rotarians that have made a positive impact on literacy efforts. Thank you for writing letters to high schools students, reading to elementary school students, chairing and volunteering at spelling bees, and starting literacy coalitions. Thank you. I know you do not need a thank you but I need to say thank you.
We get to see literacy fun in action for a great cause this week!
Tarrant Literacy Coalition is holding their annual corporate spelling bee at TCU this Thursday evening. We have two Rotarian teams in the action this week. One team of Rotarian gals versus one team of Rotarian guys and Texas Wesleyan is sitting this one out, so we might have a chance here folks! There will be lots of great teams but I’ll be rooting for one of the two Rotarian teams of course. The gals’ team is called Peacemaking Close Harmony Trio and the guys’ team is the Game of Homophones. We appreciate the women and men that stepped up to this difficult challenge and took their challenge seriously and with great energy and creativity. I’m not sure if the names of the teams worry or intrigue me…maybe a bit of both.
