Richmond Named Finalist for All America City Award

Richmond is a finalist! We are proud to announce that Richmond is one of 32 finalists for the All-America City Award. The library has played a leading role in convening a broad base of partner organizations* to develop a Community Solutions Action Plan to work on three critical areas impacting school success: School Readiness, Summer Learning Loss, and Chronic Absence. Using third grade reading scores as the key indicator of success, the city is now preparing to move from planning to action. First, however, we are sending a team to the Denver conference where we will learn if we are one of 10-15 sites chosen for the All America City Award. Stay tuned for further developments. If you or your organization is interested in joining the partner group to advance third grade reading proficiency, please contact Krista Dawson at krista.dawson@richmondgov.com.

If you would like to see the full list of finalists: http://www.gradelevelreading.net/launching-your-campaign-for-grade-level-reading/all-america-city-award-finalists/

Below is the official announcement.

All-America City Award:

Thirty-two communities have been named finalists for the All-America City Award, an honor that will be announced July 2, at the end of the Grade-Level Reading Community Network Conference in Denver. Another 25 cities and counties were named finalists for the Campaign’s own Pacesetter Honors.

The communities are among the 124 charter members of the national Network, all of whom have pulled together in extraordinary collaborative efforts to create plans that should increase the number of low-income children who are reading proficiently by the end of third grade.

The full Network will gather in Denver on June 30 to explore and share innovative strategies to turn these early literacy plans into action in their communities. The conference marks the official launch of the Network and of the determined effort to move the needle on third grade reading.

*Partner Organizations

Many Richmond City departments including: Library, Early Childhood Development Initiative, Human Services, Hispanic Liaison, Justice Services, Social Services, Parks and Rec, Budget and Strategic Planning.

Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Richmond

Bridging Richmond

Children’s Museum

Commonwealth Parenting

Communities In Schools

Community Foundation

Community Idea Stations/PBS

Family Lifeline/CHIP

Friends Association for Children

Greater Richmond Chamber

Literacy Institute, VCU

Micah Project

Partnership for Families Northside

Peter Paul Development Center

Richmond Promise Neighborhood

Richmond Public Schools

RRHA

SCAN

Smart Beginnings/UW

UW Partnership for Out of School Time