September is Literacy Awareness Month

Posted by Judith Casey
 
Let’s Celebrate Basic Education and Literacy Month in Our Club
 
September is Basic Education and Literacy Month in Rotary, and we want to celebrate the importance of both areas of focus in our Rotary year.  Rotary International’s goal is "to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy.”
 
September 8 is International Literacy Day — find a way to celebrate this day in your club!
 
We have taken important information from the Basic Education and Literacy part of the RI website as a guide for the work in our district.
 
"Basic education and literacy is one of Rotary’s six areas of focus.  We know that basic education and literacy are essential for reducing poverty, improving health, encouraging community and economic development, and promoting peace. 
 
Consider these facts:
 
  •A child born to a mother who can read is 50% more likely to survive past the age of five.
 
  • If all students in low-income countries left school with basic reading skills, 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty, which
    would be equivalent to a 12% cut in world poverty.
 
Let’s Continue to Plan and Support Basic Education and Literacy Efforts in Our District:  Our District’s Literacy Award
 
We would like to encourage clubs throughout District 5470 to apply for the District Literacy Award in Spring, 2017. Two clubs received the District Literacy Award at the District Conference this year.  The clubs were the Rampart Range Club in Colorado Springs and the Colorado Springs Rotary Club.  They showed evidence that they had supported five or more literacy projects.
 
Examples of the literacy projects are:  SOUNS (www.souns.org); Dictionary Project; Trampled Rose  (www.trampledrose.org); Donation of Books; Rotary Readers at an Elementary School (once a week); Book Drives; Supporting Literacy Development in Mexico); Imagination Library (Dolly Parton’s Reading Program) www.imaginationlibrary.com
 
Please contact us if you have questions or if you would like ideas for addressing the criteria for the District Literacy Award in spring, 2017.
 
District 5470 Literacy Co-Chairs