{"id":75294,"date":"2016-11-20T00:27:16","date_gmt":"2016-11-20T05:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=75294"},"modified":"2016-11-18T22:46:01","modified_gmt":"2016-11-19T03:46:01","slug":"literacy-coalition-meets-to-discuss-objectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=75294","title":{"rendered":"Literacy Coalition meets to discuss objectives"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Students<\/a>
Students in the Pre-Kindergarten Class at Madison Central thank the coalition for its
support of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, the Literacy Coalition of Madison County NY\u00a0convened at Madison Hall in Morrisville. More than three dozen members from schools, libraries and community agencies met to discuss literacy needs throughout Madison County. Senator\u00a0David Valesky, who has supported our efforts since 2009, was represented by Tracy Carmen from\u00a0his staff. The meeting helped identify areas of success and to provide the organization with some\u00a0key areas of focus for the future.<\/p>\n

\"Coalition<\/a>
Coalition members read a favorite book with pre-kindergarten students from\u00a0Madison Central.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After opening remarks Carla Zimmerman, one of the coordinators of the Madison County Reads\u00a0Ahead highlighted the program. MCRA is a free one-on-on tutoring program for adults\u00a0seeking to improve their lives through improved English language skills and the desire to earn a\u00a0high school equivalency diploma. She introduced one of the volunteer tutors, Gary Johnson.<\/p>\n

Gary then spoke about the success of one of the learners, Brandon Fowler. Brandon\u2019s story of\u00a0the challenges he faced as he struggled to get his equivalency diploma was inspirational. He is\u00a0now employed at Ferris Industries in Munnsville and incredibly grateful for the support and\u00a0encouragement he received through the tutoring program.<\/p>\n

\"Madison<\/a>
Madison County Reads Ahead tutor Gary Johnson, center, learner Brandon Fowler, and
coordinator Carla Zimmerman share success.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bulk of the morning was spent reviewing the mission and 5-year plan of the coalition. The\u00a0LCMCNY mission is \u201c…a consensus-building initiative intended to unite the community around\u00a0the importance of literacy, provide economies of scale to existing organizations to efficiently\u00a0service those in need and provide hope to residents for sustainable change and an improved\u00a0future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The meeting ended with the celebration of over twenty Madison Central pre-kindergarten\u00a0students. The entire incoming group entered the year having had the advantage of participating\u00a0in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.<\/p>\n

The coalition has made this program available\u00a0to all Madison County students (aged birth through 5 years).<\/p>\n

The LCMCNY and its partners, the\u00a0libraries throughout the county, identify children who are between the ages of birth and five\u00a0years old. Children are enrolled in the Imagination Library, regardless of income status, and\u00a0receive a high quality, age and developmentally appropriate book each month.<\/p>\n

The books are\u00a0mailed directly to the homes of the enrolled children. Madison Central School Librarian Laura\u00a0Winchester spoke about the value of the program and then introduced the Class of 2030 who\u00a0thanked the coalition for their support. Each student then sat down with a coalition member to\u00a0read his\/her favorite DPIL book. It was a fantastic way to finish a very productive day!<\/p>\n

Anyone wanting more information about coalition efforts or programs is encouraged to go to our\u00a0website at www.literacycoalitionmadisoncountyny.org , Facebook site at Literacy Coalition of Madison County NY, or by e-mailing interim director Mike Drahos at mrdhope@yahoo.com.<\/p>\n

The coalition is an unincorporated, private non-profit organization which receives annual\u00a0financial support from the Central New York Community Foundation and donations from\u00a0community members and organizations. Donations are tax-deductible and can be on our website\u00a0or by mailing a check to the LCMCNY 1081 Northside Plaza Gorman Foundation Center,\u00a0Oneida, N.Y. 13421<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo 4 – (l-r) Madison County Reads Ahead tutor Gary Johnson, center, learner Brandon Fowler, and\u00a0coordinator Carla Zimmerman share success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, the Literacy Coalition of Madison County NY\u00a0convened at Madison Hall in Morrisville. More than three dozen members from schools, libraries and community agencies met to discuss literacy needs throughout Madison County. Senator\u00a0David Valesky, who has supported our efforts since 2009, was represented by Tracy Carmen from\u00a0his staff. The meeting helped identify […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23813,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}