It’s time for a new episode of Southark Spotlight, our monthly series which sits down to discuss someone, some business, or organization that is making an impact in South Arkansas. This month we sat down with Rhonda Williams of the Warren School District to discuss the RISE Community Award Program. Please enjoy the following article:
A new initiative is taking over Warren for a really good cause. Spurred on by the Warren School District and funded in part by a major grant, citizens of Warren are promoting the pure joy of reading.
“Our goal and mission is to promote a culture of reading within the school and within the community,” says project coordinator with the Warren School District Rhonda Williams.
The overall project is being funded by a SOAR Reading Grant totaling $168,344 to be disputed to the District over the next two years. However, the project has taken on a life even beyond what was originally imagined. Now, it has expanded beyond the halls of the Warren Schools and filtered into community homes, businesses, and civic organizations throughout town.
Top photo: Officer Jason Wallace recently read books to a classroom of Warren students as part of a reading initiative taking over Warren.
Williams says that following being awarded the SOAR(Successful Outcomes for Arkansas Readers) Reading Grant, she was contacted about the community as a whole being eligible for what’s known as a RISE Community Award. The goal of the RISE Community Award program is to support the RISE Arkansas literacy initiative in creating community collaboration and building a culture of reading by capitalizing on available resources. The award of the grant is playing a big part in the pursuit of the RISE award, but it’s the involvement of community members that is truly at the heart of this project to encourage reading among not only the youth of the community but to the adult population as well.
Although it’s already started, between now and late June, a number of events are scheduled to help promote the initiative of simply putting books in the hands of citizens. The focus is especially centered on children, from infants to seniors in high school, but the overarching mission is to revitalize the joy and satisfaction of picking up a book for nothing more than enjoyment.
The project is most noticeable in some ten or more events being held over the next several months throughout Warren.
Recently Warren schools hosted an event for students called Read Across Warren. Local community members, business representatives, and local officials were invited to drop in and read to classrooms of kids. Residents such as the Warren School Board President Jerry Daniels, UAM Chief of Police John Kidwell, Officer Jason Wallace of the Bradley County Sheriff’s Department, Randy Rawls of Union Bank, Lakin Usry and Patricia Crisostomo of Mainline Health, Bethany Plumb of First State Bank, Warren Mayor Gregg Reep, and many more gave time out of their day to read some of their favorite books to students.
Each event being held must have at least six community partners involved to be eligible for the RISE Community Award. Mrs. Williams notes that all ten events have active partners across all spectrums of the Warren business community.
Other events set to be held to promote reading include an Author Visit Day, Family Reading Night, New Parent promotion in conjunction with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a literacy-forward Easter egg hunt at the Warren City park April 1, Pink Tomato festival book booth, and a “Look who got caught reading” social media campaign.
Local author Sara Daniell took part in an event at Eastside February 27. She presented her book The Lost Elf. Another local author event is was held in memory of the late children’s book author Glenn Lansdale who sadly passed away recently, but was himself a Warren High graduate.
At most of the events, books themselves are not only being read but given away. “We’re probably going to give out about 600 books per event,” said Williams. That’s a major investment into literacy community-wide. Each school is also having book vending machines installed. Tokens can be earned to be able to get books through those machines.
During COVID, the School District noticed a need to deliver meals by bus to students throughout the town when they were unable to physically attend school due to the COVID-19 virus. The meals-by-bus program was the inspiration for another event called the Book Bus coming in June of this year. A mobile library will be giving away books at several different locations around town in the hopes of inspiring more people to become readers.
Every single event needs volunteers to help with a variety of tasks from handing out books to donating water for the summer warm-season initiatives.
Another way community members can get involved is by donating actual books. Williams says that any brand new books geared for kids from infant through twelfth grade can be donated at her office at the Warren School District Administration building. Books can be purchased online, and Williams recommends purchasers use Scholastic’s website for the best pricing.
Families can also take part by submitting photos of their children reading to Williams for posting on Warren School’s social media. Photos should be emailed to rhondawilliams@warrensd.org.
The entire project will happen again next year, as the grant provides two years of support. This year the District is receiving around $86,000 in funding, with more to come to help with events in 2024. However, this year’s events will wrap up in June. Williams says that the community is required to submit all of the required material to the State and RISE by June 23 to be eligible for the RISE Community Award, of which there are three possible, gold, silver, and bronze.
Williams says that she has been overwhelmed by the community support for the project so far. Many local businesses have even set up reading nooks in the corners of their establishments to encourage those taking part. She says that Warren is going for gold.
Do you have a suggestion of someone who would make a good subject for the next Southark Spotlight? Email you suggestion to salineriverchronicle@gmail.com
1 comment / Add your comment below