The Summer Reading Partnership Kickoff
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The Summer Reading Partnership Kickoff

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When I left my reporting job at Channel 4 (WTMJ-TV), who knew I would show up on Channel 12 (WISN) a decade later promoting the great success of our Reading Partnership!

I just celebrated my one year anniversary at United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County.

The biggest thing I’ve noticed? United Way continues to evolve and stay relevant – in ways that always surprise me and bring me joy. We are driving collective impact by evolving from our roots as a fundraising organization to a critical community convener that mobilizes local partners, including businesses, community leaders, public officials and community residents, to expand opportunities for people to succeed.

A great example of this? The Summer Reading Partnership.

This initiative was started three years ago by the Faye McBeath Foundation in response to the reading achievement gap in Milwaukee. Last year 56,612 books were distributed to young people, doubling the number of children participating in the summer reading program.

With the sun-setting of the Faye McBeath Foundation at the end of 2014, United Way agreed to pick up the community leadership role in summer reading for 2015 and 2016. The partnership includes the Hunger Task Force, IMPACT Planning Council, Metroparent, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee Public Schools, Milwaukee Recreation, and NewThreads. We also have two funding partners who signed up for 2015 summer reading program: Daniel M. Soref Trust and the R. A. Stevens Foundation.

New this summer the partnership will hand out more than 70,000 free books to children, reaching out to children in non-traditional settings, including playgrounds and Hunger Task Force’s free summer meal sites.

Last Friday, a dedicated group of volunteers kicked off the sorted the first batch of books, and had a lot of fun!

For more information, check out the links below!

The media coverage:

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