Reading Partners North Texas participates in two exciting press conferences

Reading Partners North Texas recently announced a new partnership with Carr Cares and GrowSouth Neighbor Up at the J.N. Ervin Elementary School reading center.

The entire Reading Partners team and some excited students were honored to help host a press event in partnership with Mayor Rawlings; Brandon Carr, Dallas Cowboys Cornerback; the Carr Cares Foundation; and of course Dallas Independent School District (DISD) and campus leadership.

Mayor Rawlings kicked off the conference with a strong endorsement of Reading Partners, “Reading Partners is one of my most favorite organizations, because they know how to get the job done.”

He went on to explain how important it is for neighborhoods to funnel the necessary resources into our local schools, so that the schools can funnel successful students back into the neighborhood.

Speakers included Mayor Rawlings; Dr. Lew Blackburn, DISD School Board trustee; Brandon Carr; Bob Mong, president of UNT Dallas; Principal Pruitt; Christie Myers of Neighbor Up; and Reading Partners North Texas executive director, Kaitlin Guthrow. There was incredible turnout from the community, and a cohort of Paul Quinn college students were also in attendance, showing their excitement to support DISD students through Reading Partners.  

Participants got an inside look at the school campus and reading center, and the kids of Ervin Elementary had a lot of fun meeting Mayor Rawlings and Brandon Carr. For more information on the GrowSouth Plan and NeighborUp, please visit https://www.dallasgrowsouth.com/. For a complete video of last week’s press conference, please visit our Facebook page.

The same day, another new initiative launched in support of enhancing early literacy. The Fort Worth Literacy Partnership, championed by Mayor Betsy Price, Superintendent Kent P. Scribner, and BNSF Executive Chairman Matt Rose, will form an unprecedented coalition of businesses, civic organizations, educational institutions, philanthropies, nonprofits, and volunteers.

Using data-driven analyses to engage the community, this partnership aims to identify areas of opportunity and scale up what works to improve results from birth through third grade. Through this partnership, Fort Worth literacy advocates and leaders will work together to ensure 100% of third graders will be reading at grade level by 2025. To learn more about this initiative, please visit https://readfortworth.org/.

Reading Partners is excited about the collective impact efforts surrounding North Texas students, and we look forward to working with both the Dallas and Fort Worth communities to ensure these initiatives are successful. We encourage you to get involved by volunteering or joining the cause!