Literacy, Inc.
307 Seventh Avenue - Suite 1601
New York, NY 10001
Contact: Tanya Ramos, Executive Director
Telephone: 212-620-5462
Fax: 212-620-0790
LINC seeks to strengthen the home-community-school triangle around each child by bringing people and organizations together in efficient collaborations for the common purpose of improving the reading capacity of each child in the community. LINC's mission is to change the expectations of the entire community about the ability of its children to read on time and to succeed in school, and about the role that each community member has in that success. LINC seeks to ensure that the focus on early literacy becomes in each community.
One key strategy for bringing people together is participation in volunteer reading partner programs for children in kindergarten through grade three. Volunteer reading partners can be parents, older children in the school or from nearby schools, senior citizens, or others who live and work in the community. Volunteers read to and with children encouraging children's interest in an appreciation of books. LINC coordinators guide programs that take place before school, at lunchtime, and after school, engaging children and adults in constructive, positive interaction.
A LINC coordinator makes this possible by facilitating the formation of Community Literacy Networks (CLNs). These networks unite the local school, parents, neighborhood groups, concerned individuals and businesses in efforts to build reading partner programs and other literacy activities. Reading partners are recruited in the school neighborhood so that children learn that members of their community are interested in their reading success. Coordinators are recruited from the communities in which LINC works, with a goal of hiring a diversified staff. Coordinators guide the CLN to identify and develop the reading partner programs that are appropriate for each neighborhood. Linking with other organizations is basic to this activity in order to avoid duplication and competition and to access all resources available in the community.
LINC is particularly concerned with the importance of each parent as his or her child's primary reading partner. The CLN links with organizations like Learning Leaders, local branch libraries and Every Person Influences Children (EPIC), to facilitate the presentation of parent workshops on topics such as conflict resolution, reading to and with children, basic parent involvement, and communicating with teachers/school staff. LINC also seeks to increase access to good children's literature by connecting LINC's partners to sources of free or low cost books.
Through all its activities, LINC seeks to maximize the learning potential of young students in safe or nonviolent school settings and to build strength, trust and capacity within a community by focusing on its children, their success in school and their growth into positive, productive community members.
Program Site
Public School 85
Principal: Ted Husted
Public School 54
Principal: Maribelle Pardo
Public School 140
Principal: Elaine Brittenum
Public School 48
Principal: PatriciaMitchell
Public School 40
Principal: Alison Brinker
Public School I.S.18
Principal: Aurea Porrata-Doria
Public School 178
Principal:Deirdre Budd
Public School 189
Principal:Theresa Luger
Public School 98
Principal: Maritza Rodriguez
Funded Organization: Literacy, Inc.