Summer is underway and organizations in Memphis and Shelby County metropolitan area are working together to combat summer reading loss.
Shelby County’s “Engage Me” group gave out bags of books to students in predominately low-income neighborhoods as an effort to encourage reading over the summer. These bags included books, journals, crayons, and information about online enrollment for the next school year. “The goal is to make sure that we minimize that gap,” stated Dr. Cynthia Alexander Mitchell of district’s Family and Community Engagement Office to the Commercial Appeal.
It’s important for children to read during the summer—especially for minority children who live in poor rural areas of the city. Statically, most of these students fall behind during the summer and have a difficult time catching up when the next school year starts. To help prevent summer reading loss, Stand for Children has organized a Summer Reading Challenge to engage both students and parents.
