The Summer LitCamp Launches in Harlem

This is a week of excitment, anticipation, and joy as we launch the Harlem LitCamp at the Broadway Housing community! On Monday morning the girls and boys kicked things off by exercising their imaginations to create new countries, the first in a week of international themed activities. 

LitCamps enrich the summer with learning opportunities at a time of year that would otherwise mark a void in the reading and writing lives of low income children. With limited access to resources and safe places to read, children at risk lose precious academic ground. Every child deserves to fall completely in love with reading and writing, and to experience the amazing feeling of falling into another world!

In August we will launch our first Kibera LitCamp. Follow the LitCamp journey this summer on Facebook and Twitter:

facebook.com/litworld

twitter.com/litworldsays

Pam Allyn is Featured on New Pearson Foundation Project

 

Pam is a featured contributor on the Pearson Foundation’s new project, Five Things I’ve Learned. The project aims to share the insights of education leaders whose daily efforts are improving outcomes for students inside and outside the classroom. Each contribution chronicles personal lessons learned from decades of real-world experience, sharing proven practice and wisdom about learning, teaching, and helping others. 

Pam’s touching list of personal reflections explains the core values that are at the heart of every LitWorld endeavour. To read her list in its entirety, visit Five Things I’ve Learned.

"The most important voices, the crucial voices, the voices of children themselves, are most often left out when we speak of matters of education and best practice. I have learned that the more I can ask children questions I don't already know the answers to, I learn so much about life, about literature, about the world."

LitWorld At TEDxGlobal Learning School Conference

Madison Graboyes, our Lead Programming Coordinator, recently spoke at the TEDxGlobal Learning School Conference. Her talk, titled The Three of Us, presents a compelling argument: we can change the world by listening. Listen here, as Madison explains why the world can't afford to let a single story go untold and unheard.

The Power of Accompaniment: In Education, in Health, in Life Journeys

Pam has a new article up on the Huffington post speaking about the powerful link between literacy and human connection. Read the full article here.

"Lately, I've been thinking a lot about company. The children in our LitWorld programs are often very lonely at the end of the school day. They will linger at the community center rather than have to go home to an empty apartment. The children in Kibera, Kenya, walk long and very treacherous distances to get from school to home, through winding alleys, often in a cold darkness.

I have been thinking about what we can share with children that will make their journeys less lonely.

I believe that literacy is all about this idea of accompaniment. It's about raising our voices, sharing our stories, communicating our ideas and hopes and dreams and learning about other worlds, exploring the imaginations of our fellow authors together. Literacy allows the child walking the lonely path or the woman facing a new story of HIV or the father waiting in the clinic for his IV can hear the power, the deep and stirring power of not being alone."

LitWorld Mentioned on Teen Vogue and New Moon Magazine!

We are excited that we've been mentioned on the Teen Vogue website earlier this month! With thanks to LitWorld Friend Kayli Stollack, our work has been featured along with her own efforts to bring literacy to youth in Kenya. View the feature here.

 We are also mentioned on page 14 of the currrent issue of New Moon Magazine, a publication that empowers young women to discover and honor their true selves. To get a copy and to learn more, visit them on their website at: http://www.newmoon.com/magazine/

A Big LitWorld Thank You to PrintRunner.com!

Many thanks to our friends at PrintRunner.com, an online custom printing company producing everything from business cards to banners, who produced our Gala 2012 2-part, carbonless invoices. Our invoices were beautifully done and we are honored to be part of PrintRunner.com's non-profit sponsor program!

Thank You for Celebrating with LitWorld: Our Stories Change the World

Watch Girls and Boys LitClub members speak about their experiences in their LitClub.

Many thanks to everyone who joined us at our beautiful, joyous Gala 2012, to those of you who were able to come in person, and to those of you who were with us in spirit, as always in our hearts!