October News for You: Make Every Girl Known

The International Day of the Girl is this Saturday, October 11th. Our LitWorld youth leaders in Pakistan, India, Kenya, Ghana, Haiti, the Philippines, Uganda, Colombia, Peru, Rwanda, Kosovo, Nepal, Jordan and the United States are ready to stand up with their communities. Join them.

524 Million Reasons to Stand Up

Two thirds of the world's illiterate people are women and girls. On Saturday, stand up for these 524 million untold stories. Stand up in honor of a woman or girl whose stories have inspired your life. Because oh how our world will change when every girl can read, write and tell us her story. 

The LitWorld website has everything you need to Stand Up for Girls, including sample social media posts, activity sheets, event planning tips and the Stand Up for Girls sign. You can also make an online donation and directly impact girls around the world by giving them the opportunity to join a LitClub.

On the Ground in Jordan: News from the Field

Last month we traveled to Jordan to visit our programs. Our newest LitClub in Amman is growing every week. In the Za'atari Syrian refugee camp, our local partner We Love Reading told us that library use in the community has more than doubled, and the children and families are immersing themselves in their new community of reading and writing. 

We also held a training session with our local program leaders. During a discussion about the LitWorld 7 Strengths, each woman shared her personal definition of the strengths. Zain spoke about hope, sharing how in her mind hope is the opposite of desperation and essential to the human spirit. Heba added that what she wants for children is to have hopes and dreams that they have the courage to pursue.

Forbes Features LitWorld & Pam Allyn

LitWorld's impact through LitClubs was featured in Forbes Magazine, with a beautiful reflection from a LitClub graduate, Stephanie, who was in the program for 5 years. The article features the launch of the 10,000 Global Girls Initiative, our collaboration with Global Girls Rising.

"Beyond educating girls across the globe, though, LitWorld offers something perhaps even more valuable: a safe, open community for girls where they are free to be themselves and invest in their own futures, without fear of retribution or embarrassment."

Click here to read the article. 

Forbes Features LitWorld's 10,000 Girls Initiative

LitWorld is renowned for our innovative approach to literacy learning. As the International Day of the Girl approaches we are rallying the world to Stand Up for Girls and unite around the life-saving power of literacy. This year we launched the 10,000 Girls Initiative with our partner Global Girls Rising and our grassroots partners around the world. Forbes interviewed the LitWorld team and LitClub members about our game-changing program.

"According to UNESCO, 793 million adults worldwide cannot read, and of them, 64% of them are women. But if the team at LitWorld — a U.S.-based nonprofit that facilitates on-the-ground mentoring campaigns to fight illiteracy around the world — has a say, that number will disappear — no matter how long it takes.

World-wide illiteracy rates are startling, especially for girls (for starters, only 30% of girls in the world are enrolled in secondary school). And while it’s common for Westerners to consider illiteracy isolated to the developing world, the issue knows no race or ethnicity; in fact, 14% of adults in the United States cannot read, according to the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute of Literacy."

Click here to read the full piece.

September News for You: No More Lost Girls

The back-to-school brings anticipation of new possibilities and marks the start of LitWorld's Stand Up for Girls program. In honor of the International Day of the Girl on October 11th, we are working harder than ever to get every girl into a safe learning community where her own stories reign supreme. Read on to learn how you can join the Stand Up for Girls movement.

Right now there are at least 150 million girls who are not in school. Their unheard stories are a devastating loss for the whole world.

Stand Up for Girls right now:

1. Spread the word on social media. Share LitWorld's video and use these sample posts to tell your network why you'll Stand Up for Girls on October 11th.

2. Host an event for your friends, family, co-workers or students. Our free activity packet has everything you need to get started.

3. Show your support by using the Stand Up for Girls logo as your profile picture on social media or posting a photo with the Stand Up for Girls sign along with a personal story.

4. Launch a fundraiser on behalf of LitWorld using CrowdRise or make a donation today. We are ready to bring our programs to thousands more girls around the world but we need your help.

Our Hope for the World's Girls

It is our mission to empower girls around the world to author lives of independence, hope and joy. We are watching this happen every day through updates from our regional coordinators around the world and right here in New York. 

This is a momentous back-to-school season as the girls from our first LitClub are now college freshmen! We had the privilege of escorting some of our members to their new campuses. We are so proud of this intrepid group and we cannot wait to watch the girls become literacy leaders in their new communities.

Handwriting is NOT a Lost Art

This back-to-school season we are advocating for the power of a diverse writing life. All LitWorld programs, including those that feature technology, highlight the power of putting pen to paper.

In an op-ed published by the Miami Herald, LitWorld's Founder Pam Allyn writes: "Beyond all the educational reasons for why handwriting still matters in this, the 21st century, is the fact that one's own unique style is a fingerprint, a mark upon the world that belongs to that child, and no one else." Click here to read the full piece. 

Join the Stand Up for Girls Photo Campaign

Click on the picture to download your own copy of the Stand Up for Girls logo!

We want to cover social media with Stand Up for Girls photos and stories. Change your profile picture on social media to the Stand Up for Girls logo - click here to download the logo.

You can also choose to take a picture holding the Stand Up for Girls sign and share it on your social networking sites. This photo will have the most impact if you pair it with a personal story that explains why you are standing up for girls on October 11th, the Day of the Girl.

Your story can be about a woman who has deeply inspired your life, your hope or dream for every girl in the world, or about a specific issue related to gender equality that resonates with you. For bonus points, make a video of yourself holding the sign and telling your story!

Tip: Be sure to include #standup4girls at the end of your post and tag specific friends in your post to personally invite them into the Stand Up for Girls movement and to let them know that you are listening for their story.

Click here to download the Stand Up for Girls sign and read the sample posts below for inspiration:

I will Stand Up for Girls with LitWorld on October 11th. I am standing up because around the world 150 million girls are not in school. I want to know their stories. I want their ideas to change our world. Please take a stand with me. Visit litworld.org/standupforgirls to download your own sign and tell me your #standup4girls story!

Stand up for girls! I invite you to advocate with me for girls everywhere, and the power they should each have to live their fullest dreams. This power comes from literacy, a powerful tool that breaks the heartbreaking barriers of poverty and liberates girls to live in freedom. Join with me on October 11 to #standup4girls with LitWorld, on Facebook, on Twitter, and everywhere.

My life has been inspired by the stories of many powerful and inspiring women and girls, so I will #standup4girls on the October 11th Day of the Girl. This year I'm standing up in honor of my aunt who is a breast cancer survivor, a lover of all living creatures and one of the few people who can make me laugh until my cheeks hurt. I don't know where I would be without her stories, her fearlessness, her guidance, her love. Won't you #standup4girls with me? http://litworld.org/standupforgirls

International Literacy Day 2014: Why We Read

In honor of International Literacy Day 2014 we've teamed up with one of our amazing World Read Aloud Day partners, International Book Bank, to tell the world why we read. Here's what members of the LitWorld and LitLife teams had to say. Share your own story on social media today with the hashtag #whyiread!

5 Things You Need to Know About the Power of Literacy

If it were up to us, the benefits of reading and writing would be mentioned and celebrated on every broadcast of morning and evening news: "It's 11 o'clock, have you read to your children today?" Here are 5 powerful facts about literacy.

1. Reading aloud is vital.

Research proves that reading aloud to children every day puts them almost a year ahead of children who do not receive daily read alouds and that is regardless of parents' income, academic or cultural background. On top of that, pediatricians are now prescribing read alouds alongside their nutrition and health advice in recognition of the proven benefits on brain development and vocabulary acquisition.

2. Literacy saves lives.

According to UNESCO, improvements in women’s education explained half of the reduction in child deaths in the past twenty years. Mothers who are educated are more likely to have their children vaccinated, and more likely to send them to school. Imagine what will happen when every child and adult can read, write and learn all they want and need to know.

3. Literacy teaches you to own and value your own story.

The Education for All Global Monitoring report states that there is a clear link between literacy and a positive self image. Building confidence as a reader, writer, listener and speaker is transformational in a person's life. These core abilities are used every minute of every day to read the world. More than that, reading stories gives a greater understanding of self. Suddenly there are characters who feel the same feelings as you, who share your struggles, your hopes and your dreams. Literacy brings us out of isolation and into a community of readers and writers.  

4. Literacy gets you to the goal.

Studies have shown that people who write down their goals are 80% more likely to achieve them. Having documentation of our goals and reading them back to ourselves on a regular basis keeps our motivation at the forefront of our minds and allows us to start to create action plans. This is productive literacy in action. Simply having the ability to write down what you want to do and where you want to go leads to an impressive head-start.

5. Literacy empowers.

The ability to seek out and understand information gives us all independence to make choices, to advocate for ourselves and to learn about our community and world. People who can read and write are powerful in society and studies show that literacy leads to greater self-reliance and civic engagement.

5 Ways to Build Back to School Excitement

As September gets closer and closer that special feeling of returning to school never fails to wash over us. This time of year brings back such fond and visceral memories. The smell of fresh autumn air, the energized, electric feeling that buzzed through campus and the feeling of unlimited possibilities awaiting us in the year ahead. Here are 5 ways to get your children excited to go back to school.

1. Share your own favorite back to school memories.

Bring your child closer to your history by sharing what made you the most excited about going back to school when you were your child's age. Think about your favorite teacher, a book that you studied that changed your world (or your mind) or something cool that you learned in science class. It be fun for your child to think about walking in your footsteps, and she will be eager to tell you about her own experience and to reflect on how classrooms are the same or different than when you were in school.

2. Delight in new responsibilities.

Responsibility is hugely exciting for children who are constantly looking up to older students, siblings and dreaming of the day that they will finally be "grown up" enough to do all the things their role models can do. Talk about the unique experience of a second grader (or third grader, or fifth...) with you child. "You're becoming a leader at your school. This year you can be a younger student's reading buddy!" "I can't wait to come and watch the fifth grade muscial." Reach out to your child's teacher if you need specific examples, and pair academic growth with new responsibilities at home for extra excitement.

3. Read aloud back-to-school themed books.

Use your daily read aloud to share books about other children's (or animal's) experience at school. This will ease any anxiety or nervousness your child feels about returning to school when he sees that the characters he loves and admires share his feelings. Some LitWorld favorites include "Chrysanthemum" by Kevin Henkes and "Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes" by Eric Litwin. For older children try "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio and of course, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Ask your local librarian or bookstore owner for more suggestions!

4. Dear Future Self...

Ask your child to write down his dream for this school year. What does he hope to learn in class? How does he want his friends and teachers to describe him? What new clubs or teams will he join (or start)? Have him take these big goals and write a letter to his future self to be opened on the last day of the school year. This is great for personal goal setting, self-motivation and creating a positive, hopeful vision for the year ahead.

5. Go back prepared and ready to rock.

Reach out to your child's teacher to ask for some general details on this year's big learning goals, lessons and units. Give your child teasers about this information. "I heard that you're going to write an online blog about your favorite animal this year!" Take time to write a short book review or to learn a new fact that your child can share with his friends and teachers at school.