Key Points:
- Spaght Elementary School students participate in reading program to improve literacy skills.
- Spaght Program organized byWichita Collective Impact Initiative
- Initiative aims to close the educational gap in the impoverished 67214 zip code.
Students at Spaght Elementary School have been treated to reading experiences during the months of February and March as part of a special program offered through the Wichita Collective Impact Initiative, aimed at increasing kindergarten readiness and third grade reading proficiency.
In honor of Black History month the Wichita Collective Impact invited members from historical Black organizations to read to students at Spaght. Representatives from the Divine Nine Black Greek fraternal organizations, the Wichita Branch of the NAACP and the Fred Douglas Masonic Lodge were invited.
Corinthian Kelly, currently with Wichita State University’s Public Policy and Management Center, said it was important for him to read because growing up in Virginia, he never saw anyone that looked like him come to any of his schools.
“For them to remember me and call me Mr. C., that is a powerful impact and a powerful statement,” he said.
LaWanda DeShazer. Senior Program Director for Wichita Collective Impact, said most of the readers that she talked to about the event said it was the highlight of their day and even of their week.
About Wichita Collective Impact
The Wichita Collective Impact program is funded and made possible by a $2 million gift from Cargill Protein North America. The three-year program is led by the Wichita YMCA, United Way of the Plains and the USD 259 Public Policy Center.
The initiative provides for three events at Spaght during each year – one at the beginning of the year, another in February during Black History Month and a third in March in honor of National Read Across America week.
The initiative also funds a variety of other programs intended to help close the educational gap in 67214, the second most impoverished zip code in Kansas, including free, community-based, one-month summer school sessions to help combat the learning loss that occurs during long breaks from school.
