Dear friends,
Summer is about to end – not the hot Houston weather, but the end of summer in the school sense of the word. The beginning of the school year is always exciting . . . the new school supplies, meeting new friends, finding out if your teacher would be the one you’d been hoping for and just the idea of a fresh start! Despite the wrench that the Delta variant has thrown into everyone’s plans and hopes for the start of school, Literacy Now IS ready!
If you’ve read even one of our newsletters over the last year, you already know that we are focused on a very ambitious expansion plan. I am thrilled to share our BIG news with you all – we are expanding into Aldine ISD, where we will be piloting our Reading Intervention program at Ogden Elementary. We are excited about this new partnership and look forward to adding more campuses in 2022-23. In addition to Ogden Elementary, we are also adding four HISD elementary school campuses: Cunningham, Ray K. Daily, Milne, and Valley West. Thanks to your continued support, we grew from 10 to 15 schools this year, representing a 32% growth in the number of struggling readers that will now have access to our critical programs. We are excited to serve the children, families, and staff at all five new campuses!
Our expansion also means multiple changes in the area of Human Resources. We are excited to announce the hiring of Aspen Hayes, our new Volunteer Coordinator (meet her below), and two new positions that have been filled by highly competent and trusted, long-time employees. Michel Hinton and Audrey Hollis are our first-ever Area Program Managers, and Catie Licalzi is our first-ever Instructional Coach (see more below). Our focus on maintaining high-quality programming expected at Literacy Now is in great hands with all four of these ladies, along with Jacklyn Wilson, our Program Director, leading the way.
We are in the people business, and we have THE best people at Literacy Now . . . employees, volunteers, and donors! I continue to be WOWED by the dedication and generosity of you all and am humbled and oh so grateful to serve alongside each of you!
Blessings,
Jacque Daughtry
Executive Director
