Mayor's Summer Reading Club: Partner Application & Agreement - Summer 2024 |
Introduction & Applicant Information
The Mayor’s Summer Reading Club (MSRC) is a literacy enrichment program for children ages birth to five and their families. The MSRC accomplishes this by providing books with read guides to organizations that run events for children and families.
Partner organizations will get books to use as a basis for an event that they plan, or add these books as a literacy component to an already planned event. Along with books, MSRC will also provide a best practice training in May to partner organizations, done with the Alliance Theater and the Rollins Center for Language and Literacy. Receiving books and training is done at no cost to children, caregivers, or partner organizations.
The Mayor's Summer Reading Club is not simply a book give away! Accepted partner organizations will use the MSRC books in literacy activities or events with both children and caregivers. This is a requirement for partnership candidacy because this program is meant to support literacy development in Atlanta's youngest learners!
Throughout the summer, libraries, summer programs, museums, farmers’ markets, and many other kinds of organizations in Atlanta will hold “book club reads”, or other literacy programming at their events to model research-based methods of reading books with children and will host enrichment events based upon the stories. The books will come to life as children enjoy arts and crafts activities, drama exercises, and other hands-on activities partner organizations design to make the language in the stories meaningful to children. The goal is to get children and their families to interact with the MSRC books multiple times throughout the summer.
GEEARS' goals for the MSRC are:
-- to engage the community in encouraging our youngest children to read and learn during the summer,
-- to encourage families and caregivers to instill literacy as a core value in the home, and
-- to increase adult awareness of the importance of reading with children every day.
-- to engage the community in encouraging our youngest children to read and learn during the summer,
-- to encourage families and caregivers to instill literacy as a core value in the home, and
-- to increase adult awareness of the importance of reading with children every day.
How do partners participate? Partners agree to host at least one activity related to the books selected. These events are intended to be low cost and easy for the sponsoring organizations, however the Mayor's Summer Reading Club is not intended to be a book give away.
Partners agree to:
- serve children and families in the birth to five age range with MSRC programming,
- provide GEEARS information about their event to include on our MSRC summer event calendar,
- lead publicizing events, with MSRC support,
- encourage parents/guardians to attend events,
- ensure each child participating in programming receives a MSRC book,
- participate in a storyteller training for those in their organizations who will be executing the programming and readings,
- complete a short survey after their event(s) so that we can keep track of attendance and other information for MSRC funders.
- serve children and families in the birth to five age range with MSRC programming,
- provide GEEARS information about their event to include on our MSRC summer event calendar,
- lead publicizing events, with MSRC support,
- encourage parents/guardians to attend events,
- ensure each child participating in programming receives a MSRC book,
- participate in a storyteller training for those in their organizations who will be executing the programming and readings,
- complete a short survey after their event(s) so that we can keep track of attendance and other information for MSRC funders.
****DEADLINE FOR SUMMER 2024 PARTNERSHIP APPLICATIONS IS FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2024****
Partner Storyteller Training will be held in the early spring of 2024.
MSRC 2024 Kick-off Celebration will be held in May 2024. This is optional, but partner organizations, children, and families will be welcome.