How-To: Planning a Literacy Festival

Declining literacy rates is a major problem in Los Angeles, and it is a problem that keeps on growing. According to Southern California Public Radio in 2012 “Literacy rates in Los Angeles are the second lowest in the nation, but despite the grim statistics a few organizations are working with youth to generate a passion for reading, performing and writing.” (scpr.org) Depending on which neighborhood you live in or which school you attend, the visible effects of low literacy rates may be quite low. However, the long-term effects of low-literacy rates are apparent on a personal level, a community level, and a national level. On an individual level, low reading and writing skills can prevent one from applying a variety of jobs as well as interfere with everyday situations, from reading driving directions to understanding bills. According to Read to Grow, an organization dedicated to increasing literacy rates, “43% of people with low literacy skills live in poverty” and “70% of all prison inmates have low literacy skills” (readtogrow.org). If improving literacy rates in your community is important to you, this article will provide a practical guide to running your own literacy festival at a local venue.

Step One: Forming a Team

            Of course, you could run a festival all on your own. Personally, I do not recommend it. Having a planning partner, as well as several volunteers, creates a more relaxed environment. It is very important to find committed volunteers for running the actual event, as last minute recruiting only adds more stress.

Step Two: Planning

            You don’t have to create a set in stone plan, as that is impossible without know the location, but having a general idea is necessary. Decide on a target age-range, and then come up with some fun activities that match. Coloring bookmarks, word searches and fishing for words are just a few examples of activities that proved popular at my Literacy Festival, but keep in mind that the supplies for these games should be included in your budget for the event. At my Literacy Festival, we also handed out a free book for every game a kid played.

Step Three: Location

            If you have ever planned an event before, you already know that finding a location is the slowest and most important step. Nothing can be done, no speakers scheduled or flyers distributed without knowing the location. Start searching for a location months ahead of when you want to have the event. For my literacy event, I rented a room at a local library for about three hours, and it worked out perfectly.

Step Four: Advertising

            Try to pass out flyers, put up posters, or post information on online community calendars at least a month before the event. The sooner the information is out there, the more people are exposed to it. My team put up flyers at local Starbuck’s, Jamba Juice’s, on peoples cars, as well as other libraries. You may want to contact your local newspaper and ask if they would like to cover the event as well. If you have a speaker scheduled for the event, be sure to include that information in the flyer.

Step Five: Finalize Itinerary

            Now is when you want to have all your activities planned out and settled. Make sure you have a volunteer for each station, and begin shopping for supplies.  Remember, it is always better to have too much than too little.

Planning a Literacy Festival can be a consuming project, but if serving your community is important to you, ever second is worth it. Seeing smiling little kids walk away with three or five or ten books, you know that you have made an impact in this community. 

Politicians In Training

The political scene in Washington, D.C. can appear as this distant land where our lives are governed by people we either hate, love, or don't even know exist. We hear about senatorial scandals or corrupt congressmen along with partial bits of current events in the news, but "over 70 percent of Americans believe that there is either a great deal or a fair amount of media bias in news coverage", according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. We could instead spend hours listening to Speaker of the House reports or sift through pages of Supreme Court transcripts really understand an issue. But are you going to dedicate that much time, hours upon hours, per issue to understand our representatives? I wouldn't. How can we possibly understand the intricacies of Washington, including the backgrounds of the numerous officials that determine who we can marry, what we can own or how we travel? Do you know who your congressional representative is, what congressional district you live in, or who the new supreme court judges are? As a student, it seems rather impossible to figure out what is true and what isn't in our political circus. If understanding politics is important to you, check out some of the options below.

If you're in high school and don't have a clue how political institutions and their players work, the simplest option would be to join your Associate Student Body. However, that is really the most obvious thing to do; you don't need to read an article to figure that one out. Another option is to volunteer at your local City Council, especially during election time. Many City Council's supply a variety of volunteer positions, from clerical work in the office to coaching city sponsored sports teams to working in public libraries.

Many campaign runners, local or federal, have internship and volunteer offers for high school and college students alike. During election time activities may include phone banking, putting up signs, or street corner rallies. Congressman Capuano from Massachusetts offers internships in his D.C. and District office, where interns answer constituent mail, guiding capital tours, or helping run district events.

The next step, though perhaps a giant one, could be to join or petition your school to set a Model UN Club. "Model UN participants learn how the international community acts on its concerns about topics including peace and security, human rights, the environment, food and hunger, economic development and globalization," (unausa.org FAQ). Student participants play the role of ambassadors from many countries, and at the Model UN Conference deliver speeches, partake in debates, and learn how to solve worldwide issues all within the confines of the UN.

If you are looking at colleges and know that politics is something you want to be involved in, here are some of the top notch colleges international relations undergraduate programs in the U.S. Princeton University features Anne-Marie Slaughter (Former Director of Policy Planning) as the professor of Emerita of Politics and International Affairs. Stanford University hosts the leading conservative think tank The Hoover Institution. Columbia University stakes its claim, as in 2007 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "address[ed] the university in free intellectual debate". Georgetown, American, Harvard and Dartmouth are also some of the best schools for international relations programs. To see the a list of the top ten university's in the U.S. visit foreignpolicy.com.

If you know of any other fantastic oppertunities, leave me a comment below and I'll revise the article to include them. 

Xo, M