February 24, 2010

Literacy Roundtable Meeting

Open Books – Host       Mike Ban – Facilitator

NOTES

Attendees:  Anna Piepmeyer, Stacy Ratner, Mike Ban, Paul Natkin, Jen Brickler, Mary Ellen Schneider, Molly Topper, Mary Visconte, Sherisse Holmes, Christine Seidman.

FOCUS

The group had a healthy discussion around if we should narrow our scope into different focus sectors.  With organizations that serve children, adults and some literacy organizations that are on a broader base we discussed the merits of separating out into smaller groups.

We arrived at the agreement that we should keep these quarterly meetings open to the group at large, and use the months in between the quarterly meetings to work as smaller group and committees.  Overall, there was an agreement that our mission of promoting literacy in Chicago is more powerful as a larger group.

In an effort to be inclusive we also came to the decision that the attendees at these meetings, should not just be a representative of the organization, but the person responsible for literacy initiatives in that organization with a direct line of communication to the CEO or Executive Director to expedite any decisions that need to be made.

There was also discussion about widening our circle to include CPS and Library representatives into our group so they can help us as we move forward with some of our larger initiatives.

The website, www.chicagoliteracy.org is going to be the tool and driving force for us getting our message out, individually and collectively.  We want to be able to develop a search engine function that will allow for schools and individuals to find a number of literacy resources in one place.

Molly as a representative from Communities in Schools was going to look at the matrix they use to help us model a format to make our organizations more searchable.   This then lead to the formation of the Website Committee.

The other aspect we need to focus on is what is our message as a group, our mission?  The Marketing/Awareness Committee had volunteered to take on this charge.

As far as the WHO we want to get our message out to, we came up with these entities:  AIO’s, Family & Support Services, Alderman’s Office, Mayor’s Office, social networks and newspaper articles.

A citywide literacy event is definitely something we want to aim for as a group, to bring awareness to the issue as well as to provide resources and professional development.  The Chicago Public Library has done this in the past and we would like to approach them again an offer our assistance in the planning and development of this event.

We also discussed smaller events to happen in each ward of the city – again this seems a natural partnership with the Libraries.

GEOGRAPHY

The homework task that was assigned to the group at large, of sharing the list of CPS schools that each organization works in – was to get to a broader point.  Us working smarter together.  For example, if three organization all work in Jenner school, let’s make sure we are not all working with the same students.  There is certainly enough need to go around – so our literacy support services could be better utilized in the schools.

We are still waiting on a number of organizations to turn in their lists so we can share the master spreadsheet with the group.

COMMITTEES

The committees are as follows:

Website – Mary Ellen Schenider, Evan Georgi, Molly Topper

CPS – Jenné Myers

Marketing/Awareness – Mike Ban, Stacy Ratner

Fundraising/Shared Resources – Mary Visconti

Literacy Event – Jenn Bricker, Paul Natkin, Mike Ban, Stacy Ratner, Sherisse Holmes

The group received a tour of the Open Books office and book store, it’s really an amazing facility that inspires its guests to get immersed in books!

Next Meeting will be in May at Open Books.