May 26, 2010

Chicago Literacy Alliance

Quarterly Meeting

May 26, 2010

Attending: Paul Natkin, Jenn Bricker, Anna Piepmeyer, Chris Seidman, Lou Bank, Stacy Ratner, Mike Ban, Theo Stripling, Evan Georgi

The meeting, held at Open Books, was called to order at 9:05 by Paul Natkin.

Marketing Committee Report

Mike reported that he and Stacy had held the first meeting of the marketing committee and distributed the report (copy attached to these minutes). In addition to working on the organization name, mission statement, target audience, tactics and goals the organization, Stacy designed a logo for use going forward (see header of website).

A recommendation to modify the mission statement to incorporate “literacy” into the language was made, and the new mission statement is as follows:

The Chicago Literacy Alliance is a group of organizations whose mission is to connect the capabilities of our members with the literacy and reading needs of the community.

Stacy and Mike will now proceed with creating a simple marketing piece for the Chicago Literacy Alliance. Paul said the new logo is already incorporated into the website.

Project review

Paul stated there had been earlier discussions about a variety of projects in which the CLA could be involved. It was agreed that the ideas would be circulated to all who have expressed interest in CLA to determine which one or two projects should be implemented. It is anticipated that those who show interest in a particular project would be willing to work on a team to make it happen. The following projects reviewed:

Promise Zone – this is one of the core ideas for which the group was formed, to coordinate the literacy efforts of our individual organizations in a limited number of schools. Conceptually, we would find what the needs were in each of the schools and neighborhoods and match those needs to our individual initiatives, which could include child and adult literacy as well as ESL and special needs. There was a discussion regarding the possibility of securing supplemental funding for this, and it was agreed we needed to establish the structure of how we would work, and, potentially show some level of results before we ask for money. We also discussed the question of social issues beyond literacy that would be required if we were to operate in a manner similar to Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone, and felt that at a minimum, we would connect with community-based organizations to advise them what was happening and to have them solicit additional support from non-literacy/reading agencies. Finally, we felt that we should potentially focus our attention on the neediest neighborhoods – Englewood and Lawndale, specifically.

Reading clubs – there are underused libraries in every neighborhood. Reading Clubs based in local libraries would be established on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis to which children and adults would be invited. This would also serve as a way give children and adults places to go after school and work.

Literacy conference – hold a conference, potentially at Harold Washington Library, at which current literacy issues are discussed, featuring a keynote speaker, panels, and breakout workshops. Chris described an event held by Bowling Green University, more family/user directed, which would be another way to go with this. A family-focused event could be localized to every library in the city. Paul felt the target for this conference would be more focused on government bodies and media than families at this stage. Stacy noted the importance of relating an event like this to National Literacy Month, September, which also includes adult literacy, a very important component for us. The group agreed that an event of this level would need substantial planning and could not be done for Literacy Month, 2010, but could be planned and executed in 2011.

Fund-raiser – a fund-raiser sponsored by all our groups could be the culminating event of National Literacy Month. As with the conference, it was agreed the timing was too short for 2010.

Common warehouse and delivery system – those organizations which are heavy users of warehouse space and have a need for delivery of books are interested in exploring a common warehouse and delivery system which could, potentially, save money and result in a more convenient location for all.

Anna Piepmeyer of Open Books suggested we use Survey Monkey to circulate these ideas to the entire membership of CLA and ask members to vote on the top two ideas. Anna will prepare survey and make arrangements for distribution and results tabulation.

Recruitment

It was the feeling of the group that we should continue our efforts to recruit members for the Chicago Literacy Alliance, and that we should encourage those who had already been at meetings to continue to participate. It was agreed that having specific projects and a tight focus as described in the Marketing Committee Report is important so current and prospective members see the organization as one that will be complementary to their own efforts.

The Fry Foundation, CPS Director of Libraries and top people at the Chicago Public Library all expressed some level of interest in CLA and what we’re doing. We felt we need to have more tangible progress to report before we more fully engage with them, but intend to consider inviting them to upcoming meetings when we feel we will make a proper “presentation” of our organization and, most important, its plans, activities and accomplishments.

Website

Molly Topper of Communities in Schools Chicago prepared a paper regarding a search template to be incorporated into the CLA website, which was given to Paul who is working now on that part of the site. Paul then described range of capabilities built into the website that could be used for communicating among ourselves and to others. Jenn suggested we include a calendar of events from all our organizations for all literacy-related activities, and Paul will explore putting that in place. Mike mentioned that Chicago Catalyst has an event calendar already in place which we could also use. This does not mean we should not have one ourselves. The key to the success of such a calendar is keeping it current and promoting its presence to our targets.

Other business

Jenn asked if any of us had heard about the BeCause Foundation. They are documentary producers who do advocacy campaigns for not-for-profit organizations and coalitions. We might consider contacting them once we are further along in the activities of CLA.

It was agreed the next meeting would be on Wednesday, August 25, 9-11AM at Open Books.

The meeting was adjourned 10:25AM.

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Ban