On The Road To Literacy

Project Brownstone has embarked on another part of our journey. Our main focus has been to make sure underserved students transition to college with help and guidance via the Textbook Stipend Project.

We have seen incredible gains and transformation through this project. We understand the need and benefit of creating a college-going culture within our schools. Many of our students after their first semester of college admit to just how lacking they are in preparedness for this new environment. They are challenged to step up to the plate and find ways to advance in this new arena, or fail.

While offering this project to high schoolers, we see the need to start earlier. In order to create this college-going culture, we must reach further back and address this issue at the beginning of their school years rather than the last part of secondary school. So we recently established Project Brownstone’s Literacy Project.

This project is geared towards children in grades kindergarten through 3^rd. There are many in the NYC public school system not reading on grade level. The reasons vary but too often are the result of poverty. Impoverished neighborhoods lack funding and supplies; they suffer from transient populations that pass through the shelter system. Often, the student population changes numerous times throughout the year, the result of their instability.

It’s during these years that we have to make sure students read on grade level, but it’s imperative to plant the seeds of college attendance. Part of the literacy project is to introduce students to the prospect. We can do this with assistance from our participating TSP students as well as with the many generous college students willing to participate. 

Rebekah Livingston

We cannot do this without help from experts. Luckily, one found us. Ms. Rebekah Livingston reached out to us and volunteered her time to launch this pilot, manage it, and help to build it into a full-blown program. Ms. Livingston has a great deal of experience in this area, and is able to apprise us of what is necessary to comply with state and federal requirements.

Ms. Livingston hails from Portland, OR, where she has spearheaded literacy programs in the public school system there. She focused on reading and math to help kids that were falling behind. She designed customized learning modules to target the needs of students in grades K-3, with the understanding how urgent it is to reach them before 4^th grade. If not, it’s quite unlikely they’ll ever catch up to their cohort.

Together with Ms. Livingston, we have begun the Literacy Project in conjunction with P. S. 197, John B. Russwurm School, in Harlem. Ms. Natasha Spann, the principal, has graciously opened the doors to us and is working closely to render the best results possible. There is a mutual understanding about the urgency involved with children’s literacy and their future. We cannot wait to report back to you about the challenges and successes met with this endeavor.

Above all, we want to give a warm welcome to Ms. Rebekah Livingston! We look forward to this new partnership.