Greater Grand Rapids Reads History

In June of 2003 a small group of interested parties gathered at Heart of West Michigan United Way to discuss forming a literacy coalition in Grand Rapids. The impetus for the gathering was the low literacy rates among children and adults and the understanding that this low literacy rate was a root cause of many other community problems. Unless the community was motivated to address this problem, it would only grow worse. The group also realized that there were several excellent community programs designed to combat illiteracy, however, there was no group that was calling this group together for common planning and networking.

Originally called Grand Rapids Reads, this group staged the first Community Literacy Meeting for about 60 attendees at the Grand Rapids Public Library in October of 2003. From that meeting emerged the desire to move forward by creating a coalition to build community awareness, develop a community literacy plan and bring best practices to literacy programs. Two events spurred the local efforts. Dr. Juan Olivarez, President of Grand Rapids Community College, was appointed by President George W. Bush to the National Institute for Literacy Board. Dr. Olivarez was interested in having his national work benefit Grand Rapids and agreed to help Grand Rapids Reads get started. In January of 2004, newly elected Grand Rapids Mayor, George Heartwell, challenged the community to reduce illiteracy by 50% by the year 2014.

Through the efforts of these two men, Greater Grand Rapids Reads was born. The name change reflected the service scope of the community college, Delta Strategy and United Way who had committed staff resources to staging the summit. Dr. Olivarez enlisted the help of Delta Strategy and in 2004, the first Community Literacy Summit was held with about 200 attendees. The keynote speaker, Margaret Doughty, provided a roadmap for Grand Rapids to create a literacy coalition. The three main committees of Greater Grand Rapids Reads, Birth to Five, School Age and Adult were established at this meeting.

The next year saw the creation a of a Community Literacy Plan through the facilitation of Delta Strategy and the establishment of an Executive Committee co-chaired by Mayor Heartwell and President Olivarez. A second summit in October of 2005 at DeVos Place featured Sandra Baxter, Director of the National Institute for Literacy, who provided a national overview of literacy issues. The summit also gave participants one more chance to comment on the Community Literacy Plan.

In December of 2005, Heart of West Michigan United Way adopted literacy as a second area of greater focus and agreed to provide a half time staff member to coordinate Greater Grand Rapids Reads. Fritz Crabb currently fills that position. A monthly electronic newsletter was started to keep all interested parties informed of Greater Grand Rapids Reads activities and other literacy related news.

In 2006, Greater Grand Rapids Reads created and adopted its bylaws. A decision was made to hold a literacy summit every other year, so in 2006, a morning Community Literacy Meeting was held for about 150 participants at Northview High School. Sharon Darling, President of the National Center for Family Literacy was the keynote speaker. An update on the accomplishments of Greater Grand Rapids Reads was also presented.

Beyond the 2006 Community Meeting, Greater Grand Rapids Reads has been working hard to establish common community measures to be able to be able to regularly report to the community on progress in improving literacy throughout the community.

Kent County needs to be able to compete with other communities across the country for high tech jobs in a knowledge based economy. The current state of literacy in our area puts us behind many mid-sized cities in the country and even in our own state. The work being undertaken by Greater Grand Rapids Reads to improve these literacy levels is vital.

2006 Accomplishments

• United Way funded a .5 FTE Coordinator for Greater Grand Rapids Reads.
• The Community Literacy Plan, over a year in development, was adopted
• Greater Grand Rapids Reads has over 600 people on its database.
• Greater Grand Rapids Reads members are serving on United Way Investment Councils, the Adult Education Committee of the Workforce Development Board and the Health Literacy Committee.
• Greater Grand Rapids Reads committees were restructured around the plan have begun meeting.
• The Greater Grand Rapids Reads Executive Committee has been formed chaired by Juan Olivarez and George Heartwell
• A monthly e-newsletter highlights area literacy activities and will provide regular updates on progress towards plan goals.
• In cooperation with Literacy USA and Scholastic books, Greater Grand Rapids Reads distributed 4,200 free children's books through 25 local literacy programs.
• Through First Book, From the Start (birth to five) and K-12 Committees are collaborating to provide books to children on a regular basis.

2007 Accomplishments

• An online database of literacy providers has been developed and is ready for input
• A Greater Grand Rapids Reads web site has been developed
• Greater Grand Rapids Reads has participated in two invitation only national conferences sponsored by the National Institute for Literacy and Literacy Power Line.
• Over 200 organizations are represented on the Greater Grand Rapids Reads membership database
• Planning is underway for the 2007 Community Literacy Summit, Literate for Life, to be held October 19, 2007 at DeVos Place.

Copyright 2007. Greater Grand Rapids Reads. All Rights Reserved.
GGRR Office: 118 Commerce Ave SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Phone 616.632.1002
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