Foundation closes campaign

August 4, 2008 - Every day, more than 20,000 children are touched by library programs made possible by The Library Foundation's Campaign for a Lifetime of Literacy. In summer, that number rises to nearly 50,000 a day.

Rousing "booktalkers" visit schools and free lunch sites to fire up kids about reading. UPS drivers deliver literacy packages to all new parents in the county, inspiring them to read to their babies. Preschoolers at Headstarts and childcare centers throughout our community receive books each week to take home and read with their families.

These programs are part of an ambitious campaign aimed at improving our community's literacy—to raise more than $10 million to expand children's and family literacy programs at Multnomah County Library, the urban library with the highest circulation per capita in the nation. At campaign close, the foundation had raised nearly $12 million in cash support, and an additional $4.2 million in in-kind contributions that extend the library's impact.

In Multnomah County, one in five children enters school not ready to learn to read. By 10th grade, nearly half do not meet state standards for reading ability. Low literacy is linked to poverty, crime, dependence on government assistance, dangerous work and poor health. Research has shown that parents who struggle with reading pass this legacy on to their children.

"This campaign has expanded the library's impact on the hardest-to-reach and most-at-risk young people by taking books and innovative programs directly into the lives of children, parents, grandparents, childcare providers and educators" says foundation CEO Merris Sumrall. "Last year alone, campaign dollars helped library staff and volunteers reach more than 130,000 children and parents."

These literacy programs are cutting edge programs based on the latest research. They reach vast populations of children of different ages; they operate during both the school year and the summer; and they motivate reading through creative approaches not found elsewhere. The library implements its programs in partnership with hundreds of community organizations and sends library staff and volunteers into all eight public school districts in the county. Dollars raised by the campaign leverage this interconnected web of organizations through which the library implements its literacy work.