At Ball State, excellent and inclusive education is a main focus. The beauty of our partnership with the United Way of Delaware, Henry, and Randolph Counties is that excellent and inclusive education is one of the most important ways to battle generational poverty.
Our United Way has a Bold Goal of helping every third grade student in our community to be reading at grade level by 2024. Currently, 80 percent of children from low-income households are not reading at grade-level
Why is third-grade reading so important? This is the year that students transition from learning to read to reading to learn. They are asked to begin critically reflecting on what they have read, so for children who are struggling to read at all, it becomes incredibly difficult for them to keep up with their peers. Without some kind of helpful intervention, these students will always be a step behind, which makes them more likely to drop out of school and face challenges finding work that will pay a living wage.
Families that struggle financially are so focused on keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table that they often lack the time and resources to introduce their children to books and reading. Early introduction to books and words is extremely important for long term reading ability. United Way is dedicated to funding programs that support the strategies education experts say are the keys to success for these students. This starts at a young age by supporting kindergarten readiness with high-quality childcare centers and access to age-appropriate books at home through programs like Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
As they approach that critical third grade mark, learning programs like Read United partner students with volunteers who work with them on their reading and comprehension skills. The Take Off and Read challenge encourages children to read as many books as they can in a six-week period, and the Summer Book Give-Away provides the opportunity for students to build their own home libraries. During this difficult time of adapting to virtual schooling, our United Way has even developed a free Guide For Online Learning, as well as the United We Read challenge asking people to share videos of themselves reading their favorite children’s books on social media.
If you want to check out these resources or volunteer with these amazing programs, please visit https://www.invitedtoliveunited.org/read. If you want to help United Way fund a plethora of opportunities for students along the pathway of success to graduation and beyond, please donate to the 2020 United Way Ball State Employee Campaign by visiting https://www.bsu.edu/web/unitedway/how-to-give or texting BSU20United to 91999. More Campaign details can be found at https://www.bsu.edu/web/unitedway.