Moms LitClub with Ready for Reading in Rwanda is Going Strong!

LitWorld has partnered with Ready for Reading since their official founding in 2012 as they were breaking ground on their now vibrant library and resource center in Rwinkwavu, Rwanda. With the insight of Ready for Reading’s local team, we knew how valuable it would be to start programming to supplement their community outreach, even though there was not yet an official building for holding meetings!

Together, we set up Colette, a mother in the community, to have planning sessions and trainings over video chat with the LitWorld team, and learned from her what it would take to make a Moms LitClub work for her peers, from reading books aloud, to creating a safe space for self-expression and community-building, to providing small bags of cassava flour for each of the mothers to help them support their families with essentials.

We are so proud that this partnership and our Moms LitClub together have continued to flourish for almost nine years now, but don’t take our word for it! Watch the video below to hear straight from our Moms LitClub members about community-wide impact they have made.

Partner Spotlight: Sarah Stripp at Springboard to Opportunities, USA

For this week's Partner Spotlight, we're sharing some important updates from one of our incredible partners here in the United States: Springboard to Opportunities! Read on to learn how your support has been helping them reach families in Mississippi, Maryland, and Alabama through COVID and beyond.

Q: Tell us about this year and how the pandemic has affected your community?

Sarah Stripp

Sarah: The pandemic affected our community in very serious ways. Many people lost work, or had to make the difficult decision of whether to continue working to provide for their family or stay home and support their children's virtual learning.

Due to safety concerns, we haven’t been able to meet with other community members in-person.
This has caused a lot of isolation, and we've had to get very creative about how to connect our mentors with students to ensure that everyone gets the mental health support and care that they need during this time.

Q: How have you been running LitWorld's programs this year?

Sarah: We've been pushing out LitWorld's Virtual Programs to our families. These have been essential for families, and have allowed us to continue our work even without in-person programming. We've also sent books and tools to our student's homes, and adapted the curriculum to make it compatible with online programming. Additionally, mentors and students are now meeting virtually via Google Meet.

Q: Which of the 7 Strengths feels the closest to your community?

Sarah: The Strength I see as really present in our community is Courage. Many of the families that we work with have had to make very difficult choices—particularly in the midst of the pandemic—in order to make sure that everyone in their family has what they need. I am inspired every day by the courageous choices they make, and their persistence in working towards goals for their whole family.

Q: What does "serious joy" mean to you?

I think "serious joy" is when we are grounded in a deeper hope for ourselves and our communities, despite the circumstances around us. It comes from relationships with those who bring out the best in us, while we work to bring out the best in them. It is believing that we can—and should—celebrate with others as they thrive, because all of our joy is tied together.

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Springboard to Opportunities connects families living in affordable housing with resources and programs to help them advance in school, work, and life. 

Click here to learn more, and donate to LitWorld today to make a difference for even more families across the U.S. and around the world!

Partner Spotlight: Sona Traore at LEAD Africa, Liberia!

LitWorld's partners and the LitKids we serve together are the heart of what we do, and we are thrilled to share with you some of their stories and insights from this year with our Partner Spotlights!

This week, we’re welcoming Sona Traore: our Partnership Coordinator at LEAD Africa Monrovia Football Academy in Liberia. Stay tuned to hear more from our community-based partners about how they've been working to stay safe, strong, and hopeful this year—all thanks to the support of people like you.

Q: Tell us about this year and how the pandemic has affected your community?

Sona: We were all affected by the pandemic. When coronavirus hit in March, we kept our students with us on campus. LitClub mentors followed the weekly Virtual LitClub curriculum, which I found helpful because these were unusual times that forced us to be innovative. COVID-19 affected our communities, but we strove through it all and made sure our students were actively participating despite all that was happening.

Sona Traore

Q: How have you been running LitWorld's programs this year?

Sona: Our students love LitClubs! The weekly activities gave them something to look forward to during the virus. I incorporated more stories, music, dance, and creative writing for older students, arts for younger students, and gave daily updates on virus prevention.

It was challenging, but if there's one thing this virus has taught us, it's that we have to come together as a community to fight anything that will break us.

Q:  Which of the 7 Strengths feels closest to your community?

Sona: Our community consists of all 7 Strengths, but we would choose Hope, Courage, and Kindness—especially in the time of the pandemic. Hope kept us going even though we had no idea when all this would be over. We had the courage to go through each day with optimism.

We extended our hands to community members and became more united to overcome the fear of the pandemic.

Q: What does "serious joy" mean to you?

Sona: As a teacher and mentor, serious joy is waking up everyday knowing that my students are happy. It's seeing them strive everyday to make their stories different. It's the enthusiasm my students have for learning, and making sure that I don't lose my motivation to nurture that enthusiasm. It's working towards building a better future for the young people of my country. Serious joy is a LitClub class where we learn, laugh, make mistakes, and unite using our stories.

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 Learn more about LEAD Africa and their work supporting kids in Liberia and Morocco, and support LitWorld's critical work in communities around the globe by donating today!

Traveling the World with the #GlobalHeartMap Project!

This past spring, we reached out to you for the launch our aspirational #GlobalHeartMap project. At a time when many of us felt more distanced than ever due to the pandemic, we asked you to help bring our global community together by sharing what's in your heart with others around the world.

Now, after receiving hundreds of submissions from dozens of different countries, we are thrilled to share this truly global collection of #HeartMaps!

From New York to the Netherlands, Romania to Rwanda, and Canada to Colombia, thank you to everyone who has participated in our #GlobalHeartMap project.

We are so inspired by this display of unity, resilience, and hope. 

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Want to share your Heart Map with the world? It's never too late to join in the fun! Just post a picture of your #HeartMap on social and tag us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Reaching Even More Kids at Home with Zigazoo!

With the new school year beginning amidst the ongoing pandemic, students around the world are facing greater obstacles than ever when it comes to continuing a meaningful, positive education.

That is why in addition to our Virtual LitClubs, we are proud to announce our new channel on Zigazoo: a revolutionary remote-learning app for kids!

One of the LitWorld projects on Zigazoo.

Founded earlier this year, Zigazoo is a free app that offers kids engaging and educational prompts that they can respond to with their own short videos.

With over 2.5 million views as of this week, LitWorld is working with Zigazoo to reach millions children around the world.

Together with the Pheonix Zoo, Glazer's Children Museum, and more, LitWorld will be joining Zigazoo to provide joyful learning to kids everywhere.

Check out our channel now by downloading the app and searching for LitWorld, or learn more about Zigazoo by visiting their site or reading about their recent launch today.

How We’re Keeping Kids Learning through Covid-19 this Summer

As soon as the pandemic took hold, we knew summer learning would need to be extra innovative and responsive this year.

We moved quickly with our publisher Scholastic, creating a version of our renowned summer program to bring the strengths of LitCamp right into children’s homes in partnership with school districts across the U.S.

LitCamp at Home sent kids and families book packs, workbooks, and videos in both English and Spanish, and provided educators with flexible resources as they worked together to create safe, inspiring virtual learning spaces for their students.

Click here to watch the LitCamp at Home Read-Aloud Series featuring LitWorld founder Pam Allyn!

All summer long, LitCamp at Home has been providing schools and families alike from New York to Georgia to Texas with the resources they need to support the kids in their communities. Learn about the impact of LitCamp at Home from school leaders in Marietta, Georgia, and El Paso, Texas, in these full interviews with the Scholastic team.

We have also continued to innovate our curriculum delivered to our community-based partners around the world, which we have now made available for all!

These virtual programs are open to anyone and everyone in need of resources that are educational, socially and emotionally supportive, and—above all else—rooted in joy.

Watch the complete first edition of Virtual LitClub here, and check out our follow-up series, Virtual LitClub: LitCamp Edition!

This series is our next step in bringing safe, joyful learning to children around the world and keeping families and communities everywhere connected, engaged, and inspired—no matter the circumstances.

With new activities, prompts, and projects all centered around LitWorld’s 7 Strengths, Virtual LitClub is designed to reach kids at home, on the go, on their own, or together with others. Visit our site or social channels to see the collection, and sign up for our newsletter to have more Virtual LitClub updates delivered straight to your inbox!

Kids around the world having fun with Virtual LitClubs!

We Did It - Thanks to You!

Thank you for helping LitWorld reach our fundraising goals this spring!

From providing food and basic supplies to in-need families in Pakistan to assisting LitMoms in Uganda as they make face masks for their neighborhoods, your support of LitWorld has impacted communities around the world.

To share some of the changes that you helped us make, we are thrilled to introduce Priscilla Mwambo, one of our Partnership Coordinators at Go Ye Therefore Zambia.

“At Go Ye Therefore Zambia, we are so grateful to LitWorld for the work they are doing. It really has been a wonderful experience. We didn’t know what to do when the pandemic began, but you did not give up on us.

We are so inspired and grateful to have you as our partners, standing with us in this time of difficulty. You helped us come up with something we could do during this time.The Virtual LitClubs have made us so happy and helped us be hopeful. It has improved our relationship with our local community and strengthened our partnership here with the Ministry of Education. It kept us going. It keeps us looking forward.

It’s a challenging time for everyone, but LitWorld and its supporters did not give up. You kept thinking of how to help us in Zambia, and how you could help support your partners everywhere. We are so grateful that despite the difficult times in America, you are able to stand with us.”

- Priscilla Mwambo
Partnership Coordinator, Go Ye Therefore, Zambia

When schools closed in Zambia, your support helped keep our 120 LitKids at Go Ye Therefore engaged and connected through Virtual LitClubs. These programs were celebrated with a “Virtual LitClub Opening Ceremony” and covered on television - the first event of its kind in the country.

Through our partnership, Go Ye Therefore was able to purchase phones for LitKids who had been isolated at home due to COVID-19. These phones not only provided a lifeline to connect with the outside world, but allowed LitKids to stay in touch with mentors for regular read-alouds, check-ins, and activities while schools remain closed.

On behalf of the LitWorld community in Zambia and all around the world, thank you for helping to ensure that children everywhere can stay safe and supported, and will always have a place to share their stories.