Children served by the YMCA of Greater Nashua were treated to a storytelling presentation and brand-new books to keep, thanks to a grant from the Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF).

Storyteller Simon Brooks led an interactive presentation for more than 250 children enrolled in Y’s summer camp program at the Merrimack Y and the Summer Learning Loss Prevention Program (SLLP) held at Ledge Street School in Nashua. At the end of the presentation, each child selected two new books to keep from hundreds of titles. Simon is known for the extraordinary voices he uses in storytelling and which are also featured in his voice acting for commercials and audio books.  At the end of the presentation, each child selected two new books to keep from hundreds of titles.

CLiF awards Summer Readers grants to organizations serving kids at high risk of experiencing a “summer slide” in literacy skills. The partnership between the Y and CLiF reached  young readers, many of whom are at greatest risk. The Y is proactively addressing the literacy gap in its summer programs and is the only Y in New Hampshire offering SLLP; summer 2015 was the first time it was offered locally. Evidence based research has shown that low-income students lose 2.5 to 3 months of learning each summer and this is cumulative over their school career. This program enables students to begin the next school year ahead, instead of falling further behind. Additionally, studies show that getting kids to read at grade level by third grade significantly improves their likelihood of completing high school.

CLiF awards Summer Readers grants to organizations serving kids at high risk of experiencing a “summer slide” in literacy skills. Research shows that children who don’t read over summer vacation tend to lose literacy skills while children who do read improve their reading abilities. Low-income children and youth often experience greater summer learning losses than their higher-income peers.

“We are so thankful to the Children’s Literacy Foundation for their generous support of our efforts to keep children focused on learning during the summer months. Our kids were thrilled to each choose two books to take home and add to their home libraries,” said Elizabeth Covino, director of community relations.

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