Fall, 2000

In order to reduce teen pregnancy, youth violence and substance abuse, Richmond's Youth Matters is employing an unusual weapon: reading. Specifically, Youth Matters is spearheading the "Richmond Region Reads…The 3R Campaign," a region wide, multifaceted strategy to ensure that by 2010, all children read at grade level by grade 3.

"When we looked at a myriad of social dysfunctions, we asked what the most common factors were and where we could get the most bang for the buck," says Lisa Spector, deputy director at Youth Matters, an initiative of the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce.

Research shows that early readers tend to be better readers throughout their lives, are more likely to do well in school and less likely to drop out. Researchers have found a relationship between a delay in learning to read and delinquent behavior later in life. Teens who have done poorly in school are at greater risk for becoming pregnant and for abusing drugs and alcohol.

"Reading is such a significant factor and impacts so many things," says Specter. "Plus there is a lot of community consensus around the need to improve reading scores. Schools, government at all levels and others are working to improve reading scores, meaning there are many resources to leverage toward the best-practice strategies of the 3R Campaign."

Components of the 3R Campaign

• Early Care and Education includes community-based (libraries, museums, etc.), day care (center, family, church), education (Head Start) and family literacy;
  
  
• In-school Enhancement Programs for children in grades K-3 reading below grade level include programs provided by professionals and volunteers to help children read at grade level;
  
  
• After-school Enhancement Programs for children in grades K-3 reading below grade level include programs provided by professionals and volunteers to help children read at grade level;
  
  
• Reading-infused Activities Programs involves incorporating reading into non-academic activities (e.g., scouts, Sunday school, recreation activities);
  
  
• The Book Bank - Collections and Distributions coordinates region book collections, donations and distributions to get books into children's homes.

Parts of the strategy are still being developed, but all parts of the community - families, business, government, community groups, schools and others - are being called on to participate. Youth Matters and its partners are developing blueprints that will include information such as what is demonstrated to be effective in teaching children to read ("best practices") and suggested activities. For example, the blueprint for the corporate community will include ways businesses can help, from hosting book drives to loaning employees as tutors.

The blueprints will answer the question of what should happen at home, at day care, in preschool, at school and in other settings to improve kids' reading abilities, according to Specter. "The blueprints will let individuals, groups and large organizations know what their role can be, and what the best strategies are, to help all of our kids read."

Other aspects of the strategy are underway. For two years Youth Matters has led the ARCH (America Reads, Richmond Chesterfield Henrico), an in-school tutoring effort for Richmond and adjacent counties. ARCH provided tutoring to more than 400 first and second graders in 1998-99, and it is based on research which recommends that, when tutors are not professional educators, children receive one-on-one tutoring from paid, trained and supervised tutors at least twice a week for at least sixteen weeks.

ARCH is showing some early successes. Of the 456 kids who were reading below grade and received the tutoring, most succeeded in that they are now either at grade level or their reading ability increased by more than the average of other students. Some of these students' reading skills jumped by 1.5 grade levels.

But Specter says Youth Matters and its partners realized that this effort alone would not achieve its ambitious goal, or "get to scale." So the broader 3R Campaign was born, and ARCH is now its in-school strategy.

Another part of the 3R Campaign that is underway is the Book Bank. Capital One recently made the first deposit of more than 2000 bchieve its ambitious goal, or "get to scale." So the broader 3R Campaign was born, and ARCH is now its in-school strategy.

Another part of the 3R Campaign that is underway is the Book Bank. Capital One recently made the first deposit of more than 2000 books. "The Book Bank provides a coordinating mechanism for groups that want to either hold book drives or distribute books to families that need them," says Specter.

Another early success for the 3R Campaign is the level at which the community in general, and the business community in particular. Although the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce is home to Youth Matters, it did not necessarily follow that the Chamber would fully embrace the 3R Campaign. Richmond attorney Jeff Gallagher, an Urban Health Initiative Fellow, made a case to the Chamber Board, which agreed to accept the 3R Campaign as one of its top policy priorities.

Speaking at the campaign kick-off in May, Chamber President Jim Dunn said it wasn't just the social policy implications, but also the business implications, that interest the Chamber. "Bringing young schoolchildren up to the appropriate reading level would have far-reaching consequences in the two areas businesses look at critically when deciding where to locate: quality of life and quality of the work force," he said.

Youth Matters' Board of Trustees oversees the campaign through its Academic Achievement Committee. Work groups responsible for the campaign components listed above research best practices and help partners identify their roles and commitments.