Baltimore Reads

BOSTON -- Nearing the midpoint of an ambitious plan to have all third-graders reading well by 2005, some leaders in this city called the "Athens of America" are believers. Maybe, they say, Boston will move beyond rhetoric and become the first American city to pull it off.The 4-year-old campaign, ReadBoston, has enlisted almost every city organization even remotely involved with literacy. Of about three dozen such urban-literacy coalitions across the nation -- including a longtime initiative called Baltimore Reads -- ReadBoston is one of only a few focusing primarily on children.

Book bank strives to expose children to books, readingI applaud The Sun's April 11 article "Low-income households lack books, study finds." It rightly reported that low- income households often lack books, perpetuating a cycle of low-educational achievement that is often passed from parent to child. Research has repeatedly shown that introducing children to books at home helps them succeed in school.If Baltimore is to enable its children to read at grade level by age nine, many partners must be involved, not just the schools.

NationalParents can call hot line to talk to school principalSAN FRANCISCO -- Parents looking for information, advice or reassurance about their children's education can speak confidentially to a school principal -- although not likely their child's principal -- March 21-23 during the 10th annual National Principals' Hotline.About 150 principals from around the country -- including nine from Maryland -- will be answering the phones in conjunction with the annual meeting of the National Association of Elementary School Principals in San Francisco.

State's schools lauded for raising reading scoresThe National Education Goals Panel has awarded a gold star to Maryland for improvements in fourth-grade reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress from 1992 to 1998.The panel -- a bipartisan group of federal and state officials -- also awarded gold stars for fourth-grade progress to Colorado, Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi and the Virgin Islands, and gave gold stars to Arizona, California, Louisiana, New York and Washington, D.C., for progress in reading achievement between fourth grade in 1994 and eighth grade in 1998.

The Baltimore Reads Books for Kids Campaign -- extended for two weeks beyond its May 30 collection day -- has brought in 21,032 children's books for distribution to needy youngsters through the Baltimore Reads Book Bank.Last year's Bring a Book Day drive collected more than 36,000 books -- but fewer than 10 percent were the children's books most needed in the community, according to the nonprofit literacy organization Baltimore Reads.The "ambitious goal" of the drive sponsored by WJZ-TV, Sylvan Learning Systems and Von Paris Moving and Storage was 15,000 books, said Books for Kids coordinator Eileen Gillan.

Schools, libraries and literacy programs seek volunteers to help children and adults improve reading skills and assist in related projects.Among them are:Baltimore Reads, which is moving its Book Bank from City Surplus Warehouse at 2801 Edmondson Ave. to the Baltimore Sun warehouse on Bath Street downtown. Volunteers are needed to sort and box books for three-hour shifts between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. any Tuesday and Thursday next month. Information: 410-752-3595, Ext. 108.George Washington Elementary School, 800 Scott St., Baltimore, for tutoring students in reading, from 8: 30 a.m. to 2: 30 p.m. Contact: Judy Sparks, 410-396-1445.

The Orioles' new third baseman is going to bat for adult literacy in Baltimore.Cal Ripken Jr. and his wife, Kelly, announced yesterday they were making a $250,000 donation to the Ripken Learning Center, one of 37 citywide literacy programs and referral agencies sponsored by Baltimore Reads Inc., a private nonprofit organization.The event at Baltimore Reads marked the start of the seventh annual fund-raising drive for "Reading, Runs and Ripken," a program where donors pledge an amount for each run batted in Ripken gets during the season.

Meaning of man's soul raises many questionsPope John Paul II recently declared that the theory of evolution is not incompatible with Christian doctrine; that although man's physical body may have evolved from apelike ancestors, man's soul was created by God.As an agnostic, I am trying to understand the meaning of ''soul."

Tuesday was the start of the fifth annual Reading, Runs and Ripken program. Participants can support literacy services in Baltimore by pledging a dollar amount for every run Cal Ripken drives in this season. The Kelly and Cal Ripken Jr. Foundation will match each pledge. In the past, the program has raised as much as $80,000 in one season, but this year Cal and his wife hope to break the $100,000 plateau. The Sun's Jason LaCanfora sat down with Kelly Ripken at the Ripken Learning Center to chat about the reading program, and, of course, Cal's streak.

While the labor deal that's currently on the table might save the NBA season, there's a chance the dispute could result in a local casualty -- the Muggsy Bogues All-Star Classic.Bogues, the former Dunbar standout who plays point guard for the Charlotte Hornets, was in town yesterday to promote the game, which is scheduled for Sept. 13 at the Baltimore Arena. But his media appearances were canceled -- and the game might have to be, too -- because of the NBA labor disagreement that has players limiting their activities.

Salary: $42,000 Age: 36 Years on the job: Two How she got started: Harris grew up in Trinidad but moved back to Toronto, where she was born, to attend college. She received a bachelor's degree in English from York University. She also holds an International Education Diploma from the London Montessori Centre. Before coming to Baltimore, Harris worked in early childhood education at Montessori schools in Toronto. She moved to Baltimore to be with her fiance and began volunteering as a tutor with Baltimore Reads, a nonprofit that specializes in teaching adult literacy.

Shirley Bigley LaMotte is the chief executive officer of Baltimore Reads, which in January will celebrate its 20th anniversary of providing adult literacy services to Baltimore families. In addition to providing literacy classes, Baltimore Reads runs a free-to-all book bank at The Baltimore Sun, at 501 N. Calvert St. Shirley and her husband, businessman and former state delegate Lawrence A. LaMotte, are longtime residents of Guilford. 1 A good, hot breakfast like my mom always makes: "You really don't want me at that 8 a.m. meeting without it!"

Appointments * Shirley Bigley LaMotte of Baltimore Reads Inc. has been appointed to the Baltimore City Workforce Investment Board by Mayor Sheila Dixon. On the board * Robert E. Grady, a partner in the Carlyle Group, has been named to the board of directors of Rockville-based The Symbio Group. Openings * Bukowski Public Relations has opened in Bel Air. The new agency will focus on providing communications and public relations services to small to midsize companies in the Baltimore-Washington market.

On December 22, 2005, ADA (nee Treadway) MATTHEWS; beloved wife of Earl Franklin Matthews; devoted mother of Scott N., Randall S. and E. Brent Matthews. Survived by one brother, Robert Treadway. Also survived by six grandchildren, Jamie, Scott, Joshua, Melanie, Grace and Grant. Friends may call at the family owned Henry W. Jenkins & Sons, 16924 York Road (Hereford/Monkton) on Tuesday, December 27, 10 A.M. to 12 P.M. Service and interment private. In lieu of flowers Memorial Contributions may be sent to Baltimore Reads Inc., 3 E. Reed Street, Baltimore, MD 21202.

Evelyn Inchauteguis works at the library and belongs to a book club. Hardly notable. Except that everything about those two concepts defies some hard truths about Baltimore, particularly about people who grow up as Inchauteguis did -- in foster homes, a pregnant high school dropout, eventually a single mother of two on welfare. Baltimore is a place where 38 percent of the residents read at or below the fifth-grade level and where a third of the city didn't graduate from high school. So when area politicians, business leaders, educators and nonprofit group representatives put their heads together tomorrow at Baltimore's Literacy Summit, they'll be trying to figure out how to create more people like Inchauteguis, who one day realized, "I'm not gonna make it out there without my diploma."

Baltimore really will be "the city that reads" one day in September, when volunteers pore over novels and newspapers, menus and magazines in a 24-hour readathon intended to address the city's dismal literacy rate. At 100 locations across the city, volunteers will read aloud in one-hour shifts around the clock, starting at 6:30 a.m. Sept. 26. The event, called Need-to-Read, is meant to raise awareness about illiteracy and raise funds to address the problem. Thirty-eight percent of the city's adults are functionally illiterate, meaning they read at or below the sixth-grade level, said Marlene McLaurin, chief executive officer of Baltimore Reads, a literacy group that is organizing the event.

Two local nonprofit organizations have been chosen to take the lead in a $5 million program to help 70 middle-schoolers in East and West Baltimore. Baltimore Reads and Community IMPACT! Baltimore will coordinate the work of the Turning the Corner Achievement Program, a project of Baltimore investment manager Eddie C. Brown, his wife, Sylvia, and their two daughters. The Baltimore Community Foundation and Associated Black Charities, which are jointly overseeing the program, will announce the selection today.

Car after car pulled into the parking lot of Polytechnic Institute-Western High School yesterday to unload precious cargo: books -- more than 20,000 of them. The donations went to Baltimore Reads' annual Books for Kids Day, a drive for low-income families in the city. A committee of six Baltimore-area youngsters ages 8 to 12 helped organize and promote the event by starting book drives at their schools and holding a poster contest, with the winning entry used to advertise the event. "It's about kids helping kids," said Susannah Bergmann, the information officer for Baltimore Reads, a nonprofit literacy organization.

The first phase of Baltimore's new Symphony Center -- two rectangular brick office buildings and a parking garage that hug Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall -- has just opened, amid hope that what was a long-vacant urban patch will become a popular midtown business and residential complex on Park Avenue. With the "S" in "symphony" displayed like a treble clef on the exterior signs, the public-private project is considered one of the most ambitious revitalization efforts outside the Inner Harbor.

Baltimore Reads leaves Read Street for Symphony BALTIMORE - The Baltimore Reads literacy organization has a new home. The group, which since 1994 had its headquarters on Read Street, moved into new offices last weekend at the Symphony Center office building near Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The new location is accessible to light rail and the Metro subway, has more room for classrooms and technological devices, and features a family learning library and an instruction room. Moving expenses are being paid through a $500,000 community funding drive.