Slavic Village Development Initiatives Focus On Literacy

With a vision of ensuring every young person in southeast Cleveland’s Broadway and Slavic Village neighborhood is able to experience high quality learning and improve academic achievement, Slavic Village Development hones in on programs that improve reading levels and graduation rates.

Slavic Village Development works with and for residents, businesses, and institutions in the neighborhood to promote civic engagement, community empowerment, and neighborhood investment. Along with community partners Third Federal Foundation and Cleveland Foundation, the organization is working to address one of the neighborhood’s most critical issues: literacy levels and graduation rates.

By coupling funding for the MyCom (My Commitment, My Community) youth-focused initiative and the P-16 Initiative, which addresses issues at key education levels, Slavic Village Development was able to establish key program positions for a director and literacy coordinator.

Notable programs include the Reach Out and Read / Ready to Learn initiative, where volunteers are trained to engage parents about their child’s education and identify educational needs during appointment waiting times; working with partner schools to ensure a continuum of programs exist to support learning in the classroom, after school and during breaks; promoting literacy through the nation’s first Little Free Library Neighborhood; and through the Literacy Cooperative, creating a campaign for new parents and the community to understand the value of talking with their babies.

In short, the vision is to focus resources so as to improve the schools in the neighborhood and to create a model for the rest of Cleveland and other urban communities. The Callahan Foundation is proud to support the Slavic Village Development with a grant of $20,000 towards this vision.