Central Promise Neighborhood kicks off #PromiseReads initiative at back-to-school rally

Monday, August 27, 2018

Tags: Promise Neighborhood , Outreach , Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland , Foundations

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The Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood kicked off its #PromiseReads initiative at the Friendly Inn Settlement’s back-to-school rally earlier in August. Promise team members handed out #PromiseReads backpacks filled with school supplies, as well as bookmarks and books from the Kids Book Bank, to encourage reading among families and children.

WKYC-TV was there to capture all the excitement. Click here to watch the WKYC video clip and read the article below.

Central Promise Neighborhood joins WKYC’s literacy campaign

By Margaret Bernstein

At a Monday back-to-school rally at Friendly Inn Settlement in Cleveland, a new neighborhood – Central — joined WKYC’s ongoing literacy crusade.

The Central Promise Neighborhood rolled out its new program, called Promise Reads, handing out free books and bookmarks to families.

There was a Little Free Library present inside the Friendly Inn at the rally, symbolic of the fact that Central is now Cleveland’s newest Little Free Library Neighborhood. It’s a designation that simply means that leaders in that neighborhood have committed to hosting regular events around literacy.

The project, yet another a spinoff of WKYC’s successful Slavic Village Reads and Hough Reads initiatives, is a partnership with the Sisters of Charity Foundation’s Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood program. And as with Hough and Slavic Village, WKYC will be supporting the Central community by providing media coverage of its literacy events in the months ahead.

WKYC and several other community partners were present for the kickoff of Promise Reads, including The Literacy Cooperative which was signing up families for its Imagination Library free book program. A storyteller from Friendly Inn’s SPARK program kept the little ones captivated by reading a book about counting cookies.

The Cleveland Kids’ Book Bank donated more than 1,500 books for the rally. Some kids stuffed them into their new backpacks, others read them on site while waiting for haircuts and hair braiding.

The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, which is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System, is the lead convener of the Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood. Promise is a collective impact initiative that works to transform the educational and developmental outcomes of children in Central Neighborhood. Initiated in 2009, the Promise Neighborhood brings together many partners, including philanthropy, residents, community service providers and schools. The community-based Promise Neighborhood Advisory Board provides strategic direction with substantive input and guidance for the entire initiative.