Roles and Responsibilities

The Missouri Humanities Council will:

provide counsel and support to ensure fun-filled Read First! community success!
provide a Read First! orientation for committee members in St. Louis on June 16 & 17 and pay for travel expenses for two committee members to attend.
provide a base grant of $1000 to be used for the Read First! Community Celebration. (Each Read First! Celebration will be unique to an individual community but may include a festival, information fair, storytellers, author visit, parade, special story times, etc.)

provide two READ from the START workshops in Read First! community during the selected month. READ from the START programs are traditionally presented at Head Start centers, early childhood centers, churches, shelters, teen parent classes, libraries, and PAT meetings.

provide one community-wide Read First! Family Reading Workshop. This Workshop, designed for parents/care givers of young children, will be open to the public and free of charge. Participants will learn lively, fun ways to read books to children and to create stories and conversation.
provide support materials including

Letter templates to use in soliciting business and media participation
Logo for use on promotional materials
Links to online resources
A list of Missouri storytellers and authors who may be interested in participating

provide a $300 grant to be used at the completion of Read First! Month for continued efforts to increase family reading.

organize a Read First! committee with representatives from at least five community organizations.
send two committee representatives to participate in the orientation workshop.
develop family reading activities to take place during Read First!
designate one month from July 2008 to May 2009 as the Read First! Month.
plan a community-wide Read First! celebration.
schedule a community-wide Read First! Family Reading Workshop.
identify and recruit two sites in the community for READ from the START programs to be held during Read First! Month.
promote Read First! via local media outlets.
participate in an evaluation of Read First! conducted by MHC which will include follow-up survey and interviews.
complete a report to MHC which will include a summary of Read First! activities, a record of expenses and donations.