Literacy and Global Investments

Through the power of partnership, Boys & Girls of Philadelphia has unified with Global Partners for Development and the Brethren Community foundation to establish the Traveling Literacy Symposium. This wholistic approach to the developmental and educational needs of children, supports literacy through hands-on multisensory instruction. By building a comprehensive understanding of children’s developmental and educational needs in America, Tanzania, and Uganda through observation and evaluation, the Traveling Literacy symposium will create dialogue and collaboration among educators, encouraging a global discussion that analyzes common issues. Through this work, we will analyze how barriers to educational access, developmental relevancy of standard pedagogy, poverty, and trauma impact youths’ learning outcomes.  

Africa

Traveling Literacy Symposium:
Africa 2019

Under our Power of Leadership initiative, the Brethren Community Foundation with fellow organization Global Partners for Development, helped fund the Boys & Girls Clubs of Philadelphia bring their youth of the year on a journey to Africa for their Traveling Literacy Symposium. This experience was one of international global awareness; with members visiting the young women who have benefited from receiving scholarships and attending community meetings.

California

Literacy Training: California

Thanks to the generous support of the Brethren Community Foundation, Boys & Girls Clubs of Philadelphia facilitated a week-long multisensory literacy training and implementation seminar in January 2019 for four Boys & Girls Club organizations in California, launching the Fellowship Literacy Initiative Prototype (FLIP) program. The training was hosted by our partners at the Prentice School in Tustin, California and included 20 attendees from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Fullerton, Central Orange Coast and Sonoma Valley as well as the Youth & Family Club of Pomona County.

The week-long training focused on implementing high-quality, multisensory literacy techniques in Boys & Girls Club programming. Led by BGCP’s Executive Vice President of Grants, Training, and Development in conjunction with the Executive Vice President of Literacy, Education, and Training, participants learned to facilitate lessons incorporating auditory, visual and kinesthetic components in order to engage all learners. Throughout the week, participants practiced teaching encoding,decoding, reading, and writing strategies that will impact youth literacy skills at their Clubs. Training included both structured components of instruction and engaging, creative activities to promote a fun literacy environment at the Clubs. Participants also had the opportunity to observe a Prentice class in session to see firsthand how to implement multisensory instruction with students in a small group setting. The training week culminated in lesson plan presentations where participants applied what they had learned and received realtime feedback from the trainers. They worked in small groups to synthesize concepts from the week into a complete lesson. Participants demonstrated the lesson in front of their fellow participants, Prentice School staff, and representatives from the Brethren Community Foundation.