313Reads is a coalition committed to working side by side in collective impact with citywide, statewide, and national partners toward literacy access, equity, and justice to support grade level reading.
313Reads is dedicated to mobilizing alongside our community to ensure literacy equity so that all students are reading at grade level by the end of third grade.
Based on our collectively developed strategic plan and mission, 313Reads offers our core values. These are the promises we make to the collective.
Equity & Justice
Equity cannot only be a talking point. We are committed to developing a shared vision of equity among partners and turning that into clearly defined actions that are reflected upon regularly by the team and partners. We are committed to continually growing in our work toward equity and justice.
Professional Learning & Resources
Professional learning and resources that are aligned with evidence-based practices are essential. We understand that research and best practices in early language and literacy instruction should inform all we do in the name of providing our children with equitable access to grade level reading. We commit to offering professional learning resources in the form of research briefs, professional learning communities, and evidence-based practices.
Books & Digital Texts
Access to books in the home is strongly correlated with children’s emergent literacy skills and reading; culturally affirming books are evidenced to support children’s positive identity development. Books and digital texts are also needed in programs for literacy supports and interventions. We commit to supporting partners with access to diverse texts through larger network partners. We commit to access to books that: are culturally relevant and affirming; support evidence-based reading instruction; and increase children’s access to engaging books to support book joy and literacy learning at home.
Data Sharing
Data Sharing to Support Funding, Reporting, and Continuous Improvement. We share aggregated data from the coalition’s common standardized assessment to inform population level impact and build the network’s Community Impact Scorecard. We also provide program partner level data dashboards through our program evaluators. This supports the capacity of all organizations to continuously improve programming and impact, as well as secure funding and report on funding. We are establishing data sharing agreements with K-12 public schools in Detroit so that we can follow program participants across multiple years and document the impact that summer and out-of-school time literacy supports and interventions have on school-based literacy. We commit to the continuous improvement of our data collection and sharing in order to support the continuous alignment and improvement of city-wide programming to reach population impact for grade level reading and literacy equity.
Collective Funding Opportunities
Collective funding for summer and out-of-school time literacy supports and interventions allows us to work smarter together with shared knowledge, skills, and tools for successful grant writing. We commit to actively collaborating with partners to seek collective, equitably distributed funding. We commit to transparency of scoring rubrics and decisions when mini-grants or other funding is made available through 313Reads and our fiduciary.
Creating Space to Share Our Expertise
Collective Impact means we value and make space for all experiences and expertise. We are grateful for the perspectives, ideas, and lessons our members have to share, and we commit to being lifelong learners who are all growing our knowledge and skills in supporting early literacy and literacy equity. 313Reads commits to holding and creating spaces that foster open dialogue among partners.
Democratic Decision Making
Collective impact is built with shared structures and norms that prioritize equity of voice and democratic decision making. This happens at our Coordinating Council, Early Language and Literacy Table, and Summer and Out of School Time Learning Table. Action Teams. We commit to holding space and creating systems that support partners to democratically make shared decisions, as well as advocating for those decisions in all spaces. We commit to transparency of decision making.
Amplifying Work of Partners
Amplifying Work of Partners and Co-branded Materials for Social Media. Lifting each other up is important as we collaborate toward impact. We commit to sharing partners’ work and opportunities with our networks and providing co-branded materials when applicable. We commit to creating and sharing social media content to support program partners in their work of serving children, families, and communities with evidence-based, culturally sustaining programs and practices.
Community Engagement Support
Internal capacity is an issue of equity. We commit to sharing partners’ community and volunteer opportunities within our networks and to support with specific asks around these topics.
Our backbone organizations include United Way for Southeastern Michigan and Brilliant Detroit.
Cindy leads Brilliant Detroit, which coordinates existing evidence-based programming through houses in the middle of neighborhoods to ensure that families with young children have what they need to be school-ready, healthy, and stable.
Megan’s work with 313Reads focuses on strengthening the organization’s messaging and website. Megan has been a middle school teacher in northwest Detroit for the past 5 years.
Amber works as a policy and digital engagement consultant with 313Reads.
Amber was previously a high school teacher in Memphis, Tennessee.
Alyce Hartman has a background in public relations and has been an educator for over a decade. She is a writer, curriculum developer, and strategist with experience working in social service settings, with non-profits, and community development corporations. Her previous role was as the Director of Education at MACC Development. Alyce is the Founder and CEO of Nesting Birds Publishing and is joining our team as the Director of Collective Learning and Resources.
Paige (they/she) started with 313Reads in 2019 as an Americorps VISTA. Now they work as Director of Engagement on the Backbone Team.
Kim Johnson is the Founder, President and CEO of Developing Kingdoms in Different Stages, also known as Developing K.I.D.S. It is a nonprofit organization in Detroit that serves over 600 youth annually through after school and summer programs.
Kim is a native Detroiter, Detroit Public School graduate and first-generation college graduate.
Dr. Carmen Kennedy-Rogers serves as the senior program officer of K-12 Education for The Skillman Foundation. She leads the Foundation’s efforts to improve educational opportunities in Detroit.
Andrea has been engaged in the field of education since 2005, and has worked to develop the Center for Success after school program since January of 2015.
Prior to that, Andrea gained experience as a classroom teacher for 10 years.
As Director of learning with Center for Success, Heidi oversee programming across all sites.
Prior to working with Center for Success, she taught for ten years in Michigan and internationally as an elementary teacher.
Prior to moving to Michigan, Maria worked for the Recovery School District (RSD) in New Orleans as the Director of Enrollment and Student & Family Services. She helped lead the creation of the district’s unified enrollment process.
Monique Phillips is a career long philanthropy expert with nearly 10 years experience serving in the nonprofit, government, and fundraising consulting sectors.
Monique serves as CEO of MP Consulting Group, a nonprofit fundraising consulting firm based in her hometown of Detroit, MI, where she provides professional grant writing and general fund development consulting services to clients.
A former kindergarten teacher, Kathryn L. Roberts earned her doctoral degree in Curriculum, Teaching, and Educational Policy, with a specialization in Literacy, from Michigan State University.
Currently, Dr. Roberts is the Interim Assistant Dean of the Division of Teacher Education and an Associate Professor of Reading, Language, and Literature in the College of Education at Wayne State University.
Dr. Rosalyn Shahid supports the 313Reads Coalition through her seat at the Steering Committee. She has also co-facilitated 313Reads Community Conversations and is a member of the 313Reads Collective Action Team for the Family Literacy Community of Practice.
Kenyatta Stephens serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Black Family Development, Inc., a family-centered, behavioral health organization headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.
Kenyatta believes education is the gateway to each person’s success. She has a passion for implementing excellence in the human service industry that empowers children, individuals, families, staff, and organizations to be their best.
Dr. Leah van Belle serves as the Executive Director of 313Reads and brings a deep commitment to supporting literacy access, equity, and justice for our children, and building inclusive partnerships as key levers in the work.
Mary Jo works with 313Reads to help support our young people in their quest to improve their literacy skills and love of reading.
She serves the Coalition as a member of the Summer and Out of School Time Table.
