Partners

The Imagination Library

The Imagination Library is a birth-to-five early literacy program, founded by singer-songwriter Dolly Parton, that assists preschool children in developing their vocabulary, school readiness, and love of learning and reading by ensuring that FREE, high quality, age-appropriate books are mailed once a month directly to their homes. Also key to the program is encouraging parents to regularly read aloud to their preschool children. Each month, every enrolled child experiences the joy of finding their very own book in the mailbox – and spending quality time reading with parents and other family members. The Dollywood Foundation launched a replication model in 2000 to enable other communities to provide the Imagination Library to their children. Currently, more than 1,000 communities are participating in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom, with more than 1.3 million children enrolled to date, including statewide, universal programs in Tennessee and the Yukon Territories.

Imagination Library: Dolly Parton reading to children

Eastern Suffolk BOCES

Eastern Suffolk BOCES Adult and Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs ensure equitable access to the best education for all students and helps them achieve excellence. The programs enrich life and maximize potential within the community and work force. Eastern Suffolk BOCES CTE Division is dedicated to meeting the needs of diverse learners by providing a full spectrum of cost-effective educational and occupational learning programs and services. Literacy is more than being able to read. The CTE Division offers three distinct programs devoted to Adult Literacy: Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education and English for Speakers of Other Languages. The program offers comprehensive programs tailored to meet the occupational and educational needs of adults and provides support services for a diverse population.

The Literacy Zone

The Literacy Zone promotes and develops pathways out of poverty for residents of the Riverhead community by working collaboratively and in partnership with education, social and human services, workforce development, cultural institutions and volunteer organizations. The Literacy Zone consists of many partners that dedicate themselves to helping the Riverhead community residents enrich their lives. The case manager at the Literacy Zone Welcome Center coordinates and manages coalition networking referrals. The Literacy Zone grant awarded to Eastern Suffolk BOCES (ESBOCES) enables ESBOCES to increase the scope of its community-based literacy services, thus permitting ESBOCES to help raise the literacy and English language proficiency of the residents of Riverhead. Through this initiative, ESBOCES is able to provide a wide array of instruction in the following areas: Adult Basic Education, High School Equivalency Instruction, ESOL Instruction Citizenship Instruction, Health Literacy, Financial Literacy, Career and Technical Education.

St. Joseph’s College

St. Joseph’s College has been dedicated to providing a diverse population of students in the New York metropolitan area with an affordable education rooted in the liberal arts tradition since 1916. Independent and coeducational, the College provides a strong academic and value-oriented education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, aiming to prepare each student for a life characterized by integrity, intellectual and spiritual values, social responsibility and service.

Building on the strength of St. Joseph’s College’s long-renowned teacher education program, the M.A. in Literacy and Cognition produces knowledgeable, skillful teachers of literacy whether in the classroom or in positions such as literacy specialists or literacy coaches. The high quality of our program is also represented in the excellence of the faculty who have many years of experience in teaching and in administration.

To meet the literacy and cognition challenges teachers face, St. Joseph’s programs explore the ways that teachers, reading specialists, administrators, and teacher educators can provide effective literacy instruction to meet the needs of the diverse population of children in Long Island’s schools. The program examines educational issues from cultural, global, political, instructional and social perspectives.

St. John’s University

St. John’s University has a long tradition of community service and focused impact on communities living in poverty. The Oakdale Campus is involved in an active partnership and intense collaboration between the University, Eastern Suffolk BOCES and state funded preschool educational institutions. The partnership was designed to encourage early acquisition of reading skills by preschool children. The program, in partnership with the Long Island Head Start Centers in Bellport, Central Islip and Wyandanch, two Long Island Elementary Schools and several preschool providers, supported the implementation of effective early reading practices through training teachers with on-site college coursework and professional mentoring. The School of Education’s long term partnership with the Jumpstart nationwide literacy organization aims to close the achievement gap for today’s low-income youth.

Riverhead Free Library

Most people think of their public library solely as a source for books. However, the Riverhead Free Library offers many services and programs that can help children or the people who care for them. Amongst the year-round literacy programming for preschool and school-aged children are story times for preschoolers, bilingual story times and programs for babies and toddlers. The Children’s Department has a large collection of books, videos, and other materials available in both English and Spanish.

Western Suffolk Literacy Zone

The Western Suffolk BOCES / Literacy Zones promote and develop pathways out of poverty for residents of the Huntington Station and Wyandanch communities by working collaboratively and in partnership with education, social and human services, workforce development, cultural institutions and volunteer organizations. The Literacy Zones consist of many partners that dedicate themselves to helping the Huntington Station and Wyandanch community residents to enrich their lives. The case managers at the Literacy Zone Welcome Centers coordinate and manage a coalition of networking referrals. The Literacy Zone grants awarded to Western Suffolk BOCES (WSBOCES) enable Western Suffolk BOCES to increase the scope of its community-based literacy services, thus permitting WSBOCES to help raise the literacy and English language proficiency of the residents of Huntington Station and Wyandanch. Through this initiative, WSBOCES is able to provide a wide array of instruction in the following areas: Adult Basic Education, High School Equivalency Instruction, ESOL Instruction, Citizenship Instruction, Health Literacy, Financial Literacy and Career and Technical Education.