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 Who We Are
A non-profit organization
Children's Literacy Initiative (CLI) was founded in 1988 to
enhance the opportunity for children from low-income families
to enter school ready to learn and, once in school, to be
successful in learning to read. CLI works to increase children's
literacy skills and to foster a love of reading by providing
professional development for teachers of pre-kindergarten
through third grade students. Our programs are designed to
provide training in the most effective literacy practices
and include quality books and materials for creating a literacy-rich
classroom environment.
A research-based teaching design
CLI's professional development program and its supporting
materials are derived from effective practices gathered from
the most current literacy research and from classroom experience.
CLI uses a hands-on, practical approach with teachers, beginning
with a three-day Institute and followed by on-site, individual
coaching to help teachers implement best practices in their
classrooms.
An advocate for literacy
CLI also produces programs to promote literacy, such as the
Children's Expo book event in 1986, 1987, and 1988; videos
promoting reading aloud such as A Literacy Training Film
with Al Roker and DJ Jazzy Jeff, a public service announcement;
and Mrs. Bush's Story Time, a five-year national radio series
co-produced with ABC Radio. In collaboration with the Eagles
Youth Partnership and the Free Library of Philadelphia, CLI
has helped launch the Eagles Book Mobile that travels during
spring and summer to schools, recreation centers, shelters
and play streets in Philadelphia and Chester, PA, and Camden,
NJ, bringing "The Story-Book Man" to read aloud
and books to give to children to keep.
Where
CLI's Programs are at Work Children's Literacy
Initiative is involved in large projects in the public school
systems of Philadelphia, Newark (NJ), Camden, Baltimore, and
Boston, as well as training in the school districts of Bristol
Borough, Lancaster, Neshaminy, Upper Darby, and Yeadon, PA.
CLI is currently training Head Start and other childcare teachers
and aides in the
District of Columbia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Delaware,
and Pennsylvania, as well as continuing the annual training
Institutes for the Comprehensive Day Care Centers of Philadelphia.
We have provided Institutes and workshops in California, the
U.S. Virgin Islands, and on Native American Reservations.
Organizational
History
The first few years of CLI were devoted to producing a children's
book event, Children's Expo. The event provided parents and
teachers in the area with the world's biggest children's book
and record store for two days at the Philadelphia Civic Center.
Dozens of Caldecott authors signed books, performers such
as Levar Burton, Tammy Grimes, Ossie Davis, and Eartha Kitt
read aloud; an orchestral Peter and the Wolf was presented,
and over 14,000 adults and children attended and purchased
tens of thousands of quality books (no licensed characters
allowed!)
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A Writing Center is designed to encourage
reading, thinking and writing.
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CLI
went on to produce the radio program, Mrs. Bush's Story
Hour, which was heard from October through December for
five years over the ABC Radio Networks, in all major U.S.
markets. Celebrities from Oprah Winfrey to General Norman Schwartzkopf,
Bill Cosby, Peter Jennings, Bugs Bunny, and Bullwinkle
joined Mrs. Bush in reading aloud. The program's major sponsor
was Chase Manhattan Bank, with TimeWarner and Compaq Computers
joining in.
Since that time, CLI has worked with thousands of Head Start
teachers, and concentrated on early childhood teachers in
Philadelphia, Newark, Camden and Baltimore, grades kindergarten
through 2nd grade. Our work has been studied and validated
by distinguished university researchers, including Drs. Richard
Allington, Anne McGill-Franzen, Barbara Heyns, Susan Neuman, and Virginia
Walter.
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