By Delores Stimpson

“The world opened up to me when I learned to read.” (Mary McCleod Bethune)  
  
It is a blessing and joy to begin a summer pilot as part of the ongoing Family Resilience Program. Our first focal point is reading. It includes reading aloud, listening and understanding. I am working with an excellent ESL instructor who is a middle school teacher in a local charter school. Our family sessions are in the family home, and we have planned a curriculum that will introduce the family to community resources, outings that will allow them to socialize within the surrounding community and develop stronger relationships with educators across the schools the children attend.   

We started with an assessment of final school reports. English was identified as a priority gap. We will now incorporate reading across the household, including role plays in English that are led by parents. One older child shared that he practices his reading skills every night as he reads his Bible. The younger children are also attending a weekly book reading class at my church. They are interested in stories from around the world and love to read aloud to others. We have planned outings suggested from family input. They have never been to a theatre to watch a movie. We will also have a meal at a local restaurant where the family will choose from a formal menu and not a drive thru display, and we will introduce the local library resources to encourage continued reading  

The instructor working with the family is inspired and asked for opportunities to engage her local ministry group to extend support to help newcomer families in other ways. In the comfort of the family home environment, it was truly inspiring to see the enthusiasm and excitement from all the children as they selected books they wanted to read.  
  
God has given us an amazing opportunity to inspire the entire family to engage in other areas that felt uncomfortable because of the gap in reading and understanding.