Status Update: Q4 2023
BACKBONE UPDATES
Collective Impact Learning Community
Several times a year, Raising Readers Nashville partners come together for a Collective Impact Learning Community (CILC) to share Action Team updates, celebrate successes, and discuss both barriers and best practices that help everyone move forward. The most recent one on Friday, December 8, 2023 was well attended by the partner community, where they strengthened consensus building skills through a custom process developed by partners at Elevate Consulting.
Backbone welcomes new staff
Raising Readers Nashville is excited to welcome Julie Gwinn to the backbone team, as Associate Director. Julie brings over 25 years of nonprofit and public relations experience, and was most recently serving as vice president of The Seymour Agency, a premier literary agency representing a variety of diverse, award-winning authors and content that reflects many communities, cultures, and countries. In this new role, Julie will be integral in forming and strengthening key organizational partnerships, and will be responsible for ensuring all Raising Readers Nashville initiatives achieve the scaling of presence and impact within the community.
ACTION TEAM UPDATES
Child Care Expansion Guide
Action Team 1 is proud to announce the publishing of “Guide to Expanding Child Care Seats in Davidson County,” a guide designed to cover all aspects of the sometimes non-linear process of opening or expanding a child care facility. The guide includes business information to consider before getting started, insight on local zoning, and gives special notation to the Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS) licensure process steps, for a true 360° overview. The guide is available both online and as a downloadable document. We look forward to launching this to the public in the coming months!
Connecting Health Resources to Literacy: a survey for providers and early childhood educators
To better identify the challenges and barriers families experience when it comes to learning about and accessing available health resources in Nashville and Davidson County, Action Team 5 has an open survey designed for health providers and early childhood educators to gather their insight and experience. The goal of this survey is to create clarity on barriers that should be top priority. If your or anyone in your network is a health provider or early childhood educator, we invite you to share this survey.
Accessing Health and Education Services: a survey for Davidson County families
Action Team 5 is also hosting a survey for families, to gather insight about what kind of health and education services families use, and if they have been easy or hard to find and access. The team has developed a library of materials to promote the survey, including a landing page, printable posters and flyers, social media content, and newsletter content. The survey is offered in both English and Spanish, and the team is offering gift cards to respondents as reimbursement for their time. However, respondents also have the option to be anonymous if they choose. If your organization works directly with families, we invite you to share this survey with those you serve.