By Laura Fitzgerald

Earlier this year, St. Clair County Organizing for Regional Equity (SCCORE) incorporated Write to Read, a literacy program, in its afterschool sessions. Thanks to a $26,000 combined grant from the Community Foundation of St. Clair County’s Youth Advisory Council and Women’s Initiative.

The grant funded reading and learning materials, food, administrative expenses, materials for activities, transportation and small stipends for tutors. SCCORE Director Kim Brown said a small portion of the program budget was also funded by donations from private individuals and local corporations and community partners.

“Every person has a human right to know how to read. And so that was really our push, to help every child,” said Brown. “Literacy is core to everything, core to getting a better job, core to being able to navigate the world, and to understand the world around you.”

The program offers spring, summer, and fall sessions, where students aged 4 to 17 work with tutors to improve literacy skills. The program collaborates with the Port Huron Area School District (PHASD), the NAACP Port Huron Chapter, and the St. Clair County Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) to create learning benchmarks.

During the 2022-23 school year, only 29% of PHASD third graders met state testing benchmarks for English Language Arts (ELA), compared to 41% statewide. In 2018-19, 45% of third graders statewide and 35% of PHASD third graders met this benchmark, according to state data. The data also showed underserved students, including economically disadvantaged children, fared worse—only 23% of disadvantaged PHASD students met the requirements in 2022-23, compared to 27% statewide.

 “We wanted to make a commitment to assist our students to improve those reading skills. We know that the COVID-19 pandemic, unfortunately, impacted our children’s reading and writing scores greatly statewide and nationwide,” Brown said. “Our area experienced significant underscoring in English Language Arts (ELA), so our commitment was to work in collaboration with PHASD and some of our other partners.”

Literacy is fundamental to a student’s learning and success later in life.

More on the Program

In addition to literacy support, students engage in physical activities with the YMCA of the Blue Water Area, enjoy healthy meals, take field trips to places like Camp Cavell, and meet guest speakers who teach skills like woodworking and cooking.

Parents and families are also involved, receiving teaching strategies and materials to help their children at home. By the summer session, about 90% of parents had participated by volunteering or attending sessions.

The program, while open to all, focuses on underserved communities in south Port Huron. Transportation is provided by SCCORE volunteers, thanks to a van donated by the Community Foundation in 2020.

One Parent Volunteer’s Experience with the Program

Kimberly Jackson enrolled her seven-year-old daughter, KayLani, in the program and volunteers as a middle and high school tutor. She said her daughter has struggled in the past with her reading skills due in part to a speech impediment, but now she is requesting more difficult learning materials.

“KayLani’s confidence has gone through the roof,” Jackson said. “Her ability to try to do the hard things has gone up. She is working hard to apply the strategies that she’s learned.”

Jackson said she appreciates the strategies she has learned to continue to support her daughter’s and three-year-old son’s reading journeys at home. “Being able to have a support system as a parent and seeing my child have a support system with people working patiently with her and using different strategies for her to work through the materials has meant she has improved so much over the summertime,” Jackson said. 

Jackson, who is a Port Huron High School graduate and longtime resident of the area, is passionate about volunteering in local educational programs. She has seen firsthand the struggle that some students face in acquiring basic literacy skills. She has also seen the opportunities and confidence that better literacy skills can inspire in students of all ages, whether that be improving in school or realizing they can get a higher education beyond high school.

“The reality I found out with the high schoolers is that they really love to read,” Jackson said.
“When you start asking them, ‘What do you want to read about?” They light up.”

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