Join Philly author and educator, John Butler for a conversation about one of the most overlooked forces in children’s literacy: fathers and father figures. We’ll explore what the research says about men and reading aloud, and how we can bring more dads into literacy.

Date and Time: June 5, 12:00–1:00 PM

Learn more and register.

Join Lisa Browne of First Up for a conversation that connects research to real practice, with tangible strategies for cultivating culturally affirming literacy practices.

Date and Time: May 21, 2026, 12:00–1:00 PM

Learn more and register.

We’ve developed two workshops to do this: Active Reading (AR) and Parent Workshop on Early Reading Skills (PWERS). The Active Reading workshop focuses on skills to make the most of reading time, and our Parent Workshop on Early Reading Skills is specifically designed to cover the fundamental skills of reading, including phonological awareness and phonics. As well as these two workshops, we are also developing workshops for parents of pre-k aged children.

Read by 4th is searching for a contracted bilingual Spanish/English facilitator to deliver the ‘Active Reading’, ‘Parent Workshop on Early Reading Skills (PWERS)’, and Pre-K workshops to Spanish-speaking parents.

Learn more and apply.

If you have any additional questions, please reach out to Terah Stivers at your earliest convenience at stiverst@freelibrary.org .

Here’s the hopeful part: the people working on adult literacy and early literacy have powerful insights to share with each other. They just don’t get many chances to be in the same room.

Join us for a Lunch & Learn where adult literacy champions and early reading advocates come together for an honest, energizing conversation. You’ll hear from leaders at Beyond Literacy and the Free Library of Philadelphia adult literacy programs about what they’re seeing on the ground, and how breaking down the wall between “kid reading” and “grown-up reading” could change everything.

You’ll leave with:

• Fresh perspective on family literacy
• Real stories that will change how you think about what it means to learn to read
• Practical ways to support and advocate for readers of all ages

Whether you work in literacy, care about education, or just want to understand why reading matters more than ever, this conversation is for you.

Date and Time: Friday, March 27, 12:00-1:00 PM

RSVP HERE.

Right now, Philly schools have just five librarians for over 116,000 students. Seriously, let that sink in. Research shows that when kids have access to certified teacher librarians, they read more and grow into stronger learners.

So why are so many of our children left without one?

Join Caitlin Gerrity and Lauren Popp from the Philadelphia Alliance to Restore School Librarians to learn:

• What’s really happening with school libraries in Philly
• How certified teacher librarians boost student reading and achievement
• What it will take from policy to community action to bring librarians back to every school

If you believe every child deserves a fair shot at reading success, this conversation is for you!

Date and Time: Friday, November 7, 2025, 1:00–2:00 PM

Register.

Advocating for kids and families takes heart, and it takes energy. In this special Lunch & Learn, we’ll slow down and take care of the people doing the work: you.

Join us to explore how understanding your own sensory needs can help you stay grounded, especially when the work gets stressful or emotionally tough. You’ll learn simple ways to check in with your body, regulate your stress, and build in the kind of self-care that actually works for you.

This isn’t just about wellness, it’s about building staying power for this movement. Because when we care for ourselves, we’re better equipped to care for others.

Register here.

Ready to make story time more engaging? We’re diving into multimodal literacy—because kids learn best when they move, hear, see, and feel their way through a story. Think stomping out syllables, snapping to the rhythm of a rhyme, acting out characters—real hands-on stuff that makes reading an absolute blast and fosters deep learning.

If you’ve ever seen a group of children dancing, singing, or jumping at a Philly literacy event—all with their eyes locked on a book—there’s a good chance Thembi Palmer was leading the charge. This powerhouse author and storyteller runs Imagine More: Story Adventures, turning storytime into a full-body experience. And guess what? She’s bringing that same energy to our next Lunch & Learn.

If you work with little learners (pre-K through 2nd grade), are looking for ways to cater to different learning styles, or just want to hype up storytime at home, this session is for you. Thembi’s got the moves and practical strategies to help you bring literacy to life. Don’t miss it!

Date and Time: Friday, March 28, 2025, 12:00-1:00 PM

Register.

The School District of Philadelphia is rolling out a brand-new English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum for grades K-8.

Join us for a conversation with Jen Dianna, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, ELA, to explore how this curriculum (EL Education) and a District-wide commitment to the science of reading is transforming how our children are being taught to read.

We’ll cover:

• How the curriculum is being rolled out in classrooms
• Progress updates on implementation
• What parents and caregivers need to know to support their young learners with reading at home

This event will be recorded, but joining live means you’ll have the chance to ask your questions in real time!

REGISTER TODAY

We hope you’ll join us next week. We’re offering two sessions – feel free to choose the one that best fits your schedule:

• Tuesday, May 14th at 6 PM. Register.
• Wednesday, May 15th at noon. Register.

Date and Time: Wednesday, April 17, 2024, 12:00 PM

Learn more and register.

You can also read more about reading scores in Mississippi here.

The Neighborhood Literacy Fund supports community-driven solutions to the early literacy crisis by awarding up to $2,000 for projects that help grow Philadelphia’s young readers.

The best solutions for the community come from within.

That’s why we’re partnering with literacy advocates like you to support projects that change the narrative and lives of young readers in our city.

Because reading is the key to the life our children deserve.

Application Deadline: April 19, 2024

Learn more.

Date and Time: February 28, 2024, 12:00 PM

Learn more and register.

Please feel free to share the registration link with anyone who might be interested in home and classroom libraries and the importance of diverse books.

As always, you can view recordings of past Lunch & Learns here.

Date and Time: November 8, 2023, 12:00 PM

Register.

Date and Time: Wednesday, September 27, 2023, 12:00 PM

Learn more and register.

Reading is one of the most important skills for school and life. And the good news is: we know exactly how the brain learns to read. And, the steps to helping your child grow as a reader are a lot simpler and more fun than you might think. Parents, educators, literacy advocates, you’re in for a treat. During this virtual event, Spencer will break down how children learn to read and share practical tips designed for families to teach reading at home. All lessons are evidence-based and focus on making the experience both educational and joyful.

Date and Time: Wednesday, September 13, 2023, 12:00 PM

Learn more and register.

As always, you can view recordings of past Lunch & Learns here.

We ask that you listen to Episode 1 beforehand in order to get the most out of this session.

Register here.

This lunch & learn is a follow-up to AIM’s Symposium from Monday, March 13.

We hope you’ll consider joining us on Wednesday, March 22nd at noon for the recap of “Why is Reading Comprehension So Difficult to Comprehend?” Our presenters will be Dr. Megan Gierka, Senior Content Developer and Facilitator at the AIM Institute for Learning & Research, and Toni Okarma, Director of Early Literacy at the School District of Philadelphia.

You can learn more about the symposium here.

Register here.

If you can’t make it, no worries – we’ll post a recording on our Lunch & Learn page here.

Join Read by 4th and one of the attorneys who led this lawsuit, Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg of the Public Interest Law Center, to learn more about the case and what it means now for kids in Philadelphia and across the Commonwealth.

Date and Time: March 9, 2023, 12:00 PM

Learn more and register.

And if you’d like to read more about this case, here’s a story from WHYY.

Help pack 13,000 literacy bags for Philly’s children!

Reading Promise Week is back October 10-16!

Thanks to the hard work of hundreds of partners, Philly’s annual family literacy festival is bringing 40 free literacy events to neighborhoods citywide. And this year, we’ll be giving away 13,000 literacy bags and children’s books—and we could use a hand (or 100) packing them!

Reading Promise Week is a time for Philly to come together and celebrate literacy for our youth. Its beauty and impact come directly from the power of community.

Join us in protecting our children’s right to read. If you have additional questions or leads on groups of volunteers, please reach out to Clinton at dreesc@freelibrary.org.

SIGN UP FOR A PACKING WEEK SLOT

DATES: Monday, September 19th-23rd & 26th-30th
LOCATION: 6801 N 16th St Philadelphia, PA 19126 (Your Child’s World Learning Center—West Oak Lane)

In 2021, Reading Promise Week consisted of 45 unique events organized by partner organizations and volunteers. The Special Projects Manager will be responsible for managing the recruitment, engagement, and support of these event hosts as we seek to sustain and grow the festival. Core to these responsibilities is the need to manage complex logistics, maintain clear and consistent communications with partners, and juggle many competing timelines and needs.

In addition to Reading Promise Week, the Special Projects Manager will be the campaign’s point person for a number of ongoing family engagement initiatives. These include a series of parent trainings on the foundations of early literacy, a texting service that supports parents of young children with brain development tips, and making sure the many unique family resources developed by the campaign are accessible to and distributed to partners.

The ideal candidate for this position would be bilingual, however this is not a requirement for application. Read by 4th has a commitment to expand its outreach to and engagement with communities for whom English is not the primary language. To that end, the Special Projects Manager will be responsible for thinking through and establishing guidelines to ensure Read by 4th resources are accessible and appropriate for various languages and cultures in Philadelphia. Our first priority is Spanish, however we are actively working to ensure our resources are translated and culturally relevant in a number of languages common in Philadelphia.

Specific Responsibilities:

Event Planning:

• Manage Read by 4th’s annual celebration of early literacy, Reading Promise Week.
  • Work with a variety of external partners and Campaign staff to collaboratively design key aspects of Reading Promise Week.
  • Recruit, register and support partners as they plan their events
  • Oversee the procurement and distribution of family resources to event hosts
  • Facilitate regular planning meetings
  • Plan one major event that will either kick-off or closeout the week of festivities
• Provide event design and management for other Read by 4th campaign events (as yet to be determined).

Project Management:

The Special Projects Manager provides project management oversight on a number of efforts that relate to supporting families in developing home literacy habits. These include:

• Manage the Ready4K initiative. Ready4K is a texting service that sends parenting tips related to early learning and brain development to thousands of Philadelphia families.
  • Work with partners to expand the enrollment in this service to more families each year
  • Manage the relationship with the vendor and ensure contract compliance
• Oversee the dissemination and implementation of the Family workshop on early literacy skills and parent workshop on active reading.
  • Coordinate logistics and the distribution of materials to partners to support our family workshops on early literacy and active reading
  • Establish a system for ensuring regular train the trainers sessions
  • Identify opportunities to continue to expand the use of both trainings
• Handle logistics of special projects and pilot initiatives that arise over the course of the year (i.e. ordering and distributing books or printed materials, volunteer events)

Administrative Duties:

• Create and manage a distribution system for the Campaign’s inventory of books and family materials
• Create and implement process for receiving and fulfilling requests for materials from partner organizations
• Establish a system for and oversee the distribution of family resources and children’s books to partners
• Develop and maintain relationships with a cadre of vendors (printers, caterers, tent rentals, storage space, delivery services, etc…

Application Process
We strongly encourage Black people, indigenous people, people of color, LGTBQ people, seniors, and speakers of multiple languages to apply. To apply, email resume and cover letter as one pdf to Abby Thaker (thakera@freelibrary.org) with “Operations Coordinator” in the subject line.

Learn more and apply.