A partnership between Nebraska Children and Families Foundation’s Beyond School Bells (BSB), Nebraska Growing Readers (NGR), Unite for Literacy, and Linked to Literacy funds literacy efforts. In March of this year, by offering grants of up to $2,500 for literacy projects connected to summer programming, Beyond School Bells implemented what Education Commisioner Brian Maher described as the Department of Education’s vision of fostering “a culture of proficient and lifelong readers in Nebraska.”
Rosa Alvarado made reading part of Darlita’s routine. At each home visit, she would dedicate story time where Darlita’s mother or father would sit with her and read. She says of the routine she has established, “what we are trying to do here with our Sixpence is to create a culture of literacy.” This built-in routine of shared-reading has paid off. Not only has Darlita begun to engage with books, but she has also created her own safe space for reading, where she can self-regulate her emotions.
Josh Cramer soon returned to his home state of Nebraska where he took on his position at Nebraska Children and where he said to Mike McGuffee of Unite for Literacy, “I would like to see Nebraska lead the nation in family literacy programs.” The two then began discussing a way to make Nebraska Unite’s first statewide literacy effort.
Suzi and Kendra Muhsman recently showed their civic pride in the Schuyler community through the books they wrote for Nebraska Growing Readers. In the process, they promoted family engagement in shared reading, a community commitment toward literacy, and an intergenerational approach toward reading. Learn more about how this mother-daughter duo connected with their community and others beyond.
Nebraska Growing Readers (NGR) has plenty of local online books you can relate to spring that can help celebrate the season even on those one-off bad-weather days.
Paw Tha Hser and Fariha Mohmand are both refugees who seek to pass on their native languages to the next generation. They have been working with Nebraska Growing Readers and teams of translators to create children’s texts in their own languages. Their contributions have been an important part of the 51 NGR texts that have been translated this year.
NGR, an initiative of the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, has partnered with Schuyler and other communities like it to provide books in areas where they are harder to find or to populations who benefit from access to free books.
Since its beginning, NGR has made creating stories that speak to the diverse landscapes, the experiences, the languages, and the cultures of Nebraska a central part of its mission. And now, NGR is not only encouraging such local content, it is working with writer’s in a series of workshops to create Nebraska-related books. Kim Parsons has lived in Schuyler for over 50 years and is writing a book about the sweet corn farming that has been a part of her family for 21 years.
Sixpence Vice President Stephanni Renn asked Maddie to write a book about Jeter for the new Nebraska Growing Readers program supported by Sixpence , which resulted in Rare is Beautiful. In June of 2024, Maddie and Jeter were able to attend an MFDM conference at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and were provided with copies of the book to distribute there.
Renae Norenberg, who has owned and operated Nae’s Away from Home childcare in Fremont since 1990, says, “my kids just get ecstatic. They watch for the mail. It’s like they know when those books are going to be coming. They want to open the door to see if they have a little box on the porch. We can’t open them fast enough.” Norenberg is talking about the free boxes of NGR books that are sent to early childhood educators who are registered with the program.
Growing the Good Life 