National Institute for Literacy, Essence
Team Up on Mentoring Campaign

Effort to Build Skills Among African-American Youth

WASHINGTON - When Susan L. Taylor, the familiar face behind the nearly four-decades-old Essence magazine, issued "a national call to action to secure our youth" through mentoring, the National Institute for Literacy stepped in to ensure that reading and other literacy skills were a focal point of efforts to encourage and support African-American youth and communities.

The Institute, a federal agency, agreed in May to serve as an expert and resource on literacy for the ESSENCE CARES mentoring movement. Community literacy is a new area for the Institute, and its work with ESSENCE CARES will help engage vulnerable youth and adults in building literacy skills-the building blocks for success in life, at work, at school, and at home.

"As ESSENCE CARES marshals communities and African Americans determined to help create a new reality for our nation's youth through mentoring, the Institute has an unprecedented opportunity to connect youth, adults and families with the power of literacy. That is our mission," said Institute Director Sandra L. Baxter, Ed.D.

This high-profile mentoring movement launched by Taylor and Essence magazine supports the Institute's efforts to raise literacy's visibility as a national asset, Baxter added.

"Literacy is one of the most powerful tools youth can posses. Unfortunately, our youth are in crisis: 60 percent of Black fourth-graders and 58 percent of Black eighth-graders are reading below the basic level and only about 50 percent of African-American students are graduating on time from high school with a regular diploma. Through literacy and ESSENCE CARES, we have a chance to turn these statistics around.

"Imagine the satisfaction that volunteer mentors can receive when they share basic literacy skills with a young person? It's like giving youth the keys to unlock the door to academic achievement, economic success, good health, and social and cultural opportunities."

ESSENCE CARES and its volunteer mentors across the nation will use the Institute's free publications to make literacy, especially reading, an important part of their education message and mentoring experience with young people. Mentors will also receive the 12-page ESSENCE CARES Mentoring & Literacy Guide that includes literacy basics and helpful suggestions mentors can use to build their mentees' literacy skills. In the Guide, poet and writer, Dr. Maya Angelou, delivers a powerful pledge to rescue youth.

Taylor, the editorial director for the nation's largest lifestyle, fashion and beauty magazine for African-American women, planted the seed for ESSENCE CARES nearly a year ago during the Essence Music Festival in Houston. In 2006, the decade old festival -- the largest Black entertainment event in the nation -- was forced out of its regular venue in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina ravaged the region.

"After the flood, with people still suffering, and many having evacuated to the new host city (Houston), the Music Festival would have to be a different event," Taylor said. "Our purpose had deepened and the activist spirit dormant in most quarters of Black America had been aroused."

When the three-day festival, which attracts between 5,000 and 7,000 people a day, got underway during the July 4th weekend last year, Taylor gave attendees this assignment -- commit to supporting vulnerable youth by donating time and resources to mentor them. Taylor said her goal is to recruit at least a million caring adults to mentor in urban and rural areas.

"We need all hands on deck-caring Black mentors, especially strong Black men," Taylor urges. "All it takes to become a mentor is having compassion, making a commitment and being a good listener."

This year's Festival, which will be held July 4-7, will return to the Crescent City, where the ESSENCE CARES mentoring initiative will be re-launched. The Festival is "a party with a purpose," says Taylor, referring to the series of Empowerment Seminars offered during the Festival on a host of issues, including education and health. Dr. Baxter will be a featured presenter at the July 6 Empowerment Seminar. Visit the National Institute for Literacy website to learn about these and other literacy activities held in conjunction with the ESSENCE CARES Mentoring campaign and the upcoming Essence Music Festival.

About the National Institute for Literacy: Since its creation in 1991, the National Institute for Literacy has served as a catalyst for improving opportunities for adults, youth, and children to thrive in a progressively literate world. At the Institute, literacy is broadly viewed as more than just an individual's ability to read. Literacy is an individual's ability to read, write, speak in English, compute, and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job, in the family, and in society. The Institute, a federal agency, was established by the National Literacy Act and reauthorized in 1988 by the Workforce Investment Act.

Its mission is to develop literacy as a national asset, using knowledge, research, and practice, and working in collaboration with the Secretaries of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services, and with other partners. The Institute is also authorized under the No Child Left Behind law to help children, youth, and adults learn to read by supporting and disseminating evidence-based reading research.

About Sandra L. Baxter, Ed.D: Dr. Baxter joined the staff of the National Institute for Literacy in 1999. In 2001, she was designated Interim Director and in June 2005, she was appointed Director to the Institute. Dr. Baxter is responsible for managing the Institute's daily operations. Under Dr. Baxter's guidance, the Institute has undertaken new work on early childhood, adolescent, and adult reading. Prior to assuming the posts of Interim Director and Director, Dr. Baxter directed the Institute's national reading research dissemination campaign, The Partnership for Reading. Prior to joining the Institute's staff, Dr. Baxter was a senior evaluator at the U.S. General Accounting Office where her work focused on federal education policy and programs. Dr. Baxter began her career working in community-based programs for disadvantaged youth and adults where she advised students on college admissions and financial aid requirements.