Friends of the Hennepin County Library
March 8, 2024
Amount Requested$20,000.00
300 Nicollet Mall, Suite N-290
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401
Kristi Pearson
Executive Director & CEO
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- Broaden Perspectives Through Art, Culture, Literature or Extracurricular Experiences
Program Support
As the library's nonprofit partner, Friends of the Hennepin County Library (FHCL) is a community of 10,000 supporters whose mission is to build awareness, appreciation, and financial resources for our nationally acclaimed library.
FHCL aspires to be an organization where everyone feels like they belong, and all perspectives are valued.
FHCL is committed to creating a platform for individuals and communities to access and share stories that help them recognize and activate their power for the benefit of Hennepin County.
FHCL strives to unlock the full diversity of human potential in Hennepin County, by partnering closely with Hennepin County Library to build equitable systems, and to ensure that every community's unique needs are met.
Hennepin County Library's mission is to inspire, facilitate, and celebrate lifelong learning. Shaped by the information needs and aspirations of our residents, we envision the library as a shared space for enrichment and connection.
Library services are an important part of thriving and interconnected communities. We believe that every Hennepin County resident should have a library card and use it regularly.
Together, Friends and Hennepin County Library envision a library that ensures every person has the opportunity and resources to read, engage, graduate, work and learn.
$20,000.00
$1,300,000.00
$4,346,000.00
Yes
Literacy is the cornerstone of learning: students who cannot read by the end of 3rd grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school. Yet today in Hennepin County, fewer than half of 3rd grade students are meeting reading standards. The Minnesota Legislature recently passed the READ Act to fund new specialists and trainings in schools and require every school district to adopt evidence-based Science of Reading curricula. This will have immense benefits for future students, but thousands are struggling right now – and running out of time to catch up.
As a trusted institution with locations in 41 neighborhoods, Hennepin County Library is uniquely positioned to help address this gap and supplement the efforts of schools and families. Our popular Homework Help program already provides free, drop-in tutoring for more than 2,200 students at 17 locations. Let’s Read is building on this scale and success with a new afterschool program focused on helping hundreds of students develop key foundational reading skills.
The essence of Let’s Read is one-on-one support for struggling readers between kindergarten and fifth grade. In our pilot year, 450 students will attend weekly sessions with their tutor to strengthen foundational literacy skills and make the reading journey a personal and empowering experience.
The Let’s Read Program Manager and 6 Lead Tutors are recruiting 4-6 volunteers at each of our 6 pilot sites – Brookdale Library in Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park Library, Oxboro Library in Bloomington, and North Regional, Franklin, and Hosmer Libraries in Minneapolis – all serving communities with above average numbers of children and Title One schools and high measures of economic disparity.
Our approach is anchored in the Science of Reading, a collection of research from various fields focusing on five fundamental components of reading. This approach ensures the delivery of effective and transformative learning experiences, correcting long-standing misconceptions and ineffective strategies.
Hennepin County Library has partnered with Reading Partners to provide an evidence-based Science of Reading curriculum, initial training, and ongoing support for Let’s Read tutors. We are working closely with Great MN Schools to ensure Let’s Read offers students exactly what they need at each grade level. And we’ve joined the Minnesota Literacy Coalition to collaborate directly with education leaders to share data and metrics.
Let’s Read is often adjacent to or embedded with Homework Help, so families can connect to a range of options to support their children’s academic success. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, Homework Help now has 17 sites and 28 Lead Tutors, compared to 13 sites and 16 Lead Tutors less than two years ago. This additional staff provides more 1-1 services for students, offers back-up to prevent cancellation due to tutor illness, and supports our current focus on helping middle and high school students get back on track academically in the limited time they have left in school.
K-12 students, 94% BIPOC, 88% speak 1st language other than English (Homework Help)
Hennepin County, MN
1. In the 2023-24 school year, 90% of Homework Help participants will report via survey that support from HCL staff and volunteer tutors resulted in academic improvement and increased confidence in the topics they studied together.
2. Students reading below grade level will make measurable gains in literacy based on assessments administered before and after their participation in weekly sessions with HCL Let’s Read tutors trained by Reading Partners.
3. 2,000 students will participate in Homework Help during the grant period, and 450 will participate in the Let’s Read pilot program.
HOMEWORK HELP
Homework Help is a drop-in afterschool tutoring program that offers youth a free, safe, and welcoming space where they can work with adult volunteers to complete homework assignments and master challenging academic concepts. When the school day ends, our 17 Homework Help libraries become collaborative, lively places where children and teens study with adult tutors, work independently on school projects, and help one another with English translation and reading comprehension.
More than 2,200 unique students met with Homework Help tutors more than 8,100 times in 2023. The grade levels of the students we serve are balanced, with 30% in grades K-3, 32% in grades 4-8, and 38% in high school. Last year, 94% of participants were students of color, and 88% came from a family speaking a first language other than English. “The tutors in the library make the work simple and easy,” one student wrote. “They are better at explaining the subjects than the teacher.”
What sets Homework Help apart is the sense of trust and community among students, parents, staff, and volunteers. Each Homework Help location relies on one or two paid Lead tutors. Each Lead supervises a team of volunteers, many of whom make multi-year commitments and form deep bonds with students and parents. This year, 28 lead tutors and nearly 150 volunteers are supporting young people’s academic success at 17 libraries.
Families bring their children back to Homework Help year after year because they see its impact. 98% of participants say they are doing better in school because of Homework Help. And 97% of participants say Homework Help gives them more confidence in the academic subjects they work on.
LET’S READ
The Let’s Read Program Manager and 6 Lead Tutors oversee 4-6 volunteers at each of our 6 pilot Let’s Read sites: Brookdale Library in Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park Library, Oxboro Library in Bloomington, and North Regional, Franklin, and Hosmer Libraries in Minneapolis. Five of the six Let’s Read sites are embedded with Homework Help. The 6th, Oxboro Library in Bloomington, was included due to the significant Latino/ELL population served by this library.
Let’s Read is targeted for K-5 students who are reading between 6 months and 2 years below grade level. The primary focus is on Indigenous, Black, Latino and English Language Learner students, as data show these groups experience the most disparities in reading by 3rd grade. These groups also have the lowest access to culturally responsive learning environments and instructional techniques to support struggling readers.
After an initial evaluation, each Let’s Read student is placed at an appropriate starting point in the curriculum sequence. Let’s Read tutors can access 150+ lessons for students at every level of reading ability. All are research-validated to be effective. Each 45-minute session begins with the tutor reading aloud from a student-selected book, then asking questions and discussing the book’s content and vocabulary, followed by introducing a new skill or concept and helping the student complete an introductory task. Finally, the tutor supports the student while he or she reads, encouraging them to apply what they’ve learned. A typical sequence is 20 sessions. Students are re-evaluated halfway through and at the end to measure their progress.
In addition to individualized tutoring support, the library recognizes the importance of instilling a culture of reading into the lives of young people and their families. To seed the magic of reading within homes and inspire a passion for literature, Let’s Read will gift thousands of culturally diverse books to help families build home libraries. Students will choose from an array of books that are culturally reflective and of great interest—some of the “hot” books of the year.
Let’s Read leaders will measure program impact using the following methods:
1. Pre-, mid- and post- assessments using Renaissance STAR Reading to measure student progress toward grade level reading.
2. Student surveys to gauge student engagement in the tutoring and identify areas for improvement.
3. Caregiver interviews and family nights to share information and collect feedback for program improvement.
4. Staff and volunteer tutor surveys and debriefs to build best practices and continuously increase HCL’s capacity to support student literacy.
Homework Help leaders measure program effectiveness using surveys of students, monthly Lead Tutor reports, and attendance data. We issue approximately 500 surveys annually to help meet student needs and measure impact in key metrics of achievement. We gather quantitative data by tracking unique student attendance across all locations. Lead tutors regularly document stories of success and program learnings.
In 2023:
98% of survey respondents said they are doing better in school because of Homework Help.
“One parent came in to speak with the tutor working with her daughter to thank them,” reports a tutor from Brookdale Library. “The mother said her daughter had been doing much better since coming. She has all As and Bs. When they first came in, the mother told us her daughter had a hard time taking feedback and would not accept she had answers wrong. While working with tutors, the daughter has been more coachable and is open to learning from her mistakes.”
97% of respondents said Homework Help has given them more confidence in the academic subject they worked on.
In one monthly report, a lead tutor from Brookdale Library described this process: “This month we welcomed a new student who struggles a bit with math since his move to a new school. His parents have shared that the school he attended before was a language immersion school that did not instruct on math methods in the same way, so the student is feeling a little lost and behind in the new math class. The student is a little hard on himself, so we are starting our time just working on self-confidence and mastering the intro math, then moving forward into grade-level math. With struggles comes frustration, so we’re working on building trust with the student, taking breaks when we need to, and breathing deeply so we don’t get overwhelmed. With this, the student has relaxed a little bit, allowed himself to think through a problem, and taken the time and space to practice and build up some confidence.”
99% of respondents said they feel welcomed and supported by Homework Help tutors.
At Augsburg Park, the lead tutor reports: “Our regular Homework Help community is very tight-knit – so most of the students have become friends at the library and know each other very well. There were a lot of birthdays and festivities in December, and it was fun to watch the students show kindness and thoughtfulness to each other. After they finished homework, we set up a craft station where they were able to make cards, decorations, etc. for each other or their families. This was not only adorable, but fun for the volunteers and a great incentive for focusing and finishing homework.”
The Lead Tutor at Franklin Library wrote about the impact of tutors who share a background with our students: “New tutor Amran helped student Saberin with an essay about her favorite food. Saberin was shy and had trouble expressing herself at first, but when she was able to speak to her tutor in Somali, she opened up tremendously.”
01/01/2024
12/31/2024
The Library’s most important Let’s Read partnership is with Reading Partners, which provides an evidence-based Science of Reading curriculum, initial training, and ongoing support for Let’s Read tutors.
HCL works closely with Great Minnesota Schools to ensure Let’s Read participants receive instruction aligned with their schools’ grade level goals.
HCL has joined the Minnesota Literacy Coalition to work cooperatively with education leaders to share data, metrics, and outcomes. Part of the coalition's mission is to correct the long-standing problem of schools using ineffective reading strategies debunked by cognitive scientists. As coalition members, we can ensure our out-of-school time tutoring aligns with academic curricula and the latest science.
HCL is currently partnered with Minneapolis Public Schools and is developing system level partnerships with other large school districts in Hennepin County, such as Bloomington Public Schools, to support Let’s Read and provide more visibility for Homework Help. We are also working directly with districts’ departments of educational equity and family liaisons, as well as school district reading interventionists.
HCL partners with Hennepin County’s offices of Outreach and Community Supports and Education Support Services to connect Let’s Read families with more intensive educational resources and other county services as needed.
HCL is pursuing partnerships or contracted services to promote Let’s Read with organizations serving the Latino, African immigrant, African American, and American Indian communities.
Our 17 Homework Help locations are open throughout the school year. Most libraries offer services 2-3 evenings per week. Many students attend sessions at multiples libraries, so Homework Help is available nearly every day of the week.
Let’s Read is a year-round program offered at 6 pilot sites its initial year (school year + 10 weeks in summer), with the plan of expanding to two new sites at the start of each subsequent school year.
Both programs will be ongoing with continued expansion to additional libraries based upon demand.
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