Transforming Early Literacy in Chicago

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Make a gift. Empower a child.

Every child deserves the opportunity to achieve their dreams, and learning to read is a critical step in that journey.

Disrupting Educational Inequity

In 2019, before COVID-19 exposed the entrenched educational, health and economic inequities Black and Hispanic families face, research showed that through no fault of their own, 85% of CPS Black 4th graders and 79% of its Hispanic 4th graders could not read proficiently, yet more than half (56%) of their white classmates could.
Systemic racism has always been at the root of educational inequity. Traditional early literacy instruction centers whiteness and deficit-based assessments, offering few mirrors and windows for students of color. Windows offer children a glimpse into the lives and experiences of people different from themselves. Mirrors reflect children’s own lived experiences. Both help children make sense of the world around them.
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Racial inequity deepens when we fail to teach Black and Latinx students to read. CLI is normalizing anti-racist pedagogy at the source.

Literacy to Liberation 

Building on successful scaling of teacher professional development initiatives, CLI helps networks of school communities and teacher training agencies create and implement durable, culturally sustaining, early literacy practice in the classroom. Children’s Literacy Initiative seeks to dismantle structural racism by providing Black and Latinx children with the anti-racist early literacy instruction, support, and advocacy needed to create equity in education.

CLI provides educators with high-quality training, coaching, and resources to enable them to become exemplary instructors who make an impact in helping children achieve reading proficiency at or above grade level. We accomplish this by:

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Coaching Teachers

One-on-one and in small groups in the classroom – providing demonstrations and feedback that help teachers incorporate effective literacy practices into their daily work with students.
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Stocking Classrooms

We provide curated collections of high-quality children’s literature and a variety of other learning materials important to successful literacy instruction.
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Providing Workshops & Seminars

to build teacher’s knowledge of literacy content and pedagogy. We also extend our services with online professional development resources.

OUR MISSION

Transforming Early Education

Children’s Literacy Initiative (CLI) seeks to dismantle structural racism by providing Black and Latinx children with the anti-racist early literacy instruction, support, and advocacy needed to create equity in education.

High-Impact Literacy Partner

As a national nonprofit advancing large-scale impact, CLI is uniquely poised to amplify literacy outcomes for Black and Latinx children across Chicago public schools. For the past 7 years, CLI Interventionists have worked with children on the Southside to improve early literacy.

CLI Reading Interventionists boost literacy learning through small group read alouds 4 days a week that foster identity, belonging, and joy. In an intimate setting, the small group provides social emotional learning and robust conversations about a story being read that aren’t always possible in larger classroom settings.
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7

Schools

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850+

Children

STUDENT IMPACT

Empowering the Next Generation

We help educators serving high-need student populations learn high-impact
instructional strategies and nurture dynamic professional learning communities that continue the trajectory of improvement in schools. Our Interventionists are making a great impact on children’s reading successes:

59%

of students in our North Lawndale READS project reached two levels of reading growth goal in this school year so far.

217

hours of coaching for 33 teachers in our Network 13 project during the first semester of the pandemic

92%

of the students who received a full year of supplemental literacy support made significant gains in reading levels.

Disrupting Educational Inequity

Since our founding in 1988, CLI has helped more than 25,000 teachers deliver quality PK- 5 early literacy instruction to more than 700,000 children. But it’s not enough. We need your support to build on our impact. We know we can do more.
CLI Interventionists are confirmed champions of early literacy and work alongside classroom teachers through job-embedded coaching to advance classroom reading outcomes. In partnership with teachers, children, and parents, Interventionists also drive outsized outcomes through trainings, workshops, and online learning programs that impact the instructional core and sharpen teacher practice.
We have comprehensive instructional tools and resources and Culturally Sustaining approach to make generational shifts to early literacy instruction and outcomes. CLI is transforming teacher preparation and early literacy instruction, embedding social justice at the onset of every student’s literacy journey, creating a clear and durable pathway toward racial equity.
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Support Equity In Education Today!

Children deserve the opportunity to achieve their dreams, and learning to read is a critical step in that journey. Help us provide Black and Latinx children the high-quality & culturally sustaining literacy instruction they deserve.

Visit our donation page to learn about other ways to give.

Read more about our work in Chicago public schools

For the past 7 years, CLI Interventionists have worked with children on the Southside to improve early literacy. See how we are meeting students needs and using asset-based thinking to empower Chicago's youngest readers.
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Transforming Classrooms for Racial Equity

Learning to read is a strong predictor of a student’s future academic achievement. Our goal is to close the literacy achievement gap between disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers. Stay informed with the work we are doing in communities nationwide.
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