MOULTRIE, Ga. – The Colquitt County Educational Foundation (CCEF), in partnership with the J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, held its first literacy mentoring program training session earlier this fall and will conduct a second training on Tuesday, Dec. 14, from 8 a.m. to noon at the Colquitt County Arts Center, 401 Seventh Ave. S.W., Moultrie.

A press release from CCEF said the foundation’s literacy mentoring program is designed to partner students in grades preK through fifth with a mentor to work on literacy skills such as letter/letter sound recognition, sight word recognition, fluency, vocabulary acquisition, and comprehension. Volunteers will be trained in effective mentorship, child safety practices and procedures, and read-aloud strategies. At the upcoming training, volunteers will also spend time practicing these mentoring skills through facilitator-led activities that reflect possible real-life scenarios.

In addition to preparing mentors to enter the schools next year, the foundation has been actively participating in awareness and engagement events since school started back in August, the press release said. Just last month, literacy mentor coordinator Dalene Rickett joined Cox Elementary School’s Lauren Stinson for the school’s virtual literacy night and fall festival, where Rickett and Stinson shared techniques for parents and guardians to assist their students with basic early childhood literacy skills.

“We’re excited to provide free resources for adults to use when helping children with their literacy skills,” Rickett said. “It’s important for the foundation to properly prepare and train our volunteer coordinators to interact with the students they are matched with, and that preparation does take some time. So being able to offer tools for guardians and caregivers now is a great way to raise awareness of the importance of early childhood literacy and get families ready to really lean in when the mentoring program comes to their school.”

Free literacy resources for mentors, guardians, and children can be found on CCEF’s website at brightercolquitt.org. To register for the in-person mentor training on Dec. 14, prospective volunteers may contact Rickett at dale.rickett@brightercolquitt.org or (229) 402-4071. Donations to the literacy mentoring program are also appreciated and may be done by visiting brightercolquitt.org/donate. 

The Colquitt County Educational Foundation exists to increase the literacy rates of Colquitt County children and youth through mentoring and support of educational innovation in the classroom and the community; and to ensure a quality workforce pipeline in Colquitt County, Georgia, according to the press release.