P-3834

Verde Valley Imagination Libra

Description

Financing

Documents

Photos

History Logs

Project Description

Country: USA

Location: Verde Valley, AZ

Total Budget: $10,350

Area of Focus: Basic education and literacy

Activity Type: Education: Scholarship

Summary: 517 Children Birth-age 5 in the Verde Valley will receive scholarships for one new age-appropriate book monthly for 1 year.


This project is submitted as a large collaborative project involving four Clubs in the Verde Valley, AZ, the Rotary Club of Sedona (1st priority $2500), the Rotary Club of the Sedona Red Rocks (1st priority $1900), the Rotary Club of the Verde Valley (1st priority $2500) and The Rotary Club of Sedona Village (2nd priority $2000). The amounts listed in parentheses represent the District matching portion of the Grant.

Language and literacy skills of children living in the Verde Valley area of AZ are significantly behind children from other states. Only 44% of children can pass the 3rd grade state literacy test (AZMerit 2019). Poverty levels are high with 68% of school children qualifying for free or reduced lunch. For about 30%, English is their second language. Affordable housing, medical care and childcare are critical issues. Arizona ranks 48th in the country for early childhood education. Children learn through play and verbal interaction with responsive encouraging caregivers. Early exposure to interactive talking, singing and reading makes a lifelong difference in learning. In addition, language, vocabulary and attention at age 3 predicts who will struggle with reading. Lack of stimulation before age 5 when 90% of neural pathways are complete is a major, preventable cause of learning problems.

Dolly Parton's renown Imagination Library is a book program for children birth to five that inspires a love of books and reading. Kids receive a carefully selected new book in the mail every month with their name on it. They love getting mail and beg their parents to read to them. The books are selected by developmental specialists to be stimulating, age-appropriate with positive themes that promote self-esteem, confidence and regard for diversity. The program increases the time parents spend reading with their children and significantly improves kindergarten readiness for enrolled children. Her foundation publishes and mails the books. Local affiliates such as VVIL pay for books and postage. Parents pay nothing. The program was deemed an "Essential Service" during the COVID-19 Pandemic when libraries, Head Start and preschools were closed.

The Rotary Club of Sedona brought the imagination Library to Sedona children in 2012. Thanks to a one year challenge grant of $25,000 from the Arizona Community Foundation of Sedona in July 2016 and a Rotary District matching grant of $3000, all Rotary Clubs in the Verde Valley (Sedona, Sedona Village, Verde Valley, Sedona Red Rocks) joined forces to expand the Imagination Library to all children living in the Verde Valley. Enrollment started at 400 in July 2016 and is now 2000 in 2021. A new non-profit was formed called The Verde Valley Imagination Library (VVIL) with bylaws calling for at least half the board consisting of active Rotarians representing all participation clubs. The VVIL is completely volunteer run and has no facility overhead. The VVIL serves preschoolers in an area where poverty is high, literacy levels are low and the majority of children do not attend Head Start of preschool. Newborns continue to be enrolled at the birth hospital. The VVIL partners with community libraries, school districts, Head Start and Northern Arizona Healthcare to name a few. Subcommittees of the VVIL include non-board Rotarians that help us with fundraising, web design, advertising, legal needs and more. Two Interact clubs help us with enrolling children.

This is an ongoing project designed to improve early childhood literacy skills through early intervention. Ultimate results will be tracked using the statewide 3rd grade AZMerit reading test. We have seen an improvement in AZ Merit scores in a 3 year period (2016-2019).

Project Contact Person

District: 5495

Rotary Club of: Verde Valley (Cottonwood)

Primary Contact: Lynette Prouty

Email: rlprouty32@gmail.com

Project Status

Completed
This project is "Completed". This means the project has been implemented and the report was accepted by the district leadership. The project will stay listed on this website as a testimony of the achievements of the project partners.

Project listed for the 2021-22 Rotary Year.

Proposed Financing

Existing Contributions Towards This Project

Date

Cash

DDF

Total

Verde Valley (Cottonwood) (5495)

18-May-21

$1,250

$2,500

$3,750

Sedona (5495)

19-May-21

$1,250

$2,500

$3,750

Sedona Red Rocks (5495)

19-May-21

$950

$1,900

$2,850

Total

$3,450

$6,900

$10,350

Project Supporting Documents


[12-Apr-22]
FinalReport2021-22


[12-Apr-22]
PaidInvoiceAug2021


[12-Apr-22]
PaidInvoiceOct2021


[12-Apr-22]
PaidInvoiceSept2021


[19-Apr-22]
Proofofpayments


[25-Apr-22]
RevisedFinalReport2021-22


[19-May-21]
VVIL Slideshow


[12-Apr-22]
VVILslideshow2022

Project Photos

History Log Entries

18-May-21

System Entry

System Entry: Creation of project page.

19-May-21

by Rebecca Wilks

Project review: (1) Please verify that the financing section I audited is correct. (2) Please also enter all of the club presidents in the signature list. (3) Note that the Sedona Village club has not turned in an MOU or last year's report, and has not met the training requirement.

19-May-21

by Rebecca Wilks

System Entry: Pledge of $1,250 with $2,500 DDF by Linda Clark of the Rotary Club of Sedona, District 5495.

19-May-21

by Rebecca Wilks

System Entry: Pledge of $950 with $1,900 DDF by Kathryn Stillman of the Rotary Club of Sedona Red Rocks, District 5495.

19-May-21

by Rebecca Wilks

System Entry: Pledge of $1,000 with $2,000 DDF by Heather Hermen of the Rotary Club of Sedona Village, District 5495.

24-May-21

by Rebecca Wilks

Status update: All that remains is for Sedona Village to submit last year's report. A late report may make their funding a lower priority, but would not affect DDF awards for the other clubs involved.

2-Jun-21

by Lynette Prouty

System Entry: Project sent for club signatures.

2-Jun-21

by Lynette Prouty

System Entry: Project signed by Lynette Prouty.

2-Jun-21

System Entry

System Entry: Project signed by Heather Hermen.

2-Jun-21

System Entry

System Entry: Project signed by Linda Clark.

2-Jun-21

System Entry

System Entry: Project signed by Kathryn Stillman.

4-Jun-21

by Rebecca Wilks

System Entry: Signature Process cancelled by user.

19-Jun-21

by Rebecca Wilks

System Entry: Project sent for club signatures.

19-Jun-21

System Entry

System Entry: Project signed by Rebecca Wilks.

21-Jun-21

by Rebecca Wilks

Congratulations; your District Grant application has been approved. DDF award is as follows:

Verde Valley DDF $2500

Sedona DDF $2500

Red Rocks DDF $1558

Total DDF $6558

21-Jun-21

System Entry

System Entry: Project signed by Lynette Prouty.

21-Jun-21

System Entry

System Entry: Project signed by Jean Barton.

21-Jun-21

System Entry

System Entry: Project signed by Linda Clark.

21-Jun-21

by Rebecca Wilks

System Entry: Project approved by the District Approval Committee.

3-Aug-21

by Rebecca Wilks

I'm so sorry for the inconvenience, but (though the "block" district grant has been approved) The Rotary Foundation has not yet released the funds. It's frustrating when things like this are out of our hands, but we hope to be sending money to the clubs very soon. Thanks for your patience.

29-Aug-21

by Rebecca Wilks

System Entry: Check for DDF payment issued by Foundation Treasurer.

2-Mar-22

by Lynette Prouty

Status is correct. Project is ongoing and report will be posted soon.

16-Apr-22

by Rebecca Wilks

A friendly reminder: the final report on this grant along with receipts for all spending, are due April 30. Late reports can jeopardize future Global and District grants.

18-Apr-22

by Rebecca Wilks

Thanks for uploading the project report. All that is required to close this project is receipts. I'm sorry, but invoices will not suffice.

19-Apr-22

by Rebecca Wilks

System Entry: Project has been implemented and final report uploaded.

19-Apr-22

by Rebecca Wilks

System Entry: Final report approved by the District Approval Committee.

25-Apr-22

by Rebecca Wilks

Returned funds from another club will be applied to this grant in the amount of $820 and the report will be revised.

29-Apr-22

by Lynette Prouty

Final Revised report was uploaded on to project with the additional funds reported.

© 2010 Philippe Lamoise - Website design by Philippe Lamoise, D2G Online