Erie's Summer of Reading: Writing Our Next Chapter Together
City-wide literacy initiatives building a community of readers
In Daria Devlin's inauguration speech as the 49th Mayor of the City of Erie, her passion for and connection to literacy and reading took center stage. She made the metaphor of the community "writing Erie's next chapter" together under her leadership, as she spoke about formative childhood experiences at the old Erie County Public Library building on Perry Square. "Visiting the library was formative for me because it helped me learn about different parts of the world, other experiences, it opened my mind to new ideas, but also grew creativity," Mayor Devlin shares.
Knowing early on in her administration that literacy was going to be a priority for the City's kids, Devlin found herself nodding enthusiastically when approached by Werner Books and Coffee co-owner Kyle Churman (40 Under 40 Class of 2023), as he proposed an idea he'd been working on centered around the city's endorsement of a number of public literacy events and initiatives. "Each year, the Friends of the Erie County Library does their Great American Book Sale, the Erie School District has their summer reading program, Werner Books does events like Lit Fest – I thought, if we can get the City of Erie involved, we could just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks," Churman shares.
One of the city's first opportunities to promote literacy this summer was through funding. "We put out about $350,000 in funding for the summer between our Community Development Block Grant funding and our Parks and Rec dollars for summer programming, mostly for kids. We have required this year that anyone who gets funds from this has to include a literacy component in their program; it's written into the contract," Devlin shares. "For example, Spoon's Basketball League gets funding from the City so they have to include a literacy component … get the bookmobile there or help the kids to get library cards."
It's important to note that this initiative is about encouraging everyone to read, including but not limited to kids. "Reading outcomes and literacy is a concern and a priority in the Erie School District and we say all the time that if our kids can't read, what does that mean for the future in Erie?" Devlin states. Churman adds, "But, the other big piece of it for me is not just getting the kids to read – it's trying to encourage grown-ups to read either with kids, parallel to kids, or just independent of each other." Devlin concurs, "Modeling good behavior is so important, having our young people see that adults read, that it's important to them, is so huge."
Devlin also announced that she will be creating "Mayor Devlin's Book Club" this summer in correspondence with the city's America 250 celebration. "We've chosen this book called The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon as it ties into American history – it's about people you don't necessarily know who did things to change the course of American history. There's also a youth companion book that goes with it," Devlin says. "As a community, we can all read the book and have discussion events throughout the summer, creating awareness around the importance of literacy, both for adults and kids, as a cornerstone of our community." She continues, "In this time that we live in, it feels harder and harder to talk to each other, so I liked the idea of a book that was not pushing an agenda – it is about how people can engage, and how people before us have engaged, to help make our country better. That just feels like the right conversation to have right now."
While the budding administration begins to get their sea legs, this summer is all about figuring out what works and what doesn't – and about organizing events and agencies in a way that makes sense. For the Summer of Reading, any event related to literacy can be included in the city's Summer Recreation Guide, which will be digital this year to accommodate as much content as possible. They're also making logical connections where they didn't exist before. Mayor Devlin inquired with the library about the schedule for the bookmobile and they were able to coordinate that schedule with the city's summer rec programs. Additionally, Churman plans to tail the bookmobile this year to give away gently used kids books at those locations that he has gathered from places like the former Edison and Mt. Carmel school buildings. Erie's Public Schools has committed to releasing their summer reading lists early this year – to coordinate with the city's independent book sellers as well as the library, to make sure those books are available and easily accessible. Any of the literacy-related events happening throughout the summer will be available through a QR code printed onto bookmarks which you should see all over the place (including within this feature). "All of this being coordinated in one place shows a community effort behind it that says: we think this is important and we want to work on it together," Devlin said.
In terms of community partners, Devlin noted that it's "really whoever wants to be involved. But we do have a core planning team: Werner Books and Pressed, since they are the independent booksellers that are located within the city limits, the Erie County Library and the Friends of the Library, Erie Arts and Culture, Hooked on Books, the Rotary Club, the United Way, the county executive, and the superintendent have all been involved." Churman shares, "My whole deal is community building; it's so nice and refreshing to have the support for this, not just from other businesses and nonprofits, but from City Hall." He continues, "Getting people out and about and together is so important."
Both Devlin and Churman are encouraging citizens, business owners, and nonprofit leaders to think creatively about ways in which to incorporate reading and literacy into projects and events they may already have planned. Churman says he's been in contact with local businesses like Ember + Forge, which already regularly host sunrise beach meet-ups, to include a reading component. He's spoken with his old neighbor Darrell Roberts of Triple D's who now runs the former Red Hot Restaurant on Parade Street about coming by to do kids book giveaways this summer. And anything like this can be added to the city's fluid digital Summer Recreation Guide if it's both open to the public and involved with literacy. It's all about figuring out as many ways as possible to get people to read more.
All of this is just the beginning, but the idea has created a foundation. Devlin concludes, "It's just a start. We definitely want to build from here. We would encourage people to come forward as the summer goes on – and if you have an idea, send it to us. This is the time for everyone to start thinking big about this."
Some literacy-related events to mark on your calendar this summer (for a complete listing, scan the QR code provided):
Erie County Public Library: Summer Library Program // June 20 - Aug. 22 // Summer Reading Kickoff happens Saturday, June 20 at Blasco Library from noon to 3 p.m.
Hooked on Books // Mondays and Tuesdays, June 15 - July 14 // Erie's Public Schools Elementary Locations // During each visit, students will receive brand-new, thematically selected books, with opportunities for read-alouds and related activities
Rotary Club of Erie: Reading with Rotary // Monday, July 8 from noon to 3 p.m. // McKinley Park, 1000 E. 23rd St. // Ages: 5 to 18 // erierotary.club
If you can't find Erin Phillips reading, you can find her here: erin@eriereader.com
