JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Hundreds of parents and their children visited Ed Austin Regional Park Saturday morning for the “River City Readers Summer Kickoff” event.
The event’s goal was to motivate children to continue reading this summer, even if they’re not in school.
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Annie Smith and her husband brought their two children to the event.
Smith said her children love to read, so this event — combining reading and fun activities — was just right for them.
“I want my kids to be good at reading because it’s important to have good communication skills especially as they get older and learn and grow,” Smith said.
This summer kickoff was meant to keep kids excited about reading over the summer — to help prevent that summer slide.
It’s also part of a bigger initiative started by Mayor Donna Deegan earlier this year.
River City Readers aims to increase literacy rates in the county by having school-age children read at least 20 minutes a day.
The goal when the program was created was to have all participants read 300,000 minutes for the year. That goal was passed, so the goal was to have participants reach a combined goal of 1 million minutes.
According to the site that tracks the program’s progress, the readers have passed that as well.
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“It makes me feel wonderful because ultimately if we have kids who are reading at grade level we have successful children and we have successful adults,” Deegan said. “So, it is really an economic development issue, it’s a quality of life issue, it is a criminal justice issue, all those things wrapped into one.”
Deegan said she wasn’t sure what the new reading goal will be, and that all she wants is to ensure kids keep reading.