JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The year-long citywide challenge to improve literacy rates among school-aged children known as “River City Readers” has surpassed its goal of 1.5 million minutes read, according to Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan.
Deegan kicked off the reading initiative in late January to challenge students to track how many minutes they read daily.
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According to the mayor, so far, readers have logged 1,591,646 minutes since the challenge kicked off.
This is the third time River City Readers has reached its goal.
“I’m thrilled that we’ve already met and exceeded our stretch goal through Mayor Deegan’s River City Readers literacy challenge. This proves that even during summer break, we’ve gotten kids really excited about reading. So we’re setting a new stretch goal of 2 million minutes of reading citywide by the end of the year. Let’s keep the momentum going!” Deegan wrote in a statement.
Deegan has held several literacy events every month throughout the year. Those events have been taking place at schools, libraries, community centers and other locations.
Kids can log their reading times on an app called “BeanStack” to participate. At the end of the year, the city’s top young readers will be awarded prizes, proving that reading is fundamental, fun, and rewarding.