I've taken on an exciting challenge to raise $1,000 for ArtsConnection, an organization that has been my professional home for 24 years and that is deeply important to me. Your support would mean so much to young learners across the city. Read more below.

Nationally, nearly 70% of fourth graders from under resourced communities are struggling to read. Research proves linking learning and the arts, works! ArtsConnection’s Bridges to Literacy model harnesses the power of puppetry arts and theater to bring language to life while deepening comprehension and increasing vocabulary.

Last year, I did a series of observations in a Bridges to Literacy residency in a classroom of multilanguage learners. During my first visit, the kids were working on creating setting backdrops. They were having fun, but were working quietly and seeking adult approval. As I arrived for my final visit, a child ran up to me and asked if I would like to play a puppet story with her. She showed me all of the details she had created in her backdrop and on her puppet characters. She let me know that we would need to make some choices together about our story problem, think about how the characters would feel, and find ways to show those emotions with our puppets. This first grader felt excited about making stories and confident enough about their story making skills to explain them to me.

Our organizational goal of $3,000 supports one year of Bridges to Literacy professional learning for 25 educators across NYC schools. I came to Arts Connection as a puppetry and storytelling teaching artist who was interested in learning about how children discover and develop themselves as storytellers and artists. ArtsConnection has sustained a radically stable space for me and hundreds of amazing artists and educators to do collaborative research on how to support the connection between the arts and literacy learning. I'm very proud of the Bridges to Literacy Model that has emerged out of our collective research, and I hope that you will join me in working to to ensure that as many educators and students have access to it as possible.

The critical effort to equip more educators with ArtsConnection's powerful arts-based literacy tools is only possible with the support of caring friends like you. Donating any amount today turns the page on a young learner’s literacy journey.

P.S. Donations of $75 and above will get a 3-pack of greeting cards featuring student artwork!