Chicago News Cooperative - New Group Pushes to Improve Chicago Literacy Rate - NYTimes.com

Chicago News Cooperative - New Group Pushes to Improve Chicago Literacy Rate - NYTimes.com:

"Twice a month, Ava Zeligson stands in front of 55 strangers and, with her infectious enthusiasm, explains why each of them can make a difference in the battle against Chicago’s deeply entrenched illiteracy rate."



Ms. Zeligson is the volunteer coordinator for Open Books, the latest addition to the city’s crowded field of literacy organizations. The fact that nearly everyone who attends an Open Books orientation session goes on to volunteer is testament, at least in part, to her powers of persuasion. The fact that anyone shows up in the first place shows the wide appeal of Open Books’ mission and its relentlessly upbeat, cheerfully aggressive approach to voluntary recruitment.
“I knew immediately it was the right place for me,” said Erica Hawkinson, 28, a bilingual elementary teacher. Ms. Hawkinson had been shopping for volunteer opportunities at literacy organizations when she saw the Open Books Web site, which, thanks to an abundance of exclamation points, is almost as enthusiastic as Ms. Zeligson’s pitch.