Wichita Collective Impact ☀️

STEM + music = a good time 🎶🔬 Huge shoutout to STEM Music for bringing the energy to Tabernacle Bible Church’s Summer Scholars’ Program! The kids had a blast learning science through songs, experiments, and movement—it was fun and educational, just the way we like it!👏

Thank you to Juneteenth ICT for organizing such a powerful community celebration — and to Miss Kansas USA for stopping by our booth to talk about the impact of literacy in 67214! We handed out books, water bottles, and info about our next Community Literacy Convo on June 30.

Big thanks to everyone who came out to our Wichita Collective Impact Summer Luncheon! We loved connecting over what it means to be a WCI partner and sharing what’s ahead this summer in 67214. See y’all tomorrow at Juneteenth! #wichitacollectiveimpact

Camp Curiosity is off to a splashing start! 🪣💦 Our first field trip took kids from the 67214 summer program to the Andover 13th Street Sports Park Splash Pad — and the giant bucket did NOT disappoint! It was the perfect kickoff to a summer of learning, exploring, and fun 😄☀️

The WCI 2025 First Quarter Luncheon was a Huge Success! ⬆️⬆️⬆️ This gathering featured a special presentation by Shannon Benoit, Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Wichita Public Schools. #bettertogether #wichitacollectiveimpact

Another FREE Kids Summer program for families in the 67214 area! - For incoming K-3rd grade students living in 67214 - Monday - Thursday | 9 AM - 3 PM | June 23 - July 24 - Located at Holy Savior Catholic Academy Scan the QR Code to Register:

A huge thank you to @unitedwayplains for their generous donation of bags and books to our STAR program students! 🎒📚 Special shoutout to Logan Bradshaw, Community Impact Director, for personally delivering these items and spending quality time with our STAR students🌟

The Tabernacle Bible Church Scholars’ Summer Inventor and Innovator Program is coming up! - For incoming K-3rd grade students in 67214 - Monday - Thursday, 9 AM - 3 PM - Meals Provided - Located at 1817 N. Volutsia, Wichita, KS Sign up: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…

DID YOU KNOW? Children who are read to at home 3x/wk are nearly 2x as likely to be in the top 25% of their peers in reading. (Denton, Kristen & Gerry West, Children’s Reading and Mathematics Achievement in Kindergarten and First Grade, U.S. Dept of Education, 2002.) #rap #Read

After many snow & weather school closures, we're back to business! The Wichita Public Library's Book Bus will be at our S.T.A.R. after-school program today @SpaghtWPS empowering students to continue their reading fun at home, too!

DID YOU KNOW? Children who aren’t reading at grade level by the end of third grade are four times as likely to drop out of high school. (Source: Donald J. Hernandez, Double Jeopardy: How Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation.) #Read #Education

We’re sad to miss our time reading with students today at @SpaghtWPS in our after-school STAR program due to @WichitaUSD259 schools being closed for weather. Tip: If your kids are going stir-crazy & you have transportation, all @wichitalibrary branches ARE open today until 5pm!

Darcey Celletti, who has extensive experience implementing the Collective Impact Model in Tacoma, Washington, shared strategies to enhance our partnerships & engagement. Her expertise is helping us drive positive change in Wichita, especially in underserved areas @Wichita_Impact

DID YOU KNOW? The most effective method to improve low-income children’s reading proficiency is to increase their access to books and other printed materials. (Newman, Sanford, et all. “American’s Child Care Crisis: A Crime Prevention Tragedy”; Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2000.)

#SNOWDAY! @WichitaUSD259 schools are closed today, so we will not be having our weekly STAR program at @SpaghtWPS this week. Parents: Encourage your kids to spend some time getting lost in a good book (or 5)! Do snow days make you wish you had the day off to #read?

WHO ARE WE AND WHAT DO WE DO? WCI is a group of partners from the Wichita community working together to provide resources to children and families to help improve reading proficiency and economic prosperity. #CommunityEmpowerment #EducationMatters

DID YOU KNOW? Children who read with an adult who discusses the story by asking open-ended questions and teaching the meaning of new words benefit from increased language development and reading comprehension. (Source: Berk, L. E. (2009). Child Development.) #readers #education

You have to learn to walk before you run, and you have to learn your letters before you can read! Shout out to this enthusiastic student who got help learning her letters during last year’s summer program @SpaghtWPS !

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." - Helen Keller In Wichita Collective Impact all the partners involved contribute their strengths and experience so that we can do good in our community and do right by our students. We’re thankful to be in this together!

Did you know? Early literacy encompasses all of a child’s experiences with conversation, stories (oral and written), books, and print. (Source: Rebecca Parlakian, Before the ABCs: Promoting School Readiness in Infants and Toddlers, 2003) #facts #earlyeducation #Reading