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History In August 1998, Austin Public Library and representatives of 13 organizations that served Latino families in the community surrounding the Cepeda Branch Library came together to discuss ways to improve literacy services. At this meeting it was decided that this group would organize a bilingual celebration of books and reading to serve as an outreach tool to meet the literacy needs of the Spanish Speaking residents of East Austin. From this outreach effort came Austin’s first Día de los Niños / Día de los Libros celebration. The first city-wide event was held at the Cepeda Branch on April 24th with over 1,500 children and adults attending. Pat Mora was our honorary Author for the day.
Event Goals Austin’s Día de los Niños / Día de los Libros celebration has three goals: • Promote family sharing of books, reading and learning • Increase family awareness of community resources that provide shared literacy/learning opportunities for parents and children. • Celebrate culture and heritage as powerful tools in promoting learning and communication within families.
The event was organized to bring to the attention of parents the importance of learning and sharing of reading. Organizers saw the event as an opportunity to demonstrate ways parents could incorporate everyday activities into teaching and learning experiences for their children. Parents who attended the event where shown how they could use everyday items found around their home to help their children with reading and math activities.
¡Ahora Si! AmeriCorps for Community Engagement & Education Asociación de Colombianos de Austin Austin Children’s Museum Austin Independent School District Austin Parks and Recreation Department Austin Public Library Child Inc. Community NewStart Consulado General de Mexico Corazon de Tejas – Central Texas Chapter of REFORMA Family Connections Resource Center Family Forward KLRU – PBS Girl Scouts – Lone Star Council Latina Mamis Partnership for Science Literacy Reading is Fundamental of Austin Texas Star Program UT Center for Mexican American Studies WorkSource Child Care Solutions The Partners
After the event this organization continues to work with partners from the event. They hold Family Fun Nights at our area schools where they work with parents and students to continue the literacy experience. During these evenings you will find many other partners at the event. RIF will be distributing books to kids. The library will be signing up families for library cards and giving information about programs. Parks and recreation will be there with information about their programs. Members of Americorps for Community Engagement and Education have been members of the planning committee since August of 1998. Every year the organization has had a member serve as a co-chair for the event, and they have always brought in 60 to 80 volunteers the day of the event. Members have contacted community businesses to get donations for food and supplies. They have volunteered to wear the character costumes on the day of the event and have worked on the water and garbage detail. They set up tables put together school supply bags and help organizations at their tables during the event.
KLRU – PBS has been a partner since the first citywide event was held back in 1999. Clifford along with other PBS characters have been part of the event. Because of this partnership with our local PBS station we have been able to bring other programs to our libraries and schools. KLRU regularly donates books to be used for special programs held in the library or for incentives during the summer reading program or during library card sign-up campaigns.
Reading is Fundamental of Austin has distributed over 12,000 new books to children over the past eight years.
Science Collaboration With underwriting provided by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Partnership for Science Literacy Initiative, and the National Science Foundation the Science tent collaborative for Día de los niños/día de los libros included: • Austin Children’s Museum • Austin Nature and Science Center • Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center • Lower Colorado River Authority • Texas Education Agency • Texas Memorial Museum • Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve
Our Sponsors J.J. Pickle Elementary Kids Cafe
Money Pays for tents, chairs, tables Volunteer Incentives Supplies Food Publicity Public Service Announcements Radio & TV Newspaper Ads Posters Flyers Signage for day of Event Refreshments Lunch for children and parents Lunch for volunteers Snacks Giveaways Free Books for all children Spanish/English Dictionaries for parents Bookmaking Supplies What our sponsors bring to the table
Publicity Posters for the event have been printed as a donation by local printers. The graphic design has been done by an AmeriCorp volunteer. The past three years with the help of AISD art teachers children have participated in a contest to produce the artwork for the poster. The child who has won the poster drawing contest is presented with a framed copy of their poster and books. Flyers are printed and distributed to the schools through the Bilingual Education office.
Supplies for Home Each child is provided with a bag of supplies to take home so that they can duplicate what they have learned at the event. A bag with bookmaking supplies and science tools are given to each child. Items for the bags are donated by the school and organizations who participate in the event.
Political Support Members from the Austin City Council have always been invited to the event and given a few minutes to address the crowd. Past mayors, judges, and council members have served as honorary chairs of the event.
Food for the Body and Mind This past summer the library partnered with the J.J. Pickle Elementary, the Capital Area Food Bank, KLRU, R.I.F., Literacy Coalition of Austin, Community New Start and Americorp to provide food and books each week to 200 children who lived in the neighborhood. Every Friday the children picked up a backpack filled with food and they chose a new book to take home for their personal library. Kids were signed up for the summer reading program, and literacy based activities were available to participate in while they waited to pick up their bags. Parents were provided information about services available for them.
Children making books with a community volunteer. Children selecting books that were donated by KLRU, R.I.F. and the Central Texas Literacy Coalition.
Join us on April 28th for the 9th annual Día de los Niños Día de los Libros
