July 19, 2016

Jess George and Munro Richardson were the speakers. The topics were digital inclusion, reading, and how those two goals overlap.

George is Community Impact Manager for Google Fiber in Charlotte. Richardson is executive director of Read Charlotte.

In Charlotte Agenda, editor Andrew Dunn wrote about the discussion with Richardson:

“While all the specifics aren’t yet known, Richardson said it’s clear some of the efforts will be around getting more books in the hands of children. He said there’s a clear ‘book desert’ in central Charlotte, with many children reporting having few or no books at home.

“Richardson said there will also likely be an effort with Charlotte Mecklenburg Library to help train parents and mentors in how to better help readers learn.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if other recommendations would center around more summer reading camps for younger students. The state and school district fund camps for third graders to help them boost reading proficiency enough to pass to the next grade. But ‘Third grade is too late to find out children are behind,’ Richardson said.”

Below is a video originally streamed to Facebook Live of a portion of the Q&A. Below that are slides from Munro Richardson’s presentation.