Youth Literacy Council and Youth for Literacy - Read, Lead, Succeed

Teen Read Week - Great day discussing The Great Gatsby with teens around the county. We discussed the difference between the movie and the book while enjoying great snacks and drinks. Overall, we had a great day of camaraderie and in-depth analysis, convincing area teens of the value of reading a classic.

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Mission

The Redwood City Youth Literacy Council consists of 9 teenage members from area high schools who work with libraries, schools, and library foundations to increase literacy rates in the community.

The Youth Literacy Council will:

· create programs that promote literacy, a good environment within the family to promote literacy, and programs that assist youth in doing well in school such as STEM classes;

· provide libraries and library foundations feedback on needs in the community;

· gather volunteers to support fairs, events, and fundraisers that support literacy;

· recruit volunteers for literacy programs;

· run book and board game drives to support literacy programs and donations to children in the community, and

· coordinate with businesses and the community to partner with programs;

provide other support as needed.

A club called Youth for Literacy is an extension of the Youth Literacy Council. This club consists of additional members that conduct literacy and other charity work in the community. These club members need not be on the Council Board to participate.

Kindergarten Boot Camp

This summer Youth for Literacy, working with the Youth Literacy Council, helped the public library put on 4 sessions of Kindergarten Boot Camp. These sessions, for 30 kids each, taught kids skills they would need before entering kindergarten. They learned coin counting, matching, number, shapes, coins and letter identification. They also learned social skills such as taking turns, supporting others, raising hands before talking, and patience. We also helped them with scissor cutting, gluing, crafts, physical obstacle courses, singing, and working with a group. It was a lot of fun and we saw marked improvement among attendees. I'm sure they will have a much better time in Kindergarten with these new skills.

San Mateo County STEM Festival - GREAT Success!

The San Mateo County STEM Festival orchestrated by the Redwood City Youth Literacy Council working with the Redwood City Library Foundation was a great success with over 3000 people attending!The Courthouse Square was selected because of its central location, easy access from anywhere in the county, available free parking, and high visibility. In addition, they were able to work with the County History Museum to open the museum for free for the entire day and offer even more activities and contests inside. This exposed many visitors to the museum for the first time.

The Council was fortunate to have the talents of local experts to demonstrate fun aspects of science, technology, engineering, and math including 7 schools, 9 businesses, and 12 nonprofit/government organizations. One of the goals, to offer the event for free, including opening up the museum for free to the public for the entire day, was accomplished through generous grants provided by the Port of Redwood City, Oracle, Elks Lodge #1991, and State Farm with the support from Youth Service America. Youth Service America provided important training and guidance to the Youth Council members. Most importantly however, was the involvement by the community. A community event this large offered by all volunteers, requires many dedicated people to orchestrate and staff the event. The Youth Literacy Council paired the timing of the event with Global Youth Service Day so they could involve as many youth in volunteering as they could, to incorporate leadership and learning components for youth as well. This led to over 200 volunteers during the event and 790 volunteers planning the event, all orchestrated by Ryan and the Youth Literacy Council. Many community leaders attended or spoke at the event including Senator Jerry Hill, Councilmembers Shelly Masur and Alicia Aguirre, Mayor John Seybert, Vice Mayor Ian Bain, and more. It truly was an event put on by the community, for the community, clearly demonstrating the high community spirit backing an important cause.

Mayor John Seybert added, “Thank you to all the festival partners for offering this free event to help youth see the fun side of STEM and expose them to a potential career in STEM.”

The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Festival event that educated over 3000 people demonstrates how youth are capable of creating amazing change. Working with many community partners, this team of go-getters has managed to pull off yet another unbelievably successful event for the county.

Click on the video below to see the event:

San Mateo County STEM Festival (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)

Join us as the Redwood City Youth Literacy Council puts on the first-ever FREE San Mateo County STEM festival to introduce kids and adults alike to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math through fun speakers, contests, and over 30 hands-on demonstrations such as 3D and laser printing, robots, virtual reality, coding, static electricity, and more as part of Global Youth Service Day. Stop by the festival at Redwood City Courthouse Square at 2200 Broadway any time between 11:00am and 4:00pm. The San Mateo County History Museum will be free during this event with even more activities and contests with prizes. Check out times and activities at www.stemfestival2016.com

Youth for Literacy chosen as Lead Agency for Global Youth Service Day

The Youth Literacy Council, working under the Redwood City Library Foundation, has been chosen as a Lead Agency for Global Youth Service Day. We have received a $1000 grant to put on our STEM Festival 2016, a San Mateo STEM event to be held in Redwood City Courthouse Square on April 16th, 2016 from 11 - 4. The Event will have booths with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) presentations and information for kids everyone. We're making STEM fun to help kids get engaged in school and consider future STEM careers. A special thanks to Youth Service America and State Farm who are coordinating these nationwide events. If you are interested in participating in this event, either as a booth participant, stage presenter, volunteer or attendee, see our website at: www.STEMfestival2016.com. Right now we'd love volunteers to help us plan. Contact us if you're available!

Money Smarts for Teens Classes

The Youth Literacy Club rolled out its Money Smarts for Teens classes in November 2014. Each session is stand-alone so feel free to sign up for any of them. Here is the information with a link to the event website:

Attention Teens: Free sessions to help you get the basic money skills to survive in the work force today will be offered at the Redwood City Public Library. These classes called Money Smarts (for Teens) will be offered monthly. The first month’s session will cover banking basics such as how banks work, e-banking, how to manage a checking and savings account, and credit card management. Two sessions will be offered in November on banking basics: November 13 and November 20. The second session will be offered on December 4^th and December 11^th and cover finding a job, and understanding your paycheck. January has a panel of entrepreneurs discussing the risks/rewards of entrepreneurship. February is about Spending Smart, March is about Building Wealth, April and May are All About Credit, June is about protecting your assets, and July is about getting money for college. All sessions will be held at the Redwood City Downtown Public Library at 1044 Middlefield Rd. in Redwood City in the Community Room from 4 – 5:30pm. Pizza and drinks will be provided. As an added bonus, attendees of 7 of the 9 classes will receive a $200 VISA gift card. Don’t miss out on these important classes. You can sign up for 1, or all of them. Reserve today at http://moneysmarts4teens.blogspot.com.

If you'd like to register for the classes directly, click on this link:

Youth Council Events

USA Weekend Make a Difference Day - October 25th
Family Board Game Day to play board games and collect board games for family shelters.

Teen Read Week - October 25th
The Youth Council will be creating an event in the teen room of the library where we have the teens of the community read a book and see the movie made of the book. We will then meet in the library to watch the movie again, have pizza, and discuss the differences with the book. More details to come.

Family Volunteer Day - November 22nd
The Youth Council will be creating a family board game day where the community bring in their used board games which we will donate to charities in the community and then the families will play games. Refreshments will be served.

Financial Literacy for Teens - 2014 - 2015
2 classes a month to teach teens about money subjects will be offered by a community financial expert and one of our Youth Council Members.

January - Hasbro Joy Ambassador - hand out free toys to children that complete minimum reading requirements over the holiday break.

March 1, March 29, April 19, May 24, - Planning Meetings once a month.

March 15 - Fun with Robots, Science and Math - teach engineering basics and building and programming a robot.

April 19 - Earth Day at Redwood Shores - help the library work with young children (3-5 yr olds) doing Earth projects.

April 23 - Money Smarts for Teens - KPIX coming to film Ryan about the impact of the classes.

April 24 - Library Foundation Fundraiser - help set up, serve, and clean up. Give speech on literacy.

April 25 - Global Youth Service Day - put together STEM kits for kids for other libraries.

May 3 - Comic Book Day at the library - run games and hand out comics to encourage reading.

June 7 - from 12 - 3 - Pet Day at the library - help at library event.

Summer 2015 - STEM Fair - inquire about setting up a booth to teach children in the county Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math in a creative way.

2014 - Integrate, Innovate, and Inspire Camp - STEM training Sessions for Youth

From April to August, the Redwood City Youth Literacy Council (Youth for Literacy Club) conducted FREE interactive camps to 168 students ages 8 - 12 (and 73 adults watching) to develop their interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and increased their skills in using library resources. There were 4 camps conducted on Sundays beginning April 13th (Global Youth Service Day), at the Downtown Redwood City Library at 1044 Middlefield Road in Redwood City. The camps lead the children through hands-on activities that taught them STEM basics. In addition, they were taught how to follow written instructions and key activities taught them to use various library resources by requiring research before activity completion. Thus, these children were inspired into future STEM careers and have the foundation of research techniques, using the library and on-line resources, to be successful in their later schooling and careers. Thank you to Disney Friends for Change who granted us $500 to make this happen. Also, thank you ABC Summer of Service with Disney Friends for Change and Youth Service America for giving us the Summer of Service Award and giving us $1000 for 2 years in a row to put on these STEM classes and other literacy programs.