DAVENPORT, Iowa — School may be out for the summer, but a Davenport partnership is trying to keep kids interested in reading all year round.
Back when the TMBC Lincoln Resource Center opened in 2016, Executive Director Tracy Singleton knew she wanted to have a free library available to kids across the Quad Cities. The library, now going on two years, is a safe space for kids to come and sit and read a book, or even take it home with them.
The library is also part of the center's Cops N’ Kids partnership with the Davenport Police Department. Police keep books in their squad cars to hand out to kids and also bring boxes of free books to events, such as the city's Party in the Park series.
"We know the numbers as far as it relates to literacy in the Quad Cities, specifically with our Black students, so we needed to change that narrative and provide the resources needed in order to do that," Singleton said. "There is a direct link between literacy and poverty, literacy and crime. And we are dead last when it comes to those numbers. The disparity is so great. So the commonality is literacy. So let's tackle literacy and see what we can do to start changing that."
Recent annual state reports find that 67% of Iowa fourth graders are not proficient in reading. In Illinois, 70% of third graders can't read at their grade level. The Illinois Policy Institute reports that the only schools reading above a 50% level in the Quad Cities are Jane Addams and Riverdale elementary schools.
"In the Quad Cities, it's 11% of Black students," Singleton said. "Only 11% are reading at a third-grade reading level. That means almost 90% aren't. That's alarming."
Third grade is considered an important benchmark because it's when learning to read switches to reading to learn.
"So if you didn't get that learning how to read piece, you're always going to be behind," she said. "So if you're not graduating, you're not going on to any type of post-secondary education, career, whatever it is, then you're not getting those good jobs. For young men, if they don't graduate high school, young Black men, they're 10 times more likely to end up in prison. So if we could instill a love of reading at an early age, and they're meeting those benchmarks, the greater chance of success they have once they get out of high school," Singleton said.
Camp Excel Leadership Academy is happening this week at the Lincoln Center and campers are getting to spend some time in the library. Eight-year-old JaNae Hunter was making her way through a chapter book about vampires. She's a fan of all sorts of book genres.
"(What) I like about reading, like all the stress you have, it can just go away because you're reading a book," she said.
Hunter said her dad helped encourage her to read by incentivizing her with a sugary snack. She said her mom has written a couple of books too. She thinks other kids should try reading more too.
"Because whenever they're feeling angry, like just choose a happy book!" she said. "Sometimes when there's hard times, people just say, I can't do it. And you actually can because I've been in that once and I just zoom into it and I'm just like oh my gosh, I'm so thankful for this book."
Six-year-old Josiah Walker is also part of the camp. He was excited to recognize books he knew in the TMBC Library. He'd already finished reading 'Curious George' and a book about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
"I love reading so I can be smart every day," Walker said.
"We have easily handed out several thousand books in the last four years," said Davenport police Sgt. Andrew Harris. "It's just an opportunity for us to build a positive, meaningful relationship with these young kids, and for them to walk away with a book."
Helping kids, especially Black children, build a positive relationship with the police is a goal for Singleton too with the partnership.
"Maybe as they get older and they come to that crossroad where they have to go one way or the other, they might be like, 'Oh, Sgt. Harris probably wouldn't like to see me down there.' So they take that other road."
The TMBC Library is always accepting donations of new and gently used books, especially books on representation. The library is open during the center's business hours during weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.