The City of Sebastian has declared itself a Moonshot Community, a network dedicated to making Indian River County a leading literacy capital of the nation.
“This is amazing. All of you council members and for the City of Sebastian, you’re the first ones to declare yourself a Moonshot Community. I got tears in my eyes,” Barbara Hammond of The Learning Alliance told the City Council Wednesday night.
Hammond said her son was failing kindergarten, which started her journey of finding out why we’re having trouble teaching our kids.
“And what we’ve learned after twelve years is it takes all of us. We need to understand how kids’ learning brains are built. And they start with parents teaching and creating with their kids before they come to school. It requires teachers to be trained and requires community leaders supporting our families and our teachers. So thank you so much,” said Hammond.
Their goal in Indian River County is 90% literacy by the end of 3rd grade. Currently, 40 – 60% of children are not ready for kindergarten when they arrive, and 68% of kids nationally are not proficient by the 4th grade, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
In addition, the economic impact of matching the world’s most literate countries is equivalent to $100 trillion or over 7 times our national debt, according to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) in 2010.
To learn more, visit the Moonshot website.