United Way of West Central MS recognized as National Campaign for Grade-Level Reading Pacesetter finalist

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The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (GLR) announced the 22 communities that are Pacesetter finalists for exemplifying extraordinary vision and best practices for their 2021–22 efforts. They all emphasized the seven “Must Do Priorities” for Early School Success:

• Stop playing catch-up
• End chronic absence
• Reverse the summer slide
• Address health-related challenges
• Equip parents to succeed
• Advance grade-level reading and math
• Slow learning loss and accelerate equitable learning recovery

This year 132 peer reviewers completed 604 reviews of 72 stories that were self-nominated from 35 communities in 12 states.

From the finalist group, GLR will select the actual Pacesetters and announce them on Thursday, July 21, during GLR Week.

CGLR is a collaborative effort by funders, nonprofit partners, business leaders, government agencies, states and communities to ensure that more children in low-income families succeed in school and graduate prepared for college, a career and active citizenship. CGLR focuses on promoting early school success as an important building block of more hopeful futures for children in economically challenged families and communities.

“These Pacesetter finalists really stand out for the ways they bring to life the seven ‘must do’ priorities we’ve identified as important for early school success. Congratulations to them for this achievement and we know our entire network will learn from their example,” says Ralph Smith, managing director of CGLR.

The following communities are honored as Pacesetters finalists for making significant observable progress in one or more of the impact areas:

• Avondale, Arizona
• Broward County, Florida
• Indian River County, Florida
• Miami-Dade County, Florida
• Suncoast (Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee and Sarasota Counties), Florida
• Cedar Rapids, Iowa
• Des Moines, Iowa
• Grinnell, Iowa
• Marshalltown, Iowa
• Story County, Iowa
• Springfield, Massachusetts
• St. Louis, Missouri
• Southeast Mississippi, Mississippi
• Tupelo/Lee County, Mississippi
• Vicksburg-Warren County, Mississippi
• New York City (Mott Haven Neighborhood), New York
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
• Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania
• Nashville, Tennessee
• San Antonio, Texas
• Roanoke, Virginia