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Alachua County Reads partners outline expansion, virtual hub and training plan
Summary
Children's Trust and county staff presented an implementation update for Alachua County Reads: PEAK reported 311 children served and 25,000 lessons delivered to date, a contract meeting with UFLY is pending, and a public virtual hub will launch Aug. 1 to centralize resources and provider submissions.
A joint session of the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners and the Children's Trust heard a monthly progress report on the Alachua County Reads initiative, which seeks to raise kindergarten readiness, improve third-grade reading proficiency, reduce disparities and expand adult literacy supports.
Dr. Heidi Keegan and PEAK executive director Leah Gaglielian presented an implementation model that separates coordination functions (community advisory council, centralized communications) from programming (instructional supports, remediation and coaching). Gaglielian said the program served 11 sites from October through April, added 311 children to its programs and delivered about 25,000 individual lessons during that period. "There were a total of 311 kids added to our program," Gaglielian said.
Presenters said the initiative will target six high-need schools identified through ACPS data and six VPK/early-learning centers for initial implementation; those target sites will be selected after UFLY finalizes readiness assessments. Staff said a contract meeting with UFLY is scheduled to finalize scope and an announcement will follow. The presenters also said PEAK plans to expand to serve 600 additional children next year and to pursue federal grant funding to support adult literacy work.
The project will launch a public virtual hub, alachuacountyreads.org, on Aug. 1 to provide a single access point for families, providers and teachers. Staff described the hub as having three access points (families, providers, teachers), multilingual audio capability, a portal for providers to update their information, and back-end analytics to track clicks and downloads. County staff said the hub will open for program submissions on Aug. 1 and that work groups will reconvene July 15 to report progress and next steps.
Commissioners and the trust praised the rapid pace of work and asked staff to confirm target-site commitments by July 15 or, at minimum, by the hub launch so families and providers can see which schools and sites are participating. The board also discussed professional development plans for K-3 teachers and the Trust's plan to fund targeted coaching and substitutes during training days.
Next steps listed by staff include finalizing the UFLY contract, confirming initial cohort sites, opening the hub for submissions on Aug. 1, and publishing training dates and community awareness materials.
The presentation included requests for board oversight and invitations for commissioners to observe training and pilot sites once implementation begins.
