Lehigh Valley Reads, a partnership between the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley and PBS39, began four years ago to support the goal of having at least 75 percent of Lehigh Valley students read proficiently by the end of third grade. Although that goal – projected as attainable by 2021 – was derailed by Pennsylvania Department of Education coronavirus mitigation policies, the parties behind the effort remain committed to improving primary-grade literacy.

Lehigh Valley Reads Campaign Director Angela Zanelli said the literacy setbacks of 2020 and 2021 have only heightened the importance of the campaign, including the “Million Minute Challenge” Lehigh Valley Reads initiated three years ago to celebrate the first year of the Valley-wide literacy campaign.

The Million Minute Challenge dares Valley residents of all ages to commit to reading during the month of March and to pledge their minutes online (https://lehighvalleyreads.org/million). As of Feb. 16, Valley residents had already committed to read a total of 1,087,395 minutes in March.

Although reading challenges are not new, the monthlong Million Minute Challenge is the unique creation of Lehigh Valley Reads – an idea groups across the country have begun adopting.

Zanelli, Jill Pereira of United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley and their team helped the United Way of Hartford, Conn. launch its own Million Minute Challenge last summer. Lehigh Valley Reads is currently working with a group in North Carolina to start a Million Minute Challenge there, providing digital assets such as mascot logos and goal sheets.

Creating community; building partnerships

“This event exists to create community around reading,” Zanelli explained. Lehigh Valley Reads designed the Million Minute Challenge to be “accessible to most and as flexible as possible,” with adults encouraged to log minutes for reading to very young children and all participants given free access to a digital library (WorldReader) for the month of March. WorldReader works on any device that can connect to the Internet and e-books can be downloaded while online for later reading offline.

In addition to the United Way and PBS39, dozens of local companies and nonprofit organizations have signed up to help. A full list of partners is available online (https://lehighvalleyreads.org/about/our-partners).

Two of these partners, Computer Aid, Inc. and People First, are the presenting sponsors for 2022. Computer Aid, Inc., is a technology services firm headquartered in Allentown (https://www.cai.io); People First is a credit union with seven branches in the Lehigh Valley (https://www.peoplefirstcu.org/). Their sponsorship includes financial support, donations of new and gently used books and encouraging their own employees to pledge minutes to the Million Minute Challenge.

Registration opened Feb. 1, but a full-scale kickoff is scheduled for March 2, which is celebrated nationally as Read Across America Day. Members of the Lehigh Valley Reads team will visit local schools and the day will end with an appearance at the Lehigh Valley Phantoms game. Zanelli highlights the generosity of Truist, a bank that has contributed to Lehigh Valley Reads financially and will be donating its ad time on the Jumbotron to Lehigh Valley Reads during the March 2 game. Fans will be encouraged to wear purple to show their support for early literacy.

It’s all part of what Zanelli identifies as “the heart of collective impact work” – building trust and relationships, identifying gaps and meeting challenges.

“We’re in the game of systems change,” Zanelli said. “Systems have to shift to make our students successful and Lehigh Valley Reads is here to support the community in moving toward that change.”

Undaunted by the challenges of the past two years, Lehigh Valley Reads is dedicated to reaching its goal of all third-graders reading at grade level by 2025, with the support of partners throughout the community, using relationships Zanelli and her team continue to build and strengthen.