A national award for local program

The ability to read, educators agree, is the common denominator for academic success at all levels. Youngsters who can read, and comprehend what they've read, typically do well in school. Those who can't fare less well. They constitute a majority of those who do not do well in the academic setting or, often, in adult life. Any program that encourages youngsters to read or that helps improve reading ability is a useful adjunct in the vital effort to create a literate citizenry.

It is noteworthy, then, that Hamilton County's reading initiative, Read 20's Read With Me program, was honored recently at the annual meeting of the National Association of Counties. National recognition of the local program, a partnership of the county and WSMC Classical 90.5 FM radio station, acknowledges the merit and efficacy of the program.

The Read With Me program, aired every Thursday morning from 10:10-10:30 on the radio station located on the Southern Adventist University campus in Collegedale, is an outgrowth of County Mayor Claude Ramsey's Read 20 program. Initiated in 2006, the program is based on his belief that the way to a a better education is through early childhood literacy. There's merit in that belief.

Read 20 encourages parents, guardians, friends -- anyone -- to read with or to a child at least 20 minutes every day. "It's actually pretty simple," Mr. Ramsey says. "If you invest 20 minutes reading to children your investment will pay big dividends in a child's life further down the road." The dividend comes in a love of reading and learning and in enhanced academic performance.

The Read 20 program now has a variety of successful partnerships, but its alliance with WSMC is especially notable. It was the first of its type when the program started three years ago. The Read With Me program has logged more than 150 hours of air time representing several thousand hours of participants' time since the partnership began. The result has been a boon for both area residents and the station.

It has, in fact, provided greater community exposure for the broadcast outlet as well as provided a valuable reading resource for the community. The national award is welcome acknowledgment of those facts and a signal honor for the overall program, which quickly has become a positive component of learning in Hamilton County and beyond.