Soddy-Daisy Community Library is taking over Hamilton County’s Read 20 program, an initiative started by former county Mayor Claude Ramsey in 2006, after the county phased out the program and redirected its funding to Mayor Weston Wamp’s Center for Thriving Families.
The Read 20 program encourages adults to read with a child for 20 minutes a day, with the goal of having every child in Hamilton County reading at grade level.
“Our mission aligns exactly with what Read 20 stood for, so it’s a natural progression for us,” said Kelly Flemings, who co-founded the nonprofit Soddy-Daisy Community Library with Curtis Cecil six years ago.
Hamilton County ended funding for the Read 20 program June 30, along with the program’s three staff positions. The $344,714 that would have been budgeted for the program for the fiscal year that started July 1 will be used to launch the Center for Thriving Families, one of Wamp’s key initiatives, his press secretary, Haley Burton, said in an email.