LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- An award-winning literacy program is coming to Parkland Boys and Girls club for the summer.
Prime Time Family Reading is a free six-week program for families to learn how to be better engaged in reading. It's hosted in partnership with Kentucky Humanities with support from Frank Hardshaw and Richard Pickren. Through the collective effort, children get to take home two free books to keep each week.
Prime Time Family Reading has won awards from the Public Library Association and the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities created the program in 1995. Its studies showed that children who went through Prime Time increased their reading time by 80% and doubled their trips to the library.
Angela Masden, director at the Parkland Boys and Girls Club, said she hopes the program feels more like a reading party.
"What we're going to do is provide some food, of course to our families, and our kids. And then once we feed them and get them all full we are going to introduce on reading to the kids," Masden said.
It's free to attend and Masden said it's best if families attend each week, although it's not required.
"The families get to go home with two free books so that they can read to their kids and then come back we will discuss what they read and how they felt about it," she said.
Masden hand-selected the books to help families better discuss community issues.
"I'm also really excited to because we are being intentional in our neighborhood of where Parkland is and trying to create something different for our families and providing them free services to to create those memories, because there's so many barriers already going on," Masden said.
Kentucky Humanities Executive Director Bill Goodman said it's exciting to see the program return to Kentucky after a hiatus due to COVID, and believes Prime Time is among the most important programs Kentucky Humanities brings to the Commonwealth.
“We are thrilled for Prime Time Family Reading to return to libraries, classrooms, and community organizations across the Commonwealth,” Goodman said in a press release. “Kentucky Humanities is passionate about promoting literacy and sharing the love of reading with people throughout Kentucky. Prime Time Family Reading brings families together through books and gets them talking to each other in ways they never have before.”
This is the first time Prime Time Family Reading is coming to Parkland. The group will meet at 6 p.m. on Mondays from June 13 to July 25 (skipping July 4) at the Parkland Boys and Girls Club located at 3200 Greenwood Avenue in Louisville. The program is free and includes meals, door prizes, and educational childcare for younger siblings.
To RSVP to attend, families can email Masden at amasden@bgckyana.org.
by Monica Harkins
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