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An Aug. 5 article in the Burlington Times-News takes a look at the impact that ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s “It Take a Village” Project has had on the broader community as the innovative program approaches its 10th anniversary. 

The article by Reporter Jessica Williams tracks the history of the project at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ, which started in 2008 with students in the School of Education offering reading help to 16 third-graders after school. The initiative, which has garnered support from a variety of sources including a $1 million grant from the Oak Foundation last year, now serves 400 students from the Alamance-Burlington School System. 

The “It Takes a Village” project uses a collaborative approach to address reading difficulties faced by many students through after-school and summer sessions that focus on reading and tutoring. That collaboration involves the active participation of ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s School of Education, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ students, faculty and staff, in-service teachers, various community partners and most important, parents and other family members. ​

Jean Rattigan-Rohr, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s executive director of community partnerships and director of the Center for Access and Success, launched the program and gives the parents of participating students a lot of the credit for its success. 

“People always ask, because [we’ve completed nine years], ‘How do you guys sustain it?'” Rattigan-Rohr told Williams. “Education programs — they last two years, and then they’re done, and you move on to something else, and so how do we manage to do it? And I really think it’s the parents.”

Read the entire article .