By Afsaneh Faki | Director of Finance
The support GlobalGiving has granted us continues to grow Ballet and Books. Since our last report, we have seen so much development and new wins for our program!
We have officially published our very own children’s book, When We Read. This book promotes the Ballet and Books curriculum and implements one of our core values, diversity, equity, and inclusion. It is intended to bring Ballet and Books to students who may not have a chapter near them. We also plan to get When We Read into dance studios, along with our full curriculum, so that children from families who have the means to pay for a program like Ballet and Books also have access.
Programming kicked off at the beginning of October and we’re proud to say that this fall we welcomed a new chapter at the University of Virginia! After our recent 2nd feature in Pointe Magazine, several more communities have reached out to start chapters. In Spring 2023 we plan to start up 3 new chapters in NYC, Cincinnati OH, and Michigan.
Our current chapters are also going strong this semester. The Ithaca chapter has been able to partner with Ithaca College (IC) for one of the biggest dance events Ballet and Books has had. IC will be hosting their first ever Dance-a-Thon with all dance groups on campus participating. There will be booths, food, games, and events as well as a performance at the end of the night. Our Ithaca mentees and their families will be invited to the show and may even get to have their dance session on campus with their Ithaca Chapter mentors that week. Ballet and Books is all about integrating campuses with their communities, so we are so excited for this event that ties so closely to our mission.
We have also implemented literacy screeners at all existing chapters this semester. We’re excited to collect qualitative data on how our program is correlated with our mentee’s literacy development. With funding from this GlobalGiving campaign, as well as other donors and grants, we hope to have the resources to hire a data analyst in 2023 to help us interpret this data and improve upon our curriculum.
Finally, we are kicking off our holiday fundraiser on Giving Day, Tuesday November 29th. We will be hosting a virtual auction of items designed by our young mentees. The theme of their designs is how they see themselves in Ballet and Books. We also asked each mentee what their favorite part about our program was. Check out our auction to see their responses!
Looking back on these past few years, we have come such a long way with the support of Colgate and GlobalGiving. As we look ahead to the future, we’re so excited to continue growing our impact and closing the literacy gap one community at a time. You have not only helped support us up until this point, but have also given us the resources to begin supporting ourselves moving forward. Ballet and Books would not be possible without you!
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