“Literacy as Liberation,” a program on Philadelphia’s “Historic Fair Hill” will be presented by Kerry Roeder, Executive Director of Fair Hill for the adult class of Newtown Quaker Meeting at 9:45 a.m. on Sunday, September 14 in person and on Zoom. Meeting for Worship in the manner of Friends will follow at 11 a.m.
Kerry Roeder says, “Both city and state-wide, we have a literacy epidemic. As the Pennsylvania for Literacy Coalition points out, “Only 1 in 3 of Pennsylvania fourth graders are proficient readers, with even more alarming rates for marginalized groups—just 16% of Black students and 16% of Hispanic students reach proficiency in reading.” We know that reading unlocks new
ideas, allowing students to better understand themselves and the world around them, but it is also a way to alleviate systemic injustices. Fourth grade is when students go from learning to read to reading to learn. Students who are proficient by 4th grade have a significantly higher chance of graduating from high school and as a result, a longer life expectancy. They are also less likely to be unemployed, have adverse health outcomes, or enter the criminal justice system.
At Historic Fair Hill, we work to address literacy as liberation through our School Literacy Partnership program, which this year will include: the staffing and operation of 4 school libraries, hiring 6 parents as classroom literacy assistants, training 30 volunteer reading buddies, hosting 8 family literacy workshops, giving away over 5,000 books for home libraries, hosting a reading festival, and offering literacy activities during weekend family fun days.”
Fair Hill is currently involved in a book drive in which Newtown Quaker Meeting is
participating.
The five-acre burial ground of Fair Hill was given by William Penn to George Fox who left it in
his will in 1691 for “a meeting-house and a burying place and for a playground for the children
in the town to play on, and for a garden to plant with physical plants, for lads and lasses to make simples and learn to make oils and ointments.” This space now consists of a peace-making green space, a neighborhood revitalization organization, a historic graveyard, a literacy and tutoring program, a community garden, and a farmer’s market
.
Newtown Friends Meeting, co-founded in 1815 by Quaker minister and artist, Edward Hicks,
has Sunday School classes for children and adults each Sunday at 9:45 a.m. and worship based on expectant silence “after the manner of Friends” at 11 a.m. All are welcome.