Thanks to those of you that attended the SPELL webinar on December 13! We had excellent panelists who discussed their innovative programs. As we heard from them, these programs go far in successfully reaching low-income parents of young children to deliver essential services and education.

There were 63 attendees of the webinar from at least 16 states, mostly from public libraries. Of those that responded to an evaluation:

• 100% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the panelists shared useful information
• 70%  said they're very likely to implement something they learned in the webinar
• 90% said they’re very likely to continue to seek information about the topics discussed

Evaluation comments included:

• Excellent practical information on a topic we are examining in our library and in partnership with community agencies. I know our library can provide more outreach and we need these practical suggestions and proven models to help guide our efforts.
• It was a good overview of several best practices. I'm excited to see how SPELL gets to the deeper levels of recommendations, checklists, evaluation tools, and shares the information widely.
• I learned a lot about partnership agencies and how their work can dovetail with library initiatives. I am looking forward to sharing this information with colleagues and local agencies, hoping to grow similar programs in my area.

If you were not able to attend the webinar live, please view the archive and related material from the session at http://spellproject.weebly.com/webinars.html at your convenience.

SPELL Project Webinar: A dialogue on engaging parents in early literacy
Date: Thursday, Dec 13th
Time: 10:00am to 11:00am (MST)
No registration required. A recording will be available.

We are very excited to hear what our panelist will be sharing!
1) Pamela Martin-Díaz, Manager, Shawnee Branch Library, Allen County Public Library
2) Tomás Mejía, Principal Consultant, Colorado Migrant Education Program
3) Dragana Saas, Ready to Read Program Leader, Columbus Metropolitan Library
4) Megan Wilson, Executive Director, Reach Out and Read Colorado

Our panelists that will each discuss their programs and address the following:
1) How the same approach can be applied to libraries
2) How libraries can partner successfully with a program like theirs
We will then have 15 minutes for the panelists to address the audience's questions.

We look forward to you joining us on December 13th!