Tag Archives: criskids

Bright Spot: Non-profit is helping kids improve their literacy from home (WFSB)

Click photo above to watch the video.

(WFSB) – A local non-profit is helping kids improve their literacy from home.

For 8 years now CRIS Radio (Connecticut Radio Information System) began to expand their services to students around the state.

“Teachers came to us and said ‘Hey we have special needs kids that are not able to access classroom material. Can you do custom recordings?' So, we started doing that,” explains Diane Weaver Dunne, Executive Director of CRIS Radio.  CONTINUE READING

Bright Spot: Non-profit is helping kids improve their literacy from home (WFSB)

Click photo above to watch the video.

(WFSB) – A local non-profit is helping kids improve their literacy from home.

For 8 years now CRIS Radio (Connecticut Radio Information System) began to expand their services to students around the state.

“Teachers came to us and said ‘Hey we have special needs kids that are not able to access classroom material. Can you do custom recordings?' So, we started doing that,” explains Diane Weaver Dunne, Executive Director of CRIS Radio.

Fast forward to today, not only are there over 1,300 recordings available in their ‘CRISKids Audio Library’ for all grades, but now they are offering something new for students from Hartford to Enfield.

“During this pandemic, we realized teachers were really overwhelmed, kids were sick of being in front of the computer screens so we said let's do a book bag, a CRIS Kids book bag.”

Colleen Semanie, Literacy Coordinator for ERFC explains how it works. “The kids can take home 5 books and we preload all those books onto an MP3 player and send it home with stickers and a rainbow chart so they can track how many books they’re reading.”

And they are already seeing positive results from the book club. An independent study based off of standardized test scores of ERFC kids in a 14-month period found that 75% of the lowest-level readers improved significantly more compared with 10% of the kids who did not use it.

The CRIS Kids book bag is incorporated into the ERFC summer camp as well.

Laura Boogaert

Laura Boogaert

Laura Boogaert
Enterprise Engagement Coordinator
Producer/Engineer
[email protected]

Laura started at CRIS as a volunteer reader in Jan 2017. She is passionate about the CRIS mission and excited about their engaging and expanding programs. Laura brings not only enthusiasm to her role but also an eclectic skill set gained from years as an entrepreneur as well as her work within the nonprofit sector. The combination of her experience with the visually impaired community through her past roles at the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation her advocacy of volunteers along with her passion for all things voiceover, makes being part of the CRIS team a perfect fit. She’s inspired by the dedicated efforts of staff and volunteers to enhance the lives of so many in Connecticut.

Laura’s volunteerism includes Achilles International, where she serves as on the Connecticut Advisory Board and as a guide for their athletes.  She also serves on the Board of Governors at The Westover School, an independent all-girls school in Middlebury, Ct.

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