About the Episode:
On this episode learn about the amazing work being done by the “Children’s Reading Alliance” in Southern New Mexico. Cassandra Reveles talks with Bunny all about how the alliance is working to “engage families and the community in order to promote children’s literacy. “
Links
Website childrensreadingalliance.org
Donations: https://www.childrensreadingalliance.org/thank-you-for-your-donation/
Instagram
Facebook
I Love New Mexico blog page
Bunny’s website
I Love New Mexico Instagram
I Love New Mexico Facebook
Original Music by: Kene Terry
Featuring:
Cassandra Reveles
“The mission of Children’s Reading Alliance is to engage families and the community to promote children’s literacy. We believe that all families should have access to books and enriching learning experiences that prepare their children for success in school and in life. We offer free parent support classes, complete with educational resources and tools, and also distribute hundreds of children’s books throughout Doña Ana County each month, with the help of community collaborators.”
Bunny : (00:00)
Hi there. I’m Bunny Terry, and you’re listening to the I Love New Mexico podcast. Whether you’re a native new Mexican, who’s lived here for your entire life, or you’re just considering a visit, this episode is for you. Join us as we share a lot of New Mexico’s stories, talk about all things New Mexico, and include topics like what’s magical here, where you ought to visit, what’s happening, and the things you absolutely cannot miss in the land of Enchantment. We’re excited that you’re here and we can’t wait to show you what an amazing place New Mexico is, because let’s face it, I love New Mexico. Hi everybody. We have a special treat today. Um, I’m talking to someone who is very involved, um, sort of like for those of you who, um, heard us talk to, um, Duke’s comics not long ago where they talked about how their passion was, um, literacy in Southern New Mexico. Um, my guest today is very involved with an organization whose only goal is that, as I understand it. So, Cassandra Revelles, thank you so much for being here. Um, tell our listeners who you are and, and what you and your organization do.
Cassandra: (01:30)
Thank you. Yes, I’m very happy to be here on behalf of the Children’s Reading Alliance. We’re based in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Our mission is to expand literacy and promote literacy throughout Dona Ana County, especially that early childhood literacy. So my role for the organization has been, uh, the creative media lead. So I do written publications, um, I do podcasts, and I’m the person behind the social media. Um, I’m also a program manager now, so, managing our first teacher pre-med maestro course. And that course is a six week course. It’s for parents and it really encourages parents to take an active role in their children’s early learning. So we teach them skills, like kind of how to connect to increase that emotional bond and kind of give them just a little survey of what they can expect for their children going into kindergarten and get them prepared for that.
Bunny : (02:33)
That’s interesting. What do you, what is, I mean, is literacy an issue with I mean I grew up reading my kids, so I don’t, and I’m sorry if I sound really ignorant, but I don’t, I don’t know if people still do that.
Cassandra: (02:48)
Yeah. So literacy right now all across the United States is kind of facing a challenge, especially as kids are coming back from the pandemic. Um, they’re not getting so much of that interaction, so much of that in school learning and that physicality of actually having a book in front of them. So, uh, New Mexico, yes, it is, you know, becoming a problem here in this state. However, it’s kind of all across the board. So teachers are experiencing kind of a lot of challenges with children learning their phonics and being introduced to the world of literacy in general.
Bunny : (03:27)
Well, and being interested, right? I mean,
Cassandra: (03:30)
Right. Yeah. And that’s kind of like our, our main mission is to just introduce parents to introducing the world of literacy for their children. Um, you know, you can start when they’re babies. You can just pick up a board, book something that’s even interactive, show them the pictures, take on a tone of your voice, and really get that passion going by introducing children to the world of books.
Bunny : (03:58)
I gotta tell you my, I’m, I’m proud of my kids because it’s sort of like from their kids, and I even said he’s a month old, are you really reading to him already? And it’s so clear that children love, first of all, hearing the voice of their parent mm-hmm. and then being, um, you know, sitting in their lap or so. So it seems, um, it seems counterintuitive to start reading to infants, but it’s really important, isn’t it?
Cassandra: (04:28)
Right? Yeah, it’s super important. So we always like to say that most brain activity that we’ll ever experience in our lifetime happens between when we’re born to five years old, so, wow. So yes, kids at that age are very impressionable. They are taking in so much and learning from their first teacher, which is whoever is taking care of them at home. And we say first teacher because it can be a parent or it can be any support system like a brother, a sister, or grandparents. Um, but essentially we’re, we’re kind of modeling that we have all the skills we need in ourselves to be able to take our kids on this journey of learning, which is right in front of us. We can use household items, we can take them to errands and point out the bank, point out money, point out colors and shapes. It’s all in front of us, and we just need to take that extra little time to increase our awareness and to reach out to our children and, and accompany them along.
Bunny : (05:36)
So, so, so tell me about the Reading Alliance. I mean, is it a new organization? Um, where did it come from?
Cassandra: (05:43)
So, we, um, are around 11 years old. It was founded by a couple of teachers actually, who kind of felt discouraged, you know, with, um, just kids facing challenges in school. So they decided, Hey, you know, this starts at home. We can prepare them for school by just giving parents and caregivers that extra little push. So, first Teacher Premed Maestro was pretty much born during that same time that the Alliance was created. Um, founders include Anne Kovic, Rory Measure, and Terry Miller. And they are still with us, uh, still supporting us and updating the curriculum as they see fit. Because we live in, you know, changing times. It’s always good to be able to update and respond.
Bunny : (06:36)
So, in practical terms, what do you do? I mean, you, you talked about this workshop that you’re doing for parents mm-hmm. , um, what, tell me some of the other things that the Children’s Reading Alliance does.
Cassandra: (06:47)
Yeah, so First, teacher Premed Esto is our main offering to our community. We’re really passionate about the program, and we put a lot of thought and time into it. So we’re really working on expanding that, and not just in Las Cruces, but in outlying, especially rural areas. But aside from that, the Children’s Reading Alliance has also supported the community with free books, free books galore. So we really try to make it to community events. Um, we’ve started doing a children’s Reading Alliance pick of the month and feature a book on social media, and anyone can use the forms that we share on social media in our website. It’s a Google form, it’s a book request form. They fill it out with their contact information, with how many books they need for whoever they need it for the age range they need, the language they need. And we have a huge warehouse to support these book orders. So we really do encourage Wow, any individual, any household member, if you’re throwing a slumber party or if you have, you know, a big community event downtown, we are very happy to support.
Bunny : (07:51)
That’s so cool. I mean, you guys are like the Dolly Parton of, of Southern New Mexico, right? I mean, she sends out how, how she sent millions. She’s, she’s given millions of free books to kids and you guys are doing it in Southern New Mexico. I love that.
Cassandra: (08:05)
Yes. And, um, recently we partnered with the little libraries here. So as those continue to pop up and people get together and build them together, we’re there to fill ’em all up.
Bunny : (08:16)
That’s so cool. I’ve been, I’ve been interested in putting a little library in my hometown, which is over near Toum Care, and so that, so I may be getting in touch with you for some children’s books.
Cassandra: (08:29)
Yeah. And, um, there’s a whole little, uh, library’s website gives you tips on how to build ’em. Sometimes they send materials. Um, so that’s a great resource as well.
Bunny : (08:39)
My grandsons come to visit, and we have a little library up the road from us in a parking lot of a hiking trail. And our, we have a ritual every night where our walk is that we leave the house, walk up the hill, go to the little library, maybe take a couple of my books, and then see what’s been left. And they’re nice. I mean, these are kids who live in California and they’re like, are we going to the little library tonight? I mean, that’s a great tradition. It’s a great activity for people to create with their kids, just, just so that they get, um, a little more interested in, in holding books in their hands. You know, kids are, do you find that kids don’t un often enough, just hold a book in their hands because they’re so inter intertwined with technology?
Cassandra: (09:29)
Personally, yes. Uh, I see it. My sister’s a teacher. My mom’s a sub, so she really notices in school kids being on their laptops. It’s kind of ingrained in their curriculum. Today. I come from a generation that was books, and then we transitioned into all the electronics and all the internet, but I grew up being a book room bookworm. I loved to read on my own. Um, but yeah, I just, there’s something about turning a page. There’s something about opening it up to your favorite spot and using bookmarks and seeing it all in front of you. So, um, I definitely do believe kids just need to be reintroduced to reading on that level as well. Maybe there isn’t an interest in scrolling and reading a big document online that could be, you know, helped by just opening a book and turning a page.
Bunny : (10:25)
And, and are, are you having some success? I mean, do you feel like,
Cassandra: (10:30)
Do you’re having an attack? I mean, whenever we get to talk to the kids and help them pick out a book at a community fair or event, it’s really lovely. You know, um, some kids, they’re a little shy and they, they don’t know really where to start. So you begin asking them questions like, well, what do you like to do? Is there, is there a character on TV that you really like? Why do you like them? Oh, so they’re superheroes. Well, have you read the, have read this book? These are a group of superheroes and they do yada, yada, yada. So I think, um, part of getting kids interested in reading and literacy is learning more about them. Um, and you might be surprised, you might find you might grow a passion just by asking them one question. Like, who’s your favorite character on tv? If it’s Doc McStuffins, give them some more books that deal with pets and medicine, and who knows, maybe they’ll be the next veterinarian in your community as well.
Bunny : (11:30)
So what is, and what about, um, fundraising? I’m curious about, because we always wanna connect people. If somebody really supports your cause, how, what do you guys do for fundraising?
Cassandra: (11:42)
Yeah, so, um, uh, yes, a couple of grants. So, um, our partners, uh, we get, we have partnerships all over, but a few of ’em, I can name our Western Sky Cynda, um, being, you know, those in New Mexico. Uh, we’ve received some congressional funds as well. Um, and we really do continue to try to seek out grants and, um, update, you know, our applications as well. But we do rely a lot on community donations. So on our website, which is Children’s Reading Alliance, lc for las cruces.org, uh, we have a donate page and we have get involved on there because we know that there’s more than one way to donate. You can donate with Don dollars or you can donate with your time. And a lot of times we really do need extra support. Let’s say delivering books is a huge need that we have manning our tables when we have more than one event on the weekends.
Cassandra: (12:38)
And definitely supporting in our warehouse because it is really big. We have a lot of books in there, and they, they need to be organized constantly because, you know, there’s books flowing in, books flowing out. People also donate children’s books, um, to us too. So that’s a great way to get involved in your community, let’s say. Oh, wow. Yeah. And it’s a great place to put something that you might have an emotional attachment to as well. I know me, I still have a bookcase full of my childhood books, and I don’t really wanna get rid of them quite yet, but I definitely know where they could be used in the event that I do want to. Um,
Bunny : (13:14)
Wow, that’s a, that’s really cool because people are all the time clearing out. Um, I, and, and like I said, my grandsons have what seems like thousands of books. Um, it’s a great place for somebody to donate their children’s books when they
Cassandra: (13:30)
Outgrow them. Definitely. And we, we welcome.
Bunny : (13:33)
We’re not gonna keep every one of them.
Cassandra: (13:34)
Yeah. . Yeah, no, yeah. We welcome, um, definitely donations of children’s books. Sometimes we get, you know, a lot of adult books, so we’re not necessarily that organization where we can just take any book, right. Like, we wanna make sure we’re serving our community Sure. And getting those just worn out a little bit books. Um, but they definitely do go right back into the community and kids do choose them as they might choose the, the brand newest, shiniest book too.
Bunny : (14:04)
And let me ask you this, if somebody like me, because I, I feel inspired to do this, wanted to, um, go online and order like 10 or 11 books for a specific age range is on your website. Is there an address where we can have
Cassandra: (14:18)
Those? Yes. Our address is located in the Community Action Agency building. So we’re housed with a ton of other amazing nonprofits doing great work in our community as well. The address is 38 80 Foothills Road, um, and we’re, the zip is 8 8 0, 11. So yes, you can always come in and visit, uh, make an appointment with us. We even, uh, will let people come in and choose their own books and create a box if they want, uh, to give back to their community too. Wow.
Bunny : (14:51)
I love this. It’s like the library that you don’t have to return to your
Cassandra: (14:55)
Books. Yes,
Bunny : (14:57)
.
Cassandra: (14:58)
So I, that’s why we love little free libraries. They help us out too. ,
Bunny : (15:01)
I gotta tell you, Cassandra, I think this is life changing stuff. I mean, I think about the books that I loved the most when I was a child, and I think about my mom reading Dr. Seuss. To me, I ha those are really some of my best memories. I think about going to the Bookmobile, which, um, a lot of people, a lot of people listening, first of all, we, we’ve gotta tell ’em where Las Cruces is. It’s in this southern most part of the state. But, you know, I have a lot of listeners who are not e even in the country. So, um, Las Cruces is in Southern New Mexico, but the book Mobile for people who don’t know, was like this, this driving around, um, van that was full of books for country kids. And you guys now have created this resource where families with children can go and choose books Yes. Or ask for free books. And, and I, I’m, I’m cur I mean, when I think about reading, you know, Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little and the Dr. Seuss books, um, when I was a little girl, I, I I’m sure everybody who’s a reader now has a children’s book that they recall with some great love.
Cassandra: (16:09)
I’m curious. Definitely. Yeah. . Yes. Um, so, uh, I was actually just writing our newsletter and kind of reflecting upon the same thing. Uh, one of our founders, she asked me, what was the first book you remember reading Uhhuh ? And I was like, well, I mean, I had some assistance, but I definitely remember reading this one book. It was called The Evening Walk. Me and my sister would read it with our grandma, who would be taking care of us that weekend. It’d be, you know, slumber party at Grandma’s Uhhuh. And, uh, she was from Oklahoma, so she loved nature and kind of would pick out books for us that really she liked as well. So the book was about little, a little skunk family. The mom takes them out on their first nocturnal walk, you know, that they’ll ever have. So they visit a babbling brook, they see the stars and the moon and fireflies, and my grandma definitely recalls seeing fireflies, and she was a little girl in Oklahoma as well. Mm-hmm. So right after the book, she’d take me and my sister out in her front yard and we’d go stargazing as well. So I love, that’s kinda love that story. And that’s kind of the thing that we love at Children’s Reading Alliance, creating an experience as well, you know, like taking the material further. What can you do with the book? Yeah, you can read it out loud, but can you also make connections in everyday life and in the world around you too.
Bunny : (17:30)
That is so cool. I, I’m just thinking about, um, new New Mexico authors that I know who have done children’s books. I mean, do you get donations from authors?
Cassandra: (17:41)
Sometimes. Yeah. Um, and, and a lot from publishers. So we’ll sometimes take pictures and send them back and, you know, they really love to see their books like actually being used. Um, I, some man reached out to me recently about a book that his daughter had published, so we’ll be getting that book donation soon as well about bullying, um, and feature that on social media as well. So yes, if you are an author who would like a little bit of, you know, circulation with what you’re working on for a children’s book, we are so happy to promote you and con promote the Arts and Literacy all around our state as well.
Bunny : (18:19)
So you talk, we’ve talked, we, we’ve touched on this program and, and I, I would like for you to say the name again, because I keep getting it wrong, but it’s the first learner, uh, first Tea, I’m sorry. Mm-hmm. . Tell me this instructional thing that you do with
Cassandra: (18:32)
Parents. Yes. So, so it’s a bilingual program, that’s why it’s named First Teacher, and then there’s a slash pre-Med maestro, so Oh,
Bunny : (18:41)
Okay. Got it. Mm-hmm.
Cassandra: (18:42)
. Yeah. So we call it First Teacher because we’re really bringing in the idea that you as a parent or a caregiver are your child’s first teacher. You’re gonna be the one holding their hand through life, and we wanna support you in every way we can. So our course is six weeks. You, the course is about, the class is about an hour long. You have a little time to, you know, use the skills that you were taught or that you talked about and brainstormed about within that class. Then you come back for the second week and so on. So with this program, we also provide free learning tools and materials. So we have little floor puzzles. We’ve got over 17 books that we give out, and this is all for free. Um, so we really, really do encourage people to take advantage because we want our classes to be full, and we want most importantly, parents to connect with each other. You know, we’re, we’re providing this information and providing, you know, tips and tricks, but who better to share this information than the people living in it and doing it. So parents of young children, if they feel unsupported, this is a place where they can talk about it, where they can receive ideas from each other and create their own support system within their community as well. And hopefully share it with anyone else who’s interested.
Bunny : (20:05)
Yeah, because I do think being, uh, you know, I have a grandson who’s almost three, and I think being the parent of a really young child can sometimes, um, a, especially in a city the size of Santa Fe or Las Cruces or Albuquerque, feel a little isolating. And it’s hard, unless you grew up in the community to connect with parents physically. I mean, it’s kind of easy to connect with them online, but, um,
Cassandra: (20:31)
Right.
Bunny : (20:32)
That’s a great idea.
Cassandra: (20:35)
Yeah. And, um, and like I mentioned, these classes are free. We host them at schools, community centers, um, daycare. So if you’re also, you know, a daycare provider or a school official, reach out to us, we’re so happy to provide our program for free. Um, wow. To those who need it. Yes.
Bunny : (20:56)
Wow. Wow. What, what, uh, what a great service and, and talk to me about, I mean, I can just hear people saying, well, wait, I want that in my community. Does this exist in other places? Are you thinking of, of expanding? I’m really curious about, um, whether this service exists in other places besides las the Las Cruces area.
Cassandra: (21:18)
Right. So we, children’s Reading Alliance, we really work to reach out to Donia, Ana County. So at the moment, we’re kind of really busy expanding still within our com own community, because where else is better to start than at our home? Absolutely. Um, who, who knows, you know, if this takes off and we can provide it to other places, um, but, you know, the, I think the priority is to make sure it’s tight, make sure it’s, you know, it’s actually doing its job and affecting those in a positive way. So we do plan to like, double our classes this year Yeah. And see what else we can do with it.
Bunny : (21:57)
I can see this as being a great model for other communities because you, it sounds like you’re doing it so well. And, and what’s next? I mean, if say, so, if somebody, I know you’ve got a spot, um, on your website for people who might wanna get involved, but is there, you and you talked about these, um, um, areas where maybe people can find you on Saturdays, say, um, like through the rest of the summer, where, what’s going on that, that somebody could just walk up and find you at a table somewhere?
Cassandra: (22:35)
So our next big event that we’re working on is collaborating with other organizations, engage New Mexico. They host an annual celebrity karaoke lip sync competition. So yes, we are entered and, you know, the way people vote is on their website. And so that website will be up pretty soon. You can find us on social media, we’ll be promoting the whole event as well as our own video. Um, so yeah, if you have a little bit of extra change, please get on that website, watch our video for fun. It’s always a really funny, hilarious event. People really let loose and just serve the community with fun. So, uh, this year, children’s Reading Alliance will be performing downtown by Petula Clark. We plan to highlight Oh, that, that’s fun. I do too. It’s so, it, it just uplifts you. Uh, we’ll be promoting various downtown businesses like COA Bookstore, who has been a partner with us for a really long time. Grounded Cruces creatives. And we’ll have a few cameos from community leaders as well. Uh, you might see Miss New Mexico. She’s the newest winner from Las Cruces. Nice. And you also might see some folks from Las Cruces, storytellers as, or storytellers of, of Las Cruces, I should say, and our board members and staff. So that will be a really fun event. Fundraising will be, uh, the last two weeks of August, and we’re doing a big kind of gala, sort of live entertainment event on August 25th at the Las Cruces Home Builders Association downtown.
Bunny : (24:18)
Cool. And if people go, do you have a calendar online where people can find out where you’re going to be? Or is there a newsletter? How do
Cassandra: (24:26)
People find Yes, we’re sending, we’re sending a newsletter through email and, uh, the mail at the end of July. You can also stay updated with us on our social media, uh, channels. That’s where I usually send the most up-to-date information, as well as update our website. So yeah, go ahead and give children’s reading alliance lc.org a visit or visit us on Facebook under Children’s Reading Alliance or Instagram, and that’s Children’s Reading Alliance lc as well.
Bunny : (24:58)
And there are links to all of those, um, social media sites on our podcast. So be sure and check those out. But Cassandra, I, I came to this podcast, I, I read your bio and I was like, well, this is an interesting organization, but I’m so inspired by what you’re doing because I know that reading changed my life. I mean, it’s, um, you know, it, one of the reasons I wrote a book is that I think it’s an important thing that we do for each other is share our stories. And so, um, this is really exciting to have this conversation with you and to know that I can send you a box of books that some child Yes.
Cassandra: (25:40)
Convey. Oh my gosh. We’d be so happy to read it. And, uh, yeah, that would be amazing.
Bunny : (25:46)
Okay. I’m gonna do it. And, um, thank you so much for being here. Please keep us updated on what’s going on with your crew and, um, folks read to your kids. That’s the best advice I can give you. Right?
Cassandra: (26:01)
Absolutely. Read, connect, talk to your children. Talk to your babies. They’re listening.
Bunny : (26:05)
Nice. Nice. Thank you so much, Cassandra.
Cassandra: (26:09)
Thank you. Wonderful to be here.
Bunny : (26:12)
A great conversation.