Flint, MI—The Flint Farmers’ Market is typically closed on Wednesdays, but this week, dozens of families filed into the market for free books and food during “A Taste of Literacy,” an event hosted by Flint Community Schools (FCS) on Wednesday, March 6, 2024.
“We’re trying to do events that would include our parents and our scholars working with our teachers and staff on the importance of literacy,” said FCS Superintendent Kevelin Jones. “It takes a village, right? It’s not going to just be Flint Community Schools that raise up children. It’s going to be us working with all of our parents and stakeholders.”
In addition to food vouchers and books, families attending the event could play games and listen to poems and stories. Flint’s Poet Laureate Semaj Brown read her poem “Black Dandelions” while children in the audience looked on with wide eyes. Flint-based author LaTashia Perry read her book “Skin Like Mine,” noting that some had called for banning the book because it deals with race. The audience applauded when she finished.
FCS is trying to make reading more fun and engaging through events like “A Taste of Literacy,” Jones said. Some FCS students struggle with reading, he said, but at the same time, others are excelling.
“We want to give them opportunities to excel even further,” he said. “It’s not just about the child that may need to be better. It’s about the child that we want to push to do more.”
Jones smiled as he hugged students and parents filing into the event.
“Having a line out the door for literacy night is better than having a line out the door for a game,” he said.
