“Until we are willing as a community—everybody, old, young, in-between, educated, uneducated, Black, white, whatever—until we are willing to take our resources, time, sustenance, energy and put into this wholeheartedly, we’re going to be working on this a long time. I think we can get there sooner if we realize that, together, we can do it.”
“I’ve had a passion for reading all my life. Growing up, we didn’t have any money. So, I’d read the few books we had in the house and our Sears catalogs and geography maps.”
She said she didn’t necessarily love reading for the sake of reading.
“Once I hit 12, I didn’t want to be bothered by anyone. That’s when I really began to love reading and traveling in my imagination.”
She says up until a few years ago, she assumed most kids were on track to learning to read and reading on their grade level.
“It was devastating to me to find out that they weren’t.”
Inez found out she had family members whose children didn’t know how to read. So, she started talking to other parents, researching and attending public school meetings.
That’s when she got involved in the Blueprint for Early Childhood Success, a citywide effort to expand literacy justice for all kids in Greater Nashville. Three out of four of Nashville’s third graders are not reading on grade level. When a child misses this early milestone, their chances of success are dramatically curtailed.
Now, Inez is on the frontlines of this literacy movement—volunteering her time, building communications strategies, engaging in outreach, speaking at conferences and so much more.
“Until we are willing as a community—everybody, old, young, in-between, educated, uneducated, Black, white, whatever—until we are willing to take our resources, time, sustenance, energy and put into this whole heartedly, we’re going to be working on this a long time. I think we can get there sooner if we realize that, together, we can do it.”
