It can be hard to juggle time and money when everything is stretched so thin, and the priority is bringing money in to provide essentials like warmth, food and shelter. This can often result in low-income families missing out on opportunities to create meaningful and formative memories with their little ones.
The National Literacy Trust volunteer, Carrie Pearson, and the rest of her team at New Beginnings in Smethwick, work to ensure that these families have the space and time they need to create these memories. From providing new-born baby bundles, to hosting play and stay sessions, the team has become a lighthouse in the Smethwick community during the hardships of the cost-of-living crisis and before. As the founder and CEO of New Beginnings Community, Carrie is a leading light within the Smethwick community and understands the importance of having a passion for reading. Carrie's position in the community makes her a valuable National Literacy Trust volunteer and champion in her area too.
Reading was a big part of my life when I was growing up. One of my earliest memories was visiting the mobile library in Rowley Regis, and then Lion Farm Library as I reached my teens. I loved all books; everything from ‘Garfield’ comic books by Jim Davies to ‘The Twits’ by Roald Dahl but my absolute favourite was ‘Charlottes Webb’ by EB White. This book taught me that no matter who we are, how small we are, and how long we are in this world for, we can make an impact in someone’s life that will never be forgotten. The friendship that Charlotte and Wilbur have, has stuck with me into my adult life, the values stayed with me and has helped shape me into the person I am today
Carrie
Carrie and the National Literacy Trust in the Black Country
During the summer of 2022, Carrie’s passion for reading and her role in her community inspired her to become a volunteer Literacy Champion with the National Literacy Trust in the Black Country. In this role, Carrie hosts events at the New Beginnings Centre to provide families with access to fun, engaging, literacy-focused activities. Through their storytelling sessions and book giveaways, New Beginnings and the National Literacy Trust in the Black Country teams empower parents with the skills to continue their child’s literacy journey at home. As a Literacy Champion, Carrie is now also able to include free books in the baby bank and new-born bundles which her and the team provide for vulnerable families.
As a passionate reader herself she understands the important role literacy plays in a child’s overall development from a very young age. Working within the Smethwick community as well as her love for reading has highlighted to Carrie the importance and impact that literacy and access to books can have on a child’s development.
The families we support often come from low-income backgrounds, so being able to include books in our baby bundles makes a world of difference. Sharing a story is a great bonding opportunity for children and their parents or carers and can be a brilliant way help develop a child’s language skills early on. Access to literacy in our diverse community helps with the ability to understand words and plays a crucial role in developing speech, especially for our families whose English is not their first language. Given the diverse backgrounds of the parents and families we support, we've discovered that for some children, the books we provide are the only ones they own or have access to. We are proud to say that, to date, we have provided over 1,300 packs to families in the Black Country. This is all thanks to our wonderful partnership with the National Literacy Trust in the Black Country.
Carrie
Carrie Pearson CEO of New Beginnings left, Aman Dhanda Hub Manager of National Literacy Trust in the Black Country, right.
Engaging with families as a Literacy Champion, Carrie has been able to have a wider impact among her community helping to improve literacy levels and put on literacy activities in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust. Evidence to back this up comes from our recent evaluation which testifies to the power of Literacy Champions' and how they crucially provide a trusted local voice to transform literacy in the communities they are serving.
For example, 69% of participants surveyed said they were more likely to read having taken part in activities with a volunteer and 50% said they were more likely to read with their family. Participants also became advocates for literacy themselves after working with the volunteers, with 88% reporting they were more confident in supporting the reading and writing of those around them.
Literacy Champions like Carrie are also confident in the impact of their activities with 95% believing they have encouraged others to engage with literacy. 92% also said they were more aware of how best to support literacy in their community.
What do the parent's think?
Events that the National Literacy Trust and New Beginnings have put on in the past have often resulted in some fantastic feedback highlighting the impact that the collaboration is having on the Smethwick community. For example the quote below is from JB a parent who attended one of our recent storytelling sessions.
As a neurodivergent parent I appreciate you always being flexible with your time and approach. My differences sometimes prevent me from understanding how to be around people, including my own children. Your support in helping me bond with my children – especially my youngest – and providing so many helpful resources including books we can read together as a family has made the biggest change in our bond for the better. I cannot thank you or recommend you enough!
JB, Parent