State & Community Events: GLR Week 2026
Each year during GLR Week, states and communities across the country bring the movement to life through locally led webinars, meetings, campaigns, engagement efforts, and special events.
These activities create opportunities to share ideas, highlight what is working, strengthen partnerships, and inspire action in support of early school success.
Revisit GLR Week 2026 across the country below, including recordings, presentations, resources, media coverage, and highlights from select state- and community-led events.
ALASKA
Kids Literacy Farmers Market
Tuesday, July 21 | 3:00–6:00 p.m.
Weeks Field Community Park
Fairbanks North Star Borough Public Libraries, Stars of Gold Readers, Fairbanks Soil & Water Conservation District, and Fairbanks North Star Borough Parks & Recreation will host the sixth annual Kids Literacy Farmers Market.
This free family event is designed for children in pre-K through sixth grade. Families can connect with local organizations while children enjoy reading and literacy-based activities and explore a farmers market created especially for them.
ARIZONA
Aligning Evidence With Results: National Insights, Arizona Actions
Wednesday, July 29 | 2:00 p.m. Arizona Time
Explore the connections between Arizona Literacy Plan 2030 and the Center for Early Learning Success’ new Early Literacy Instruction: A State of the Field Research Brief. This webinar will highlight the latest research on how children develop literacy from pre-K through third grade and offer actionable recommendations for state and local leaders.
Panelists include Shervaughnna Anderson-Byrd of the California Reading and Literature Project at UCLA Center X; Amy Schmidtke of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute; Lisa Gordon of the Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University and the Center on Early Learning Success; Karie Taylor of Southwest Human Development; and Rachael Lewis, Superintendent of Schools for Navajo County, Arizona.
WATCH & REVISIT
ARKANSAS
Friday, July 24 | 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. CT
This in-person workshop offers an engaging introduction to understanding dyslexia and improving reading instruction for all learners. The interactive session combines an International Dyslexia Association video with a live discussion led by a certified IDA facilitator and a subject-matter expert in dyslexia and Structured Literacy.
Participants will learn what dyslexia is and is not, explore the principles of Structured Literacy and why they work, and discover evidence-based practices aligned with IDA’s Knowledge and Practice Standards. The session will also connect participants with free IDA tools, resources, and community connections while offering actionable next steps for supporting struggling readers.
CONNECTICUT
Read, Grow, Go: Books in the Park
Wednesday, July 29 | 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Adam Adventure
167 Rhodes Road
Tolland, CT 06084
The Read to Grow Bookmobile is hitting the road and bringing children’s books to parks across Connecticut through the Read, Grow, Go: Books in the Park Summer Bookmobile Series. Families are invited to join the Bookmobile at its third summer stop for free books, reading activities, and an opportunity to help children grow their love of reading.
DELAWARE
Each month, Dr. Michelle A. Taylor, President and CEO of United Way of Delaware, interviews community leaders involved in the work of Get Delaware Reading. During GLR Week, Delaware is spotlighting two episodes of the United Voices: Stories of Change, Progress, and the People Making It Happen podcast that explore the challenges of fostering literacy and the community partnerships working to create change.
Literacy: Voices From the Block
Available On Demand
In the first installment of a two-part conversation, Dr. Michelle A. Taylor speaks with Jon Tucker, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware, and Cierra Hall-Hipkins, Executive Director of Network Connect, about the challenges of fostering literacy across the community and the role local organizations can play in helping children and families succeed. Listen to the episode.
Available On Demand
In the second installment, Dr. Taylor explores how Freedom Schools are transforming not only classrooms, but also the neighborhoods they serve. Guests Frankie Bonilla, Director of the Peter Spencer Freedom School in Wilmington, and Ken Livingston, United Way of Delaware Senior Director of Student Success, share how community-based programs can strengthen literacy and create more opportunities for young people. Listen to the episode.
GEORGIA
Growing Readers Through Food-Based Learning
Tuesday, July 28 | 10:00–11:00 a.m. ET
Explore how real-world learning experiences can connect food, literacy, and wellness. This session will showcase food-based learning resources that create relevant, hands-on opportunities for students while supporting nutrition security and healthy school environments. Participants will learn how food-based learning and school meal programs can spark curiosity, strengthen literacy skills, and create meaningful connections that support student success.
WATCH & REVISIT
[Watch the Recording →]
Passcode: y9LrTg3%
[Explore Georgia School Nutrition Resources →]
Building a Culture of Reading Through Community Partnerships
Wednesday, July 29 | 10:00–11:00 a.m. ET
Discover how local government, literacy organizations, schools, and community leaders can work together to support young readers and families. This session will highlight collaborative strategies for building a community-wide commitment to literacy through the Mayor’s Reading Club model and explore how cross-sector partnerships can help create a lasting culture of reading.
WATCH & REVISIT
[Watch the Recording →]
Passcode: cJR&Rt4e
Additional Resources:
[Get Troup Reading →]
[Learn More About GeorgiaForward’s Literacy Efforts →]
Rooted in Literacy: Strengthening Cobb County Through Collective Action
Wednesday, July 29 | 2:00–3:00 p.m. ET
Discover how the Cobb Collaborative is bringing together diverse, family-facing sectors, including public health, K–12 and postsecondary education, government agencies, community organizations, and local residents, to strengthen literacy from the ground up.
This session will explore how a true grassroots effort can improve community literacy outcomes when partners work collectively and everyone has a seat at the table.
WATCH & REVISIT
[Watch the Recording →]
Passcode: *%p.T03k
Explore Resources:
[Collective Impact →]
[Get Georgia Reading Workbook →]
[The Basics Learning Network →]
MARYLAND
Coaching in Harmony: Prince George’s Aligned State and District Coaching Models for Literacy Success
Friday, July 31 | 3:30 p.m.
This month’s Happy Hour will highlight how Prince George’s County Public Schools is implementing literacy coaches and the impact they are having on early literacy instruction. Join district leaders Deann Collins, A. Simone McQuaige, and Victoria A. Holmes, Ed.D., for a conversation about how literacy coaches are supporting kindergarten through third-grade teachers through targeted coaching, collaborative lesson planning, and stronger instructional practices focused on foundational reading skills.
The discussion will also explore how coaches facilitate professional learning during collaborative planning sessions and use student data to inform instruction and improve outcomes. Participants will have an opportunity to learn more about this promising approach, ask questions, and consider what effective literacy coaching can look like in their own communities.
MISSISSIPPI
Back to School Pencils & Popsicles
Thursday, July 30 | 4:30–5:30 p.m.
Leland Medical Clinic will host a Back to School Pencils & Popsicles event for local students and families. Deer Creek Reads will be there to distribute books to students and help them build their home libraries as they prepare for the new school year.
Back to School Bash
Saturday, July 25 | 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.
Friends of the Lee County Library, Chicken Salad Chick, and the Family Wellness Outreach Center of Mississippi will host a Back to School Bash for children and families. The community event will bring families together to celebrate the beginning of a new school year and connect them with literacy and family resources.
MISSOURI
Wednesday, July 29 | 10:00 a.m. CT
Explore how informal learning environments across Missouri are supporting the development of unconstrained literacy skills. Munro Richardson will share insights from his national research on constrained and unconstrained learning skills, followed by examples from Turn the Page KC and Turn the Page STL.
The session will highlight how communities can move toward a more consistent, everyday approach to literacy development. Representatives from informal learning environments in both Kansas City and St. Louis will also share how they are putting these ideas into practice.
WATCH & REVISIT
[View the Presentation Materials →]
NEW MEXICO
Wednesday, July 29 | 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. MT
Hobbs, New Mexico
Join the Hobbs Campaign for Grade-Level Reading for its second annual Laundry and Literacy Day during GLR Week! In partnership with United Way’s Project Feeding Families, the Hobbs Public Library, the Literacy Coalition of the Permian Basin, and Washaway Laundromat, this community event will provide families with free laundry services, food, and books.
This event brings local organizations together to support families, promote literacy, and make everyday essentials more accessible.
NEW YORK
Wednesday, July 29 | 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Every Person Influences Children, known as EPIC, is bringing its free Storytime at Canalside summer program back to the Buffalo waterfront.
Hundreds of children and families participate in these community events, which create welcoming opportunities to enjoy stories, connect with one another, and build a love of reading during the summer. View event details.
NORTH CAROLINA
Book Harvest Summer Block Party
Saturday, July 18 | 3:00–6:00 p.m.
Book Harvest’s sixth annual Summer Block Party is a joyful celebration of books, summer, and community. The action-packed afternoon will feature family activities, entertainment, and an abundance of free, culturally inclusive children’s books. Every child, from infants to high school students, will have an opportunity to choose books to take home and enjoy. Learn more about the block party.
OREGON
Tuesday, July 28 | 9:00–10:15 a.m. PT
Oregon’s youngest learners are waiting, and the research is clear. When developmentally appropriate practices, culturally responsive teaching, and the science of literacy work together, children do more than learn to read. They learn to see themselves in the world.
This keynote will demystify common early-literacy terms, bridge divides across different approaches, and explore what is at stake for Oregon’s children and communities. At this watershed moment in early literacy, the choices made today will shape outcomes for a generation.
Join presenter Erin Lolich and moderator Marina Merrill to explore what an integrated, inclusive approach to early literacy can look like in practice.
WATCH & REVISIT
PENNSLYVANIA
Celebrating the Read to Succeed Summer Literacy Experience: Growing Readers, Inspiring Leaders
Friday, July 31 | 2:00–3:30 p.m.
Calvary Center for Culture and Community
801 S. 48th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19143
Join Read to Succeed Philadelphia for a celebration of literacy, learning, creativity, and community. This culminating event will honor students who participated in the five-week Summer Literacy Experience, where they strengthened their reading and writing skills through engaging literacy instruction, STEM exploration, drama, dance, and hands-on enrichment.
Families and community members will enjoy student performances, interactive literacy and STEM showcases, artwork displays, and a recognition ceremony celebrating the students’ growth as readers, thinkers, and leaders. The event highlights the importance of literacy as a foundation for lifelong success and the power of community partnerships in helping children achieve grade-level reading.
U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
The U.S. Virgin Islands will celebrate GLR Week with literacy experiences on both St. Croix and St. Thomas, inviting children and families to explore stories, emotions, creativity, and hands-on learning.
Saturday, August 1, 2026
The Children’s Museum of St. Croix is partnering with the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands, the Virgin Islands Department of Health, and the Virgin Islands Child Psychiatry Access Program to host an event focused on both reading literacy and emotional literacy.
Children will take part in book corners and read-alouds centered on different emotions, along with art and storytelling activities designed to help them recognize, name, understand, and express their feelings in healthy ways. Activities will include creating personal “My Feelings Books,” participating in a feelings-themed StoryWalk, making different emotional expressions at a photo station, and developing their own puppet shows using puppets and a puppet stage. Learn more from the Children’s Museum of St. Croix.
St. Thomas Storybook STREAM Laboratory
July 27–31, 2026
During GLR Week, the Virgin Islands Children’s Museum will transform part of its space into an interactive storybook STREAM laboratory that combines reading with science, technology, engineering, art, and math.
The exhibit will feature a Caribbean Canopy “Read-In” Fort, an immersive reading space filled with curated STREAM books and collections of West Indian and Afro-Caribbean folklore. Children will also be able to explore an interactive story-mapping wall using felt characters, story-sequencing blocks, and Caribbean plants and animals to physically build and map narrative plots.
Each day will feature a different children’s book and a new set of corresponding hands-on activities. Standard admission fees will be waived during the STREAM laboratory hours. Learn more from the Virgin Islands Children’s Museum.
UTAH
Little Libraries, Big Readers!
July 30–August 7 | Times vary
South Salt Lake and Millcreek City
Promise Partnership Utah, community partners, and local families will celebrate the joy of reading by stocking neighborhood Little Free Libraries with children’s books and family literacy resources throughout South Salt Lake and Millcreek.
This community celebration is designed to increase access to books while helping families discover simple, evidence-based ways to make storytime more interactive and engaging. Each book will include a special interactive-reading bookmark and sticker featuring tips for what families can do before, during, and after reading. The materials will also include a QR code connecting families with additional resources from The Basics: Read and Discuss Stories that they can use at home.
EVENT HIGHLIGHT
VIRGINIA
Thursday, July 30 | 5:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m. ET
Handley Regional Library (Robinson Auditorium)
The Winchester Campaign for Grade-Level Reading hosted a special community screening and panel discussion of The Right to Read, a powerful documentary exploring the literacy crisis in America and the importance of ensuring every child has the opportunity to become a confident reader.
A total of 42 people attended, including community leaders, Winchester Public Schools educators, nonprofit members and directors, and healthcare leaders, who came together for an important conversation about literacy and the role the community can play in supporting young readers.
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
