2024 was a year for the books at the John Corcoran Foundation. We brought The Truth About Reading to more people than ever before, reaching an estimated 47,660+ lifetime views in 25 countries around the globe.
In January, we launched a partnership with GOOD DOCS to offer educational sales and community screenings of The Truth About Reading.
February marked the long-awaited release of The Truth About Reading on streaming platforms, making it available to audiences worldwide.
In March, we traveled to Austin, Texas to to show The Truth About Reading at the prestigious SXSW EDU.
In April, we launched our online advocacy program, the Million Viewer Campaign, inviting literacy champions around the country to join our grassroots effort.
In May, The Truth About Reading was honored with a Gold Telly Award for Long Form Documentary.
In June, The Truth About Reading was shown at Accelerate Literacy: A Structured Linguistic Literacy Summit, where hundreds of attendees gathered virtually to view the film. Executive Director Colleen Mertes and I were featured on Drew Schlosberg’s Spotlight on the Community, a podcast that amplifies the voices of social impact organizations, social entrepreneurs, local non-profits and other community champions in San Diego.
July saw our first-ever hometown screening of The Truth About Reading in partnership with the San Diego Council on Literacy and San Diego Public Library.
In August, we partnered with the San Diego Council on Literacy to form a Science of Reading Task Force with leading literacy experts in San Diego.
In September, we presented The Truth About Reading at two noteworthy conferences, the 2024 Arizona Adult Education Institute in Scottsdale, AZ and the CSBA County Board Member Services Conference in Monterey, CA. We also partnered with Lexia Learning to give away 200 free copies of The Truth About Reading on International Literacy Day.
In October, my op-ed, The Truth About Reading: Literacy is Equity, was published in the Hanford Sentinel, issuing an urgent call to join the "ever-growing grassroots army of researchers, reading practitioners, parents, school board members, leaders, and literacy champions who are driving [the literacy] movement forward."
In November, I was honored to be a Homecoming guest at my alma mater, UTEP (formerly Texas Western College), hosted by the UTEP Department of Education. Read my feature in UTEP's Miner Nation Newsletter.
In December, our partner David Chalk was invited to present at Stanford University's Accelerator Learning Symposium, leading a conversation around AI + Learning Differences and inclusive education.
If you have seen The Truth About Reading, you will know a bit about my friend David Chalk and I. We both learned how to read as adults. David was 62 years old and I was 48 years old. We both could have learned at eight. Together, we are propelled by our shared experiences and our passion to ensure that more children, teens, and adults don't have to suffer as we did.
Listen to an honest conversation with myself and David Chalk about our vision for the future of literacy in America, live now on the Schurtz and Ties podcast:
In 2025, we are looking forward with hope and unshakeable commitment to our mission: the eradication of literacy through proper instruction for all.
Your word of mouth is the best advertisement there is.
Please share The Truth About Reading in 2025.
Comments