Mojo in the Morning is one of my favorite morning radio programs and this morning the host, Mojo, was talking about how he reads to schools during March since it is National Reading Month.  That being said, I came into work and went on their website and clicked on the link, which led me to Detroit Reads!

Detroit Reads is a campaign by the Detroit Public Library to promote self-confidence, empowerment, better health, and economic growth to not only the individual, but to society as a whole.  Reading can easily lead to knowledge and knowledge leads to growth.  The Detroit Public Library recognizes that the simple ability (and one that we may take for granted) to read is important to the City of Detroit to help individuals obtain their GEDs, find jobs, thus, improving the quality of life.

Furthermore, the Knight Foundation awarded a grant to the Detroit Public Library to introduce a Technology, Literacy, and Career Center at the Parkman Branch Library, also located in Detroit.  Because of this grant, the Detroit Public Library is able to offer free Internet access to Detroiters who are literacy challenged and may need help finding employment.

It is really easy to sign up either to tutor or to be a learner.  To be a learner, all one has to do is go to the website, fill out their contact information, availability, if they have received tutoring and if so, what kind and where, and the level of education completed.  To volunteer for tutoring, the individual has to fill out his or her contact info, if he or she completed high school and/or college, and if the individual can commit to 2 hours of tutoring per week.

This program is so simple and yet, so effective - it's also nice when local radio shows are promoting their city and are proud to read to children and help them.  It is great to see programs like this being implemented in urban areas that need it the most, especially when MEAP scores and other standardized test results are below the state and national standards.  Reading is the basis for EVERYTHING and it is such an honor to work across the street from a public library that has been able to receive the funding to implement a program such as Detroit Reads.

With the ever-increasing social media presence in the lives of young adults, it is unfortunate that with it also comes the creation of a new issue: cyberbullying.  While bullying has been an unfortunate occurrence for many young adults, the issue is heightened when an entirely new level of bullying is brought to the table. The way that teenagers interact with each other has changed drastically over the last 20, 10, even 5 years. Not only are there social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, but also blogs, online journals, and, undeniably, texting via cell phones. Teens and Social Media have sparked media coverage often because parents worry that these sites may be unsafe. While adults may recognize more ideas of what is or is not appropriate to make public, teens often reveal too much because they are ill-informed of positive online interactions and the risks associated with disclosing too much personal/private information. Cyberbullying is becoming an extensive threat to the online security and emotional well-being of teens. Cyberbullying is defined as “online aggression by peers” (Agosto, Forte, & Magee, 2012, p. 39). This is a very serious issue and, in some extreme cases, has led to suicides. Websites such as Ryan’s Story (http://www.ryanpatrickhalligan.org) and the Megan Meier Foundation (http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/) describe heartbreaking stories of how cyberbullying and bullying can lead to suicide and are, in turn, seeking to raise bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide awareness and prevention.  Nancy Willard for the Center of Safe and Responsible Internet Use defines eight categories of specific cyberbullying behavior: