The community is invited to the 2017 Read Your Heart Out Day, a school, community and family engagement event on Friday, Feb. 10, 17, and 24 in 20 Madison-area schools.

Created in 2004, this event celebrates National African American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID) in February. The event was first held at Midvale Elementary in Madison and branched out over the course of about ten years to include 15 schools.

The event was originally created by Michelle Belnavis, 25-year Title Reading/Reading Recovery and classroom teacher at Midvale, to build parent engagement around literacy. In 2009, the event evolved into a collaborative initiative with Andreal Davis from the Department of Diversity and Equity/Central Office Literacy Department. Through this partnership, the event grew to include professional development for schools around cultural relevance and literacy.

For more information, contact Michelle Belnavis at [email protected] or 608-566-3762