More than 250 community leaders gathered at the Vero Beach Museum of Art last Wednesday evening for the 2019 Gala: Celebrating Transforming Lives through Literacy hosted by the Learning Alliance. The evening was a celebration of the collective impact made by the community toward cultivating a culture in which 90 percent of children are reading at grade level by the end of third grade.

The evening was inspired by the book “Maybe Something Beautiful,” by Isabel Campoy, about a San Diego community that united to transform their neighborhood into something beautiful.

Before heading into the Holmes Great Hall, a virtual garden blooming with handmade tissue-paper flowers, guests sipped on ‘Something Beautiful’ cocktails and helped with a mural.

A brief video illustrating TLA’s unique public-private partnerships featured testimonials by teachers, principals, administrators, community leaders and, most importantly, children.

“The heartbeat of this community is our children,” said Barbara Hammond, TLA CEO and co-founder. “What we’ve learned as a community is that children have to be our top priority and essential investment. I don’t think it’s farfetched to say that the future of our country and the liberty we’ve all fought for is contingent upon us solving this problem across our nation.”

Ray Oglethorpe, TLA chairman, stressed that “in grade K to three you learn to read; thereafter you read to learn. And if you can’t read by the end of the third grade, you only have a one in six chance of ever catching up.”

Citing national proficiency at 36 percent, he said things are improving locally. “Due to the hard work of the people in this room, we are at 56 percent.”

Commenting on the outstanding arts and medical facilities we now have, he added, “I believe we have a chance to make a world-class public education system in this community too. It is a great opportunity, to have arts, medicine and education in one community. It’s the trifecta to build a strong, vibrant, attractive, economically viable community. What we’re doing is not just morally right, making sure that those kids can read, but it’s also right economically.”

According to an independent evaluator, Moonshot Academy students had a 34 percent higher growth than students not participating, students assisted by Third Grade Interventionists had 26 percent greater results, and students assisted by both grew by 52 percent.

“We need to acknowledge that we are already ahead of the game. Through this strong partnership with the Learning Alliance we have already been providing professional development and training to teachers,” said Mark Rendell, school superintendent. “We are taking this teacher support to a whole new level.”

The school district, partnering with the University of Florida and the Florida Center for Reading Research, will train 100 kindergarten and first-grade teachers in the Literacy Matrix as part of the James Patterson Literacy Challenge.

Afterward, actor/rapper Nick Demeris, creator of Hip Hop & Shakespeare, drew everyone into his world of spontaneous music, amusing and delighting the audience by using himself as an instrument.

At the end of the evening, Bridget Lyons and Kat Faust turned colorful coffee filters into a magical mural infused with hope as VBHS Orchestra students performed.

For information, visit thelearningalliance.org.