Archive for May, 2011

Health Behavior Change Program

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

Thanks to seed funding from an anonymous donor, Literacy Bridge is launching a pilot program to help reduce the maternal and under-five mortality rates in Ghana.  The Health Behavior Change Program seeks to demonstrate how the Talking Book can dramatically decrease the number of preventable deaths through actionable recordings on safe birthing practices and steps to avert illnesses, like diarrhea, malaria and malnutrition. The seed grant will allow us to evaluate the Talking Book’s impact on behavioral changes of mothers on five key health and hygiene practices, including hand washing with soap, usage of the bed nets and the use of oral rehydration therapy, to prevent maternal and under-five mortality.

The goal of the Health Behavior Change pilot program is to reach 1,000 at-risk families in ten Ghanaian communities. To achieve this, we are now actively seeking the balance of the required funding from a variety of sources, including our own Literacy Bridge community. Please join us in putting Talking Books into the hands of those who need it the most. The cost of the program is only $25 per family.  With your gift of $25 or more, you will ensure that families without any other resources or means are able to receive life-saving and life-changing health information.  Join the Literacy Bridge community in supporting this much-needed demonstration project of how the Talking Book can be integrated into Ghana’s efforts to reduce maternal and under-five mortality.  Please make your gift today.

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Literacy Bridge Happenings in Seattle – May 2011

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

Talking Book Assembly Party – May 21 and May 22


Like working with your hands? Come down and join us on Saturday, May 21 and Sunday, May 22, 2011 to assemble Talking Books. No technical skills are needed.  The assembly is a fairly simple process, and takes place in our office at the Securities Building in downtown Seattle, 1904 Third Avenue, Suite 733, Seattle WA 98101. For those who are able to join us, feel free to bring your laptop and, if possible, a USB cable to help us load software onto the Talking Books as they “come off of the assembly lines.”

There are two four-hour assembly shifts on May 21 and May 22:  9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.  Those who are interested in staying for both shifts are certainly welcome to do so.  All those who have participated in past assembly parties have expressed how much they have thoroughly enjoyed their experience.

Literacy Bridge’s office is within easy walking distance from the bus routes or light rail.  For those who wish to drive, the Securities Building’s parking lot charges $7 on Saturdays. Please e-mail or call Doris, doris@literacybridge.org, 206.271.6186, to RSVP on or before May 19.

Be in the TV Audience on May 19

Join us on May 19 when Cliff and Simon Osei Agyemang, a Ghanaian chief and now-resident of Seattle, appear as guests on the popular one-hour lifestyle show New Day on KING TV. The audience and TV viewers will learn from Cliff the story behind Literacy Bridge and its work, and hear Simon’s first-hand accounts of Ghanaian life and the need for the Talking Book.

New Day host Margaret Larson is a 25-year veteran of broadcast journalism, most notably having worked with NBC News as a foreign correspondent, Today Show News anchor, correspondent for Dateline NBC, and anchor/reporter for NBC affiliate, KING-TV. She also served as Vice President of Communications of Mercy Corps, and as an independent contractor for international aid organizations, like World Vision, Global Partnerships, and PATH.

Anyone in the Seattle area who is interested in free tickets to the show should RSVP to newdaytickets@king5.com. You will need to arrive at King-TV, 333 Dexter Ave N (corner of Dexter and Harrison), Seattle WA 98101, no later than 9:30 a.m., and should expect to be there until 11:30 a.m. Be there to help us celebrate Literacy Bridge’s latest televised appearance!

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Literacy Bridge Wish List

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

Consider donating your old-but-still-functioning laptop to Literacy Bridge.  We use laptops to load Talking Books with locally relevant content before they are shipped out to developing countries. You can ship or deliver your laptop to the Literacy Bridge office in Seattle.  Your donation is tax-deductible under the fullest extent allowed by the IRS.  Contact Doris doris@literacybridge.org for more information.

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Literacy Bridge’s Newest Partner – Youth for Technology Foundation

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

Thanks to the initial introduction made by the Microsoft Alumni Foundation at its 2010 Integral Fellows Award celebration, Literacy Bridge has established a partnership with the Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF).  The Talking Book will be used by YTF in its latest effort, Agricultural Platform Offering Women Empowerment Resources (Agric-P.O.W.E.R.), a grassroots social enterprise that will educate women in Nigeria on how to adopt several high yield and insect resistant crops while opening their access to lucrative regional markets.

The goals of Agric-P.O.W.E.R. are to:

  • - Encourage a more participatory approach in improved agriculture by women by giving them core business, financial literacy and life skills to sustain their families.
  • - Ensure equitable access to productive resources and extension services.
  • - Design customized implementation strategies that incorporate the socio-cultural characteristics of the beneficiaries.

Welcome, YTF!

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