Just a reminder that the Target Grant Applications are due May 31st. Please let the collaborative know if your site is applying to Target. Also, if we have not heard from you by April 30th the collaborative may pursue funding from Targets that no one has approached. Feel free to contact us if you need any help with your application process.

Target awards Reading Grants to schools, libraries and nonprofit organizations with programs promoting a love of reading or encouraging families to read together. These grants range from $1000 to $3000 Please see the attached list of the 19 Targets in San Diego County with their address and phone numbers. Each Target can fund programs in their local community. Therefore we are encouraging ROR sites to contact your local "Target Store Team Leader" to make a grant request.

First Book, a national nonprofit organization with a single mission - to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books - has formed an exciting new partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help distribute over 200,000 free new books to Native American children throughout the United States.

Please join us at the ROR National Conference in San Francisco at the Argent Hotel:
Friday, April 28th 7:30 a.m. registration - 5:30 p.m. reception & awards
Saturday, April 29th 7:30 a.m. registration - 12:30 adjourn

The conference (one and 1/2 days) is in conjunction with the PAS (Pediatric Academic Societies') Annual meeting. All reservations at the conference hotel - The Argent - should be made through the PAS Housing Bureau, as indicated on the on-line registration form. The hotel block has been sold out for Saturday, April 29th, but there are still rooms available for Wednesday, April 26th through Friday, April 28th.
Last year, the meeting was held in Washington, D.C.; in 2004 in San Francisco. Prior to that, it has always been in Boston.

Click below for notes from from last year's meeting to help you understand the content of the conference. Some of you need to request time off far in advance in order to plan your April clinic time. Please save the date and join us, especially if you have never attended an annual ROR conference before.

Count how many books are in your clinic area (not your large storage area)
If you subtract that number from what you started with at the beginning of the month, you will know how many books were given out in the month
Keeping that number tallied each month will help with your on-line progress report in January and July
Not sure how many were in the cupboard to start with? That's ok; estimate a guess and get started for this next month my keeping track of the number of books you start with for April
The July 2006 6-month progress report will include January - June. If you have numbers for January - keep them in a safe place with your calculations from today.
Click below for a sample inventory sheet. This is a simpler version of what I offered some of you in 2005, plus I added a spot to record literacy referral information (discussed on the 1-19 teleconference call) that could be counted and placed in the waiting room. This number will help you answer one of the questions on the progress report about literacy referrals made. I hope you find it helpful.
If you haven't been keeping track this way, you can disregard this notice. Go ahead and continue with your system of tracking books. If your system has been cumbersome or the staff members are balking at tracking each book given, you might want to try this simple method of keeping track of # of books given out.