The Interchurch Coalition for Action, Reconciliation and Empowerment (ICARE)

In Jacksonville, Florida, one group's push to improve reading skills in a neighborhood elementary school is a study in community empowerment. For Beverly Coffey, it's just what her son needed. The group, ICARE, implemented a teaching method for reading, called direct instruction, in her son's school district. The program helped boost Gordon Coffey's grades from Cs and Ds to As and Bs and changed his whole outlook on school. ICARE is made up of 35 diverse congregations working together with low-income residents to address community and neighborhood justice issues ranging from education to public transportation to crime and drugs. The group's Parent Organizing Project helps parents hold accountable the public education system, local government, and local law enforcement. Through the project, parents at predominantly low-income schools research, negotiate, and bring about changes on local issues. During the coming school year, the group aims to organize parents at 10 low-income elementary schools.

Beverly Coffey credits ICARE's push to improve reading skills in local schools with a boost in her son Gordon's grades and a new, positive outlook on school. Photo by Chris Van Houten

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