Engaging students in reading is one of the best ways to help ensure future success in school and to prevent summer learning slide. Children in low-income households are particularly susceptible to this slide, falling behind an average of two months in reading. In response to this concern, JCPL created two community contests to foster a love of reading, promote the library’s free resources and incentivize summer learning for all students and the community.

In 2016, to further promote Summer Reading in schools, JCPL added a contest that rewards top-performing schools in five categories a cash award for reading/literacy programs. The award grew from $500 in 2016 to $600 in 2017 and now to $800 in 2018. In 2017, JCPL added a non-school competition giving adults and students another cause to support when reading. When the county meets a collective reading goal, the Foothills Animal Shelter receives a $500 award.

Since 2015, registered Summer Readers increased by 46 percent and minutes read by students increased by 71 percent. The number of students who finished the program increased by 114 percent for ages six to 11 and by 293 percent for ages 12-16. In 2017, participants exceeded the countywide goal (30 million) by over 7 million minutes. With the Community Contests, students are more engaged during the summer and more likely to maintain or improve grade level reading.