Local organizations win big on The Pitch

(KWQC) - TV6 was thrilled to host The Pitch with United Way of the Quad Cities and the Quad-City Times.

Four local social entrepreneurs went home with a total of $85,000 of grant money for their ideas addressing literacy and education in our area.

During the program, we saw four new ideas addressing literacy and education in our area.

Those finalists are among a handful of people who have participated in Together For Tomorrow, a group of advocates looking for impactful ways to change their communities for the better.

The winners on The Pitch:

• Rise United ($40,000): “Bridging Literacy” - Moline Public Library and Project Now: Headstart
  • Helping non-English speaking families with three to five-year-old children gain access to more reading materials by bringing literature to them and providing parents help as students learn.

• Entrepreneurial Spirit Award ($20,000): “P.A.S.T” - Martin Luther King Center
  • P.A.S.T. (Parents and schools together) will have the Martin Luther King Center as the space to bring together 25% school administrators and 75% parents to gather input and ideas on improving reading skills for children.

• Stronger Together Awards (2 winners for $10,000 each): “SHEro Festival” - Love Girls Magazine, “Level Up” - Two Rivers YMCA
  • SHEro Festival will get young girls to put together their own zines and present those projects at a festival, giving them a chance to see themselves and strong women in literature.

• Level Up will bring kids into e-sports as a way to inspire reading through different programs. The Twin Rivers YMCA will help bring this to kids throughout all of the Quad Cities area.

• Audience Choice Award: “SHEro Festival” - Love Girls Magazine

According to the explanation on the United Way Quad Cities website, “Together for Tomorrow is a problem-solving cohort in response to the impact of COVID-19. The cohort, designed to promote organic collaboration, will consist of education-focused nonprofits who have an emphasis on serving parents, students or teachers”

Executive Director of United Way Quad Cities, Rene Gellerman, says we cannot keep doing what we are doing and expect different results.

“Especially in these challenging and dynamic times, ‘we can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results,’” Gellerman said. “The Pitch will showcase four concepts to improving literacy in the Quad Cities. Kids who read proficiently by 3rd grade are five times more likely graduate high school ready for college or career and on to living-wage jobs.”

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