by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
When Mayor John Peyton first took office July 1, 2003, one of his first orders of business was to establish his Rally Jacksonville! initiative: an early literacy campaign aimed at putting books into the hands of every 4-year-old in Jacksonville with the hope of eventually eliminating illiteracy.
Earlier this year, two other significant events happened: Peyton’s son Connor celebrated his first birthday and his longtime friend and Rally Jacksonville! author, Francis Peacock Coker, died in a February fire.
Those two events at polar opposites of the life spectrum served as the seed for his latest early literacy endeavor. Tuesday morning in the City Hall rotunda with high schoolers singing, local hospital officials on hand, staffers gathered around and several members of the Coker family on stage, Peyton formally rolled out an infant program of Rally Jacksonville!, a plan that will put literacy tools into the hands of newborn babies and their parents.
“It was Fran’s enthusiasm and vision that helped propel this vision,” said Peyton, who will personally greet the first child born in 2007 with a baby Rally Jacksonville! kit. “Years zero to five are so critical. If we had unlimited resources, we could focus on those years. But, we don’t have unlimited resources – that’s why we chose to focus on 4-year-olds. These new funds allow us to focus on babies. You cannot start too soon.”
The start-up funds for the program, which has been germinating for several months, came from Coker Schickel Sorenson & Daniel, the law firm where Fran’s husband, Howard, is a partner. The program’s annual costs of $135,000 per year will be funded by the City and donations to “Fran’s Fund” at The Community Foundation. The Jacksonville Children’s Commission will manage the program on a day-to-day basis.
“This is about giving children an opportunity,” said Coker. “It transcends every social and economic level of the city. It’s all about giving children a chance.”
According to Peyton — who is expecting his second child in May — there are 12,000 babies born in Jacksonville every year. The baby Rally Jacksonville! kits will go primarily into the hands of six area hospitals: Baptist Health of Northeast Florida, Memorial Hospital, Naval Hospital Jacksonville, Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, St. Luke’s Hospital and St. Vincent’s Medical Center. All six hospitals were represented during the half-hour ceremony that included a performance from the honors chorus at Paxon School for Advanced Studies.
Initially, 12,000 kits will be created for next year. Those kits will include two age-appropriate board books, a bib, burp cloth, sippy cup, a “key to the city” (which is more like a rattle), an application for a library card, literacy information for parents and a CD recorded by the Paxon students and local musical director Deborah J. McDuffie.
Linda Lanier, CEO of the Children’s Commission, said she’ll play a major role in the administration of the program. During her opening remarks, Lanier said she’s been to many events at City Hall, but this one was different.
“This is the cutest thing to ever happen in this rotunda,” she said. “But, that cuteness starts with sound fundamentals. I have been working with the Coker law firm for the past 10 months to make Fran Coker’s dream come true. This is really part of Fran’s legacy.”
Lanier said she consulted with Peyton about the contents of the kits.
“He had a personal consumer opinion about everything in the packet,” she said, adding many involved in the initiative may not see or realize its effects down the road. She compared the project collaborators to the people who built cathedrals centuries ago: “They built them knowing they would never worship in them.”
Peyton said the hospitals are key.
“This effort will be successful because of our hospital partners and their willingness to sign on,” said Peyton, explaining early literacy is an indicator of four things: how far someone goes in school, what kind of job they have, public safety and the local economy. “If you fall behind, the odds are you won’t catch up. I take this more personal and get more out of this than all the other things we do combined.”