than 8,000 Native American children at 55 sices west of che 

 Mississippi River. 



RIF's RUNNING START® program was launched in 1989 

 by the Chrysler Corporation Fund. The program is known for 

 its ability to enlist both parents and the community in help- 

 ing each first grader meet the RUNNING START challenge 

 of reading 21 books over an eight-to-ten-week period. 



Today, 80,000 first graders in 42 states are participating in 

 RUNNING START Last year, the John D. and Catherine T. 

 MacArthur Foundation funded RUNNING START for 4,700 

 first graders in 34 Title I schools in Florida. In New England 

 the Reader's Digest Foundation has underwritten a RUN- 

 NING START program for first graders in Connecticut's Fair- 

 field County and in the Hudson Valley of New York State. In 

 Texas the Mobil Foundation and the Shell Oil Foundation are 

 supporting RUNNING START programs in Dallas, Hous- 

 ton, and Midland. And in the Midwest SC Johnson Wax, Inc., 

 has expanded its RUNNING START program to every first 

 grader in the School District of Racine, Wisconsin. 



In a homeless shelter, where the average age is just nine 

 years old, a child doesn't have much incentive to become a 

 reader. That is why RIF created Project Open Book®, which 

 gets books into the hands of children in crisis and gives them 

 a quiet reading corner where they can read and listen to 

 stoties. 



Last year a grant from the Meadows Foundation of Dallas 

 enabled RIF to establish new Open Book reading corners in 

 predominantly rural areas of Texas. This program is serving 

 more than 9,000 children (preschool through high school) 

 and their families at 45 shelters and other crisis facilities. 

 Volunteers hold story hours, conduct mentoring programs, 

 and plan drama and art activities chat stimulate an interest in 

 books. 



Open Book also reaches young people across the country at 

 detention facilities, after-school programs, Nacive American 

 reservacions, public health clinics, welfare offices, and others 

 settings for families in transition. 



Illustrators of children's books conducted RIF Art Studio 

 workshops for children in five cities — Chicago, Tampa, Fla., 

 Atlanta, Ga., Pawtucket, R.I., and New York. Funded by the 

 Metropolitan Life Foundation, the RIF Art Scudio incroduced 

 RIF youngsters to the illustrations in children's books and 

 then invited chem to explore cheir own creativity. Each work- 

 shop began with a presencacion by a well-known children's 

 book illustrator and ended in hands-on activities in which the 

 children created cheir own artwork. The activities were super- 

 vised by RIF staff and MetLife employees. Each child rook 

 home a kit of art supplies and a new book selected from an art- 

 themed collection of titles. 



Older and younger children are having fun while improv- 

 ing their reading skills as part of Books on the Menu sm , a food- 

 rhemed activity program created by RIF and funded by 

 Transmedia Network, Inc. Lasc year, Books on che Menu was 

 launched in Souch Florida and che Washingcon mecropolican 

 area. Under the program, incermediace scudencs crain to be- 



come "bookmates" and reading mentors to first graders and 

 kindergarten children. Each week the bookmates meet for a 

 read together. The younger children acquire an older friend 

 and broaden their book experiences. The older children gain 

 self esteem by serving as role models. All bookmates have 

 more opportunities to read and discover new books. 



Woodrow Wilson International 

 Center for Scholars 



Charles Blitzer. Director 



The Woodrow Wilson Center was established as the official 

 living memorial to the nation's 28th president and as a place 

 of free intellectual inquiry reflecting the full range of 

 Woodrow Wilson's ideals and concerns. The center's congres- 

 sional mandate is to strengthen the links between the worlds 

 of ideas and of public affairs. Through an annual fellowship 

 competition, outstanding scholars from around the world are 

 invited to the center for extended periods of research and writ- 

 ing. In addition, the center sponsots public meetings, 

 generates publications, and produces broadcast programs that 

 make individual scholarship accessible to policy makers and a 

 broad public. 



In a ceremony on November 1, the center signed a lease for 

 its new home in the Ronald Reagan Building. As the center's 

 founding legislation intended, scholars and staff will be 

 housed in a distinctive structure on Pennsylvania Avenue in 

 Washington, D.C. The move is scheduled to occur in the sum- 

 mer of 1998. 



Joseph Flom, chairman of che cencer's board of trustees, and 

 his wife Claire announced in November their intention to 

 make a $1 million challenge granc co che cencer for funds co 

 finish che incerior of che new building. The granc required che 

 cencer co raise an addicional $2 million by July 31. Approxi- 

 macely $750,000 was raised from individual donors, while che 

 remaining $1.25 million was secured from a benefir dinner 

 held in New York City. 



On June 10 more than 500 guests gathered in New York 

 City to honor Joseph Flom and John B. McCoy of Bank One 

 for cheir concributions to the world of learning. Federal 

 Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan delivered the 

 keynote speech. The event represented the largest fund-raising 

 effort in the history of the center. 



Charles Blitzer, the center's director since 1988, informed 

 the board of trustees of his intention to retire from that posi- 

 tion on July 24, 1997. Flom said that Blitzer "will leave be- 

 hind a body of accomplishment that speaks eloquently of his 

 stewardship, most notable among these the growing ranks of 

 the distinguished alumni of the center, who constitute one of 

 our best and brightest hopes for the next century, and a fitting 

 home for the Woodrow Wilson Center on Pennsylvania 



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