GLR Week 2024, our fifth virtual gathering, will run from July 22–26. Those five days will be packed with a rich mix of webinars, fishbowls and peer exchanges, including national plenaries and a variety of in-person and virtual sessions organized and hosted by CGLR’s network of state and community lead organizations. The week will include an extraordinary in-person event at the Library of Congress, a screening of the documentary film SENTENCED, which provides an intimate exploration of the epidemic of childhood illiteracy through a series of character-based stories. We hope you will join us for as many of these events as your schedule allows!

The year’s theme is “Focus on the Gaps.” As recently described by Ralph Smith, CGLR’s Managing Director, this theme “builds on and carries forward the optimism embedded in the “Bright Spots and Silver Linings” theme of recent years.” As importantly, “Focus on the Gaps” also reflects our continuing and growing concern about the large number of children stranded on the wrong side of the myriad learning, achievement, internet access and other opportunity gaps exposed and exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. Left unattended, these gaps will ensure the dismal prognostication that “the hurt could last a lifetime” will be elevated to prophecy. This reality drives us toward a conclusion for which we are unapologetic: Without a commitment to become increasingly intentional and explicit about naming, mapping, shrinking and/or closing the gaps, many proposed “solutions,” however inadvertently, could grow, nurture and sustain the gaps.

Every GLR Week session will probe the gaps and seek out the strategies and solutions that are powerful enough and targeted enough to close them. Urban and rural, national and local funders, coalition-leading organizations, program partners and policymakers will find inspiration and insights to elevate our collective game. We hope you will add your perspective and experience to the mix!

Visit our GLR Week Program page to view the current schedule and check back often as details are added.

CGLR appreciates the ongoing commitment of our Founding Partners