Virtual Reading: Grace Goes to Washington

We hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during this unprecedented time. We wish your communities the best, and we are more grateful than ever for your public service and leadership.

The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) launched the Teach a Girl to Lead® Reading Project with the goal of making women in public leadership visible to the next generation. We want to inspire girls in grades K-4 to follow in the footsteps of women leaders like you and help boys grow up with more inclusive ideas about who can lead.

As part of our annual Reading Project, with generous support from the Hess Foundation, the Honorable Constance Hess Williams, and Comcast NBCUniversal, this past fall we sent copies of Grace Goes to Washington to every woman state legislator, statewide elected official, and member of Congress. We know many of you were able to visit your local elementary school and read to the children, and we are so appreciative! However, if you were not able to physically visit a school, we encourage you to host a virtual story time for the students in your school districts. For inspiration, check out this virtual reading by Representative Ashton Clemmons (NC). Thank you, Representative Clemmons!

Here are action steps to get you started:

  1. Contact your school district and local elementary schools to let them know you’ll be doing a virtual reading, and ask them if they would send something out to parents to let them know it’s happening.
  2. Announce your virtual story time on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter. Don’t forget to tag us on Facebook (@womenandpolitics), Instagram (@womenandpolitics) and Twitter (@cawp_ru) and use the hashtag #teachagirl.
  3. Use this Grace Goes to Washington discussion guide to facilitate a conversation at the end of the reading. We also have discussion guides for our previous Reading Project selections, Grace for President and If I Were President.
  4. If you are comfortable publicizing this reading in advance with local media, download our sample media advisory. For additional information, please feel free to contact CAWP’s communications specialist, Daniel De Simone.
  5. If you would like to purchase additional copies of the book or any of our Reading Project selections to donate to your schools, you can order on Amazon or your local independent bookstore if they are open and shipping books.

If you have already participated in the project this year, we would love to hear from you and share your pictures!