“We know there’s a vocabulary gap between kids from low-income households, and kids from middle- to high-income households. Low-income kids might hear a few hundred words before they start school, compared to thousands of words.”
To help create diverse, inclusive, and more engaged communities, Pop Culture Classroom – a grantee of the Community Foundation – envisions personal transformation via the educational power of popular culture.
“As an arts and literacy nonprofit, we use the tools of pop culture to improve literacy and tap into engagement that we believe resides in every human being,” says Sam Fuqua, Executive Director.
“We know there’s a vocabulary gap between kids from low-income households, and kids from middle- to high-income households. Low-income kids might hear a few hundred words before they start school, compared to thousands of words.
“There’s also a creativity gap because lower-income households lack the resources to fund the extras – from summer camps to art activities and music lessons – that many of us take for granted.
“We know that using comics and games is a way to get these kids more interested and engaged.”
In addition to serving low-income children through a variety of programs, Pop Culture Classroom also serves incarcerated adults through its LEAD With Comics initiative. Specifically, LEAD – Literacy Education in Adult Detention – is a six-week program designed to help to improve the literacy and art skills of inmates at the Boulder County Jail, as well as the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility and the Sterling Correctional Facility in northeast Colorado.
“Inmates enrolled in the program work to improve their literacy skills by reading and analyzing graphic novels,” explains Sam. “They also learn to create their own comics and illustrate them.”
According to independent pre-and post-LEAD workshop assessments, LEAD graduates demonstrate a statistically significant increase in literacy skills over the course of the program, and demonstrate 60% growth in course-specific vocabulary.
“We often see issues of low self-esteem, and the mindset of ‘I’ve landed in this place so I’m not worth as much as people on the outside,’” continues Sam. “Inmates may think their stories aren’t worth telling.
“LEAD With Comics provides the opportunity to tell their stories, to spark their creativity, and to boost their self-esteem.”
According to Sam, an unanticipated impact of the LEAD program is more positive behavior outcomes, and lower recidivism rates. “When literacy goes up, recidivism goes down,” he says. “Being given a positive creative outlet – and the opportunity to tell story their story, or a story out of their own creative mind – is rewarding in places where creativity is in short supply.”
Indeed, with a small staff, a handful of dedicated and well-trained contract instructors, and hundreds of volunteers, Pop Culture Classroom is transforming lives through the educational power of pop culture, also including Experience the Comix at Denver Comic Con; proceeds from this annual event benefit Pop Culture Classroom’s overall programming.
