Dr. LaTonya Mouzon on Improving Literacy Before 3rd Grade
Dr. LaTonya Mouzon, Executive Director of Arise2Read, a Memphis-based literacy nonprofit, joins the conversation to discuss the critical importance of literacy in early education.
About Dr. LaTonya Mouzon
Dr. LaTonya Mouzon is the Executive Director of Arise2Read, a Memphis-based nonprofit dedicated to closing the 2nd-grade reading gap. With over 20 years of experience in education, she combines hands-on teaching expertise with leadership in literacy advocacy.
A passionate champion for early literacy, Dr. Mouzon focuses on building student confidence, mentorship, and practical reading skills to ensure long-term academic success. She believes that literacy is not just about reading words—it’s about fostering curiosity, critical thinking, and a love of learning. Under her guidance, Arise2Read has grown into a program that pairs students with trained volunteers, using structured sight word mastery to accelerate reading fluency and empower children to reach grade-level benchmarks.
About Arise2Read
Arise2Read is a Memphis-based literacy nonprofit on a mission to close the 2nd-grade reading gap and set students up for long-term academic success. Founded on a faith-driven commitment to education, Arise2Read focuses on sight word mastery, individualized support, and volunteer mentorship to help students gain fluency, confidence, and a love of reading. Arise2Read partners with 44 schools across Shelby County, serving students in public, charter, and private schools. Since inception, the program has helped 70% of participants reach grade-level reading benchmarks by the end of 2nd grade. Beyond literacy, the program builds strong mentor-student relationships, improves attendance and behavior, and fosters a sense of curiosity and self-confidence in learning.
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Arise2Read
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Carli: Dr. LaTonya Mouzon You serve as the executive director of Arise2Read a Memphis based literacy nonprofit. Thank you for coming to Signature Required.
Dr. Mouzon: Thank you for having me. Go ahead.
Dr. Mouzon: I've been at Arise2Read now for. Just about one year and it's been an amazing ride. Um, I was, uh, before this I was in southern Illinois working at a [00:01:00] Title one school district, and I'd been there for 13 years. Prior to that, I'd been here working at Memphis City Schools, which is what it was called at that time.
Dr. Mouzon: And I worked there for eight years. So this was a wonderful opportunity for me to return where. It all began for me.
Carli: Well, for context, Spence and I were at the National Prayer Breakfast and we heard your founder share a little bit in a literacy seminar about what Arise2Read does. And I was caught by what Arise2Read does, and I'm really wanna get to that in a second.
Carli: But I tell you what, my heart became. Instantly burdened for the issue of literacy at large and what is happening with children in America and specifically Tennessee. So can you help me frame up a little bit about why we should even think about literacy as an issue?
Dr. Mouzon: Well, first of all. Literacy is given to everyone as an opportunity to acquire.
Hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: Um, everyone has the opportunity through public schools whether they [00:02:00] can afford more or not, to be able to become literate citizens. And if they're not able to attain literacy, um, they have adverse consequences in life. Mm-hmm. And consequences. When I say that, that's just, uh, the result of something.
So
Dr. Mouzon: those consequences can be desirable or undesirable. Mm-hmm. And if students aren't able to become literate by the time they leave third grade, it's likely that the consequences will be averse, undesirable consequences. For example, um, uh, low paying jobs, um. Hard opportunity, hard time to, um, maintain those jobs.
Dr. Mouzon: Mm-hmm. Um, public assistance requirements, um, possibly even, um, um, run-ins with, um, the law.
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: There are just any number of things that could happen, teen pregnancies, um, so many things that could be a possibility. If and when, um, students are not able to [00:03:00] become literate, one of which most likely to happen is that they will drop out of high school.
Dr. Mouzon: I was gonna say, the dropout
Carli: rates are really troubling. 'cause if a child doesn't finish high school or GED or some type of program, their opportunity to get certain levels of jobs or do certain things with their family really becomes capped.
Dr. Mouzon: Absolutely. And anymore, um. In American society today, a bachelor's degree is considered what used to be.
Dr. Mouzon: Mm-hmm. The high school diploma. So imagine what that truly means for a person who does not acquire that high school diploma. There are very little opportunities. I
Carli: think there's a common misconception about people that struggle to read, and I think it's important to note that there are no illiterate children.
Carli: There are children that haven't learned how to read yet. Mm-hmm. There are only illiterate. Adults correct. And we may [00:04:00] think, well, if you can't read, that's your own fault. This country pays for your education. You can go to any public school. And I think what I'm learning really pulls back the veil of these kids are coming in, there's a lot of struggle in their life.
Carli: There could be a lot of trauma, keeping them from learning how to read. And if they get behind in the third grade, it can set the whole trajectory of their life. By 10, if you can't read, it can change the course of their entire path.
Dr. Mouzon: Absolutely. So you bring up a very important topic, trauma.
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: What we do know in education now is that trauma impacts the brain.
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: And it takes quite a few, uh, brain skills, brain activities in order to be able to read. Mm-hmm. So, um. And then you also talked about they come to school with those.
Mm-hmm. And
Dr. Mouzon: with that being said, today's school is, or a classroom is not like what classrooms were [00:05:00] 10, 20, or 30 years ago. So teachers have to be a social worker, they have to be a mom, they have to be, um, lovingly kind.
Dr. Mouzon: Mm-hmm. They have to provide clothing. If they come late, they have to make sure they have something to eat or if they come and they haven't slept. They have to give an opportunity for them to rest. So children come with so many factors that. Attribute to whether or not they're ready for school that morning that teachers have to be aware of.
Dr. Mouzon: And
Carli: a
Dr. Mouzon: lot of that is with outside the student's control. Absolutely. And with that, all those factors, a teacher has to be able to discern and determine, where do I start with this child today?
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: And the most important thing that I think, um, teachers may or may not come. Into the profession ready to do is that they have to build very strong relationships with their children.
Dr. Mouzon: Mm. And the key to [00:06:00] success with a child who's burdened with so many factors stacked against them before they enter the classroom mm-hmm. Is a loving relationship with someone within the school.
Carli: Mm. Because that's one of the number one predictors of future success, right? Mm-hmm. Is if they have one. Person that shows interest.
Carli: Consistent, stable interest. Absolutely. In the child, which is something you work on at Arise2Read. So can you tell me a little bit about what you guys do?
Dr. Mouzon: Sure. At Arise2Read, we use one to one. Tutoring opportunities 30 minutes twice a week for second grade students to build their foundational literacy skills.
Dr. Mouzon: And when we talk about foundational literacy skills, we don't cover them all. We focus on what we would call sight words. And the reason we focus on sight words is because 70 to 90% of written text, any written text that you might find anywhere is sight words. [00:07:00] Hmm.
Carli: So for people that don't have little ones at home and aren't working on this day in, day out, can you tell us what is a sight word?
Dr. Mouzon: Okay, so the simplest definition of a sight word is a word that you should know.
Dr. Mouzon: On site. As soon as you see it, you should know what that word is. We at Arise2Read work with Fry's 1000 sight words. Fry did, um, some extensive research on, uh, what words would be, um, essential, um, or important to know. Mm-hmm. And with his research, he discovered that, uh, students should learn 100 words.
Dr. Mouzon: Per grade level through 10th grade. Um, and. Each year as they learn those hundred words. Those hundred words would've been words that would be common to books that they would be reading at that level, and then by the time they get to 10th grade, they should know all 1000. [00:08:00] It is likely that when. People are good readers.
Dr. Mouzon: They know those 1000 far before that. And so we spend our time focusing on the 1000 fry sight words. We don't limit our second graders to the 300 that they should know because they're limitless. Truly correct? Yes. So we take them all as far as they can go. If they can go to the 1000, we'll take them to the 1000.
Dr. Mouzon: But again, our focus is making sure they know them. On site right away. No hesitation.
Carli: What a confidence builder for these children that you're spending these small chunks of time, really manageable amounts of times, working on words that they can learn, get into their system, and then go back to the classroom and immediately read and share with their
Dr. Mouzon: friends.
Dr. Mouzon: Absolutely. What I have noticed in doing this work, I get the privilege to also do it with students, is that they are so excited to see you. So when [00:09:00] they get to the. The classroom, they're lined up and most of the time, my girl, wait, wait. You're
Carli: saying they're lined up to read? They're lined
Dr. Mouzon: up to
Carli: come in?
Carli: Yes. These are students that don't know how to read? Mm-hmm. Well, mm-hmm. Probably are adverse to reading in other places, but they're lining up mm-hmm. To meet with their resources. They're
Dr. Mouzon: lining up to read, they're at the door and they're peeking around the corner to see if I'm there. Oh, so they look forward to it because they know that I'm the one person that's gonna be able to give them that one-on-one opportunity every single week.
Dr. Mouzon: Just me and her for 30 minutes focusing on exactly what she needs. And when I was in the classroom, that was very rare. Mm-hmm. I was able to spend one to five or one to six time with my students in small groups, but rarely was I able to do that one-to-one. Mm. And what those opportunities do is not only do they [00:10:00] build that confidence that you talked about, mm-hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: It establishes the school as a special place because we go during the school day. Hmm. And the impact that has is
Carli: increased attendance. I was gonna say, I bet it's really fighting the post pandemic absenteeism crisis that we're seeing in elementary schools.
Dr. Mouzon: Absolutely. Yeah. And when they're that little, when they have an aversion to school mm-hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: They can't put the words to it that I'm struggling, or they can't put the words to the mom. If the mom is saying, you're not going today. They can't say, oh, I wanna be there because I have to read. But they will say, I can't miss Arise2Read. Hmm. So you're a mentor. How many kiddos do you serve? I serve two.
Dr. Mouzon: So every volunteer serves two children. For example, if we have 500, I'm just throwing that number out there. If we serve 500 children, we'll have 500 mentors. [00:11:00] And each mentor or coach, as we call 'em, serves two children. So for the first 30 minutes, I serve one little girl, and then the next 30 minutes I serve another.
Dr. Mouzon: Aw.
Carli: And then do you get to stay with them year over year? Do you guys really focus on that second
Dr. Mouzon: grade year? We really focus on the second grade year, and the reason is there's something that's called the third grade reading gap.
Dr. Mouzon: And what we want to do with Arise2Read is avoid that reading gap in third grade if we can. And here's the reason why in third grade, students begin to read so that they can learn. As opposed to kindergarten, first and second grade, where they're still learning how to read.
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: So if we can catch them in second grade and really, really reinforce the sight words, then they have a greater opportunity to succeed in third grade because they will have those down.[00:12:00]
Carli: Hmm. I think it's really interesting. That you're focusing on the sight words, because I was working on those with my son recently and I have one son that loves to read. He's begging for me to tutor him and teach him how to read. And then I have a daughter that has dyslexia.
Dr. Mouzon: Yeah.
Carli: And sitting down and teaching her to read.
Carli: I honestly felt like I failed as a mom. 'cause I didn't know it was so hard for her. I didn't understand why it wasn't coming as easy, and I'd say, Hey, look at this. Memorize this. We can do this. And I remember her breaking down and crying. One day I thought I was being gentle and she said, mama. I just can't.
Carli: Yes. I just can't do it. And this sweet girl is now a sixth grader and she still struggles to read aloud. Her greatest nightmare is to be told to read aloud, and she has had all the tutors and all the help in the world. And so I can only imagine a student coming in with some of these struggles that may be known, maybe unknown.[00:13:00]
Carli: And their biggest fear on earth is reading aloud. In front of someone. And you guys are taking away the stigma of that 30 minutes at a time.
Dr. Mouzon: Absolutely. So the goal is to establish that one-to-one safe space. Mm. And we have to spend time. Building a relationship with them, so we don't just meet them today and jump into, start flashing out flashcards.
Dr. Mouzon: Right? No, we get to know each other. I learn a little bit about their family and then I share with them about my family, that I talk to them about what they want to become, and I make a connection between what they wanna become and what we're gonna do together and how that can help. Them. Mm-hmm. I also remind them about what they said they wanted to do as we do our work, I, I catch up with them if we're getting ready to have spring break, so I won't see them for a week, and when they get back I'm gonna ask them, what did you do?
Dr. Mouzon: They want to [00:14:00] know that they matter outside of these words. Mm. And so I make them very human and sometimes in school.
Dr. Mouzon: Unfortunately it can feel more about the work. Mm-hmm. Than it feels about the individuals.
Carli: Well, 'cause teaching has completely changed. Like you said, teachers have to wear so many hats,
Dr. Mouzon: not to mention the level of accountability when it comes to testing. Mm-hmm. So it's more difficult to give that time and attention.
Dr. Mouzon: To each individual student.
Carli: Well, and I bet as a mentor or a coach, a buddy, you're also taking in, some of these kids are have great weeks and weekends and will tell you funny things about their time off school, but I wonder if, I bet sometimes you get some really heavy stuff laid on your lap that you don't know what to do with.
Dr. Mouzon: one of the things that we do encourage our coaches to do is if they get heavy information that they don't know what to do, it is important to report that to our [00:15:00] program specialist, which is the person who's over our coaches and the program specialist would, has the contact.
Dr. Mouzon: In the school who they were report it to.
Carli: So how do you find these precious souls that are willing to give an hour or twice a week to these kids
Dr. Mouzon: At Arise2Read, we partner with local businesses as well as foundations and churches. So when we need precious, lovingly kind individuals to go in and support these kids, that's where we go.
Dr. Mouzon: We say we're looking for someone just like you. Anyone can do it. All we need is one hour a week, and we believe that you can make a difference.
Hmm.
Carli: Tell me about how you measure success. 'cause there's a. All kinds of ways. You had mentioned testing and, but there's all kinds of ways to say we are achieving the outcome we want in these students.
Carli: What are the, some of the things you're looking for, maybe measuring, maybe anecdotally, that you're looking for in your [00:16:00] students?
Dr. Mouzon: The main goal, as I stated before, is to get them to be ready for third grade. And if they're ready for third grade, then that means they've acquired 300 site work. So we want each second grader to leave our support with 300 or more sight words.
Dr. Mouzon: Then they're ready. Uh, the other things that we look for is that they. Leave us with confidence. Mm. They leave us participating more in class because what I know as an educator is that the more they participate, the more they become aware of what they don't know, which is more important than what they do know.
Carli: Mm.
Dr. Mouzon: Because teachers start the, the learning or the educating at the time or at the place where a student doesn't know,
Hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: Not at the place where they know. Yes. And for children, that's where their learning begins. And as they become self-aware, then they can advocate.
Carli: [00:17:00] That's
Dr. Mouzon: really
Carli: interesting. I wanna think about that for a second.
Carli: 'cause you know what, you know, but nobody knows what they don't know. And so it sounds like you're really just trying to build a lifelong curiosity in these kids to learn more, to grow. And literacy opens the door to that.
Dr. Mouzon: Yes. But I wanna tap into what you said about you don't know what you don't know.
Dr. Mouzon: You don't know what you don't know until you do know what you don't know. Hmm. Because we walk into a situation expecting to know it or to be able to at least achieve or conquer that situation. Mm-hmm. And when children are little, they get uncomfortable when they cannot.
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: And that's what kids do know.
Dr. Mouzon: They know when they're uncomfortable or they know when something's not feeling right. And that's what I always taught my students. You know, when it doesn't feel right. [00:18:00] And what I would always tell my parents is, your job is not to do the homework. Your job is not to teach. That's my job. Yeah, your job is to know when they cannot do it.
Hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: And that's what I want you to tell me.
Hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: And eventually the children will learn how to do that very same thing. And that's the confidence that they will need to be successful students.
Carli: You want your kid to be successful and I think that there is more pressure on parents than there should be.
Carli: That if your kid's not doing well or there may be not an A and B student, that that makes you as a parent look less than.
Dr. Mouzon: Yeah. I think that parents. Educators alike, what have to reevaluate what the purpose of homework is. If homework is for the learning to take place, then that's one thing, but if homework is to reinforce what has already been done in the classroom and the [00:19:00] child can't do it, that's a whole nother thing.
Dr. Mouzon: That's a learning moment for the teacher, and it's a learning opportunity. For the student, and that's how we need to see it.
Hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: And that's what we provided at Arise2Read. Three extra learning opportunities, 30 minutes of just one-to-one individualized support.
Carli: My heart was really lit on fire for this literacy initiative when I first heard about it. There's so much going on in the world that will break our hearts.
Dr. Mouzon: Yeah.
Carli: And so much it feels absolutely outside our control. Literacy feels like something we can do something about.
Carli: And the way that you handle literacy at Arise2Read feels, I know you've put a lot of work into it, and it takes a lot of work to make something look easy, and I know it's not. Easy and a cure all. But gosh, you've got a system in place that is making massive change in the lives of these kids, one [00:20:00] kid at a time, and it's gonna have generational impact on them and their families.
Carli: And so literacy feels like something. We can do something about. So if somebody is hearing this and says, I agree this, my heart is on fire. I'm feeling that nudge. What are some ways that they could get involved or support Arise2Read in your mission?
Dr. Mouzon: Well, there are three ways that we tell every person who asks about getting involved.
Dr. Mouzon: The first thing that we ask people to do, because we are indeed a Christian organization, we say, pray for us. Pray for our program specialists, our coaches, the children, the teachers, and the administrators. Pray for everyone involved in making this a success. The second thing we say is that you can participate.
Dr. Mouzon: You can become a coach. You can work directly with two lovely children and help their future become brighter. [00:21:00] The final thing we say is. If you can't pray, but you can, or if you feel like you can't participate, this thing you might be able to do, we ask them to provide, make a donation to Arise2Read so that we can continue doing the work that so tremendously, positively impacts the lives of the children that we work with every day.
Carli: If you had a magic wand and you could suddenly make everyone understand. X about literacy X, about the families and the children and the school districts you serve. What do you wish people knew that you just know that they're missing?
Dr. Mouzon: I think people miss the fact that we can all do something. They hear the numbers. And they see the crime and they see all of the averse effects. Mm-hmm. That [00:22:00] not being able to read causes and they feel like there's nothing that can be done, but we can all do something.
Carli: Hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: And that's the thing I wish everyone knew.
Carli: Hmm. I love that you have a faith minded mission, and that's where this started for me. And that's where my heart is here because the Bible tells us that Jesus is the word and the word was with God, and the word was God, and and the word was made flesh and the word walked among us. He came to us. Yeah. And it's no surprise to me that the enemy of our souls would be against literacy, that would not want people to be able to read the word, because then they can't read the true word.
Carli: And. At least in, for me, this felt like a faith issue. How can we spread truth? How can we want kids to read the truth and know that they are loved beyond [00:23:00] comprehension and expect them to know this if we don't give them the tools to read it on the page? And so I think that this is an important issue for everyone.
Carli: I also really encourage the faith minded community. To think about the fact of what we're setting kids up for in their souls. If we don't teach them how to read,
Dr. Mouzon: well, we are definitely not giving them the opportunity to choose the Lord. But you bring up a very important, um, mission. It's the second portion of what Arise2Read actually does.
Dr. Mouzon: We do have Bible clubs. Tell me, tell me more. We have Bible clubs after school. In, um, several elementary schools where they learn the gospel. Hmm.
They
Dr. Mouzon: learn to disciple. Hmm. They learn, uh, how much the God really loved us by sending his son.
Hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: They learn about the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:24:00]
Carli: That is my favorite type of love.
Carli: It is servant leadership. You are going in and serving and eliminating barriers and then just offering opportunity for those that want it. Mm-hmm. To come and hear more, more about why you care in the first place. And I think I've said it before and I'll say it again. I believe that the church has abdicated their authority in a lot of these issues.
Carli: And so I love that you're using. Community organizations, faith-based organizations to fight this. But I also love that you're being honest about why you care. Um, I think that's very brave, especially in schools and public schools because that's, most of us don't feel like that's even an option to get to do that.
Carli: And so I commend you for that. That's not an easy thing to do.
Dr. Mouzon: Well, what I would have to say to that is that. I never do anything alone. The Lord is always with me. Hmm. And from the [00:25:00] time that I was very young, I knew that I could be a teacher. And when I say that, I'm not talking about in a traditional classroom.
Hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: Everywhere I went, I was trying to show someone how to do something or teach someone about something. Education was in me and it is indeed my purpose. To do exactly what I'm doing, and if I don't do it, I will have left something on the table and I can't, I have to do it all. And if I don't do this work, then all the people who are assigned to me will miss out on what they're supposed to get and won't be able to go where they're supposed to go for their purpose.
Dr. Mouzon: If I don't do mine.
Carli: When did that light bulb go off for you that this was your purpose? You said you always had education in your heart as something that you knew that you had a [00:26:00] passion for, but was there a light bulb moment?
Dr. Mouzon: so first I'll say I moved from Memphis in 2011. I went back to Southern Illinois where I got my degree because I felt like the Lord was calling me back there so that I could give back to the community that helped make me who I was.
Carli: Mm-hmm.
Dr. Mouzon: I spent 13 years there. Last October I was off work because I wasn't feeling well. And then I had a dream, and in that dream I was in Memphis and I was in the room with one of my very close friends. We were celebrating some achievement that she had gotten. Immediately when I woke up, I knew that God was saying, now is the time for you to go back to Memphis.
Dr. Mouzon: I didn't have a job, but I called her and I said, Hey. Let me tell you the dream. And I [00:27:00] told her the dream and she said, does that mean you're coming back to Memphis? Does that mean you're gonna be here with us? And I said, I don't have a job. She told me about an opening at Arise2Read. And I'm like, what is that?
Dr. Mouzon: You know, Arise2Read wasn't a thing when I was here before. Mm-hmm. She told me about it. In fact, um, a mutual friend of hers. Her friend, who I was a colleague of when I was here before was the executive director. We connected and um. She told me all about it. I knew it would be perfect for me because at that time I had moved up in the school district I was in, so I was the director of student services for the school district, all the social emotional things.
Dr. Mouzon: And so it made me a good fit for this because I had the education plus the, the trauma background and all of that. Mm-hmm. Um, and [00:28:00] I met Donna Gaines. We did not connect on education. We did not connect on what I know how to do. We connected on who I was in Christ. Who I am in Christ, and she had been praying and God answered.
Carli: Hmm. He literally moved you from Illinois to Memphis and all the breadcrumbs in between.
Dr. Mouzon: Yes. He doesn't waste a step. Not at all. And I was not looking to go anywhere, but I am very obedient to the voice of the Lord. He showed me and I followed
Carli: what a story and your obedience, your willingness to be brave because I think obedience is bravery.
Carli: Mm-hmm. Is changing the lives of hundreds of kids and not just hundreds of kids. Hundreds and hundreds of mentors and community organizations and churches each year in this community. I love that you shared it with me. Thank you
Dr. Mouzon: so
Carli: [00:29:00] much.
Dr. Mouzon: Well, thank you for giving me the opportunity to share it. Can I say one more thing?
Dr. Mouzon: Uh, yeah, because you talked about obedience. There's a scripture that says obedience is better than a sacrifice. And what I always say sometimes obedience is the sacrifice, and God honors both. And I have learned in all of my years of walking with him. Is that if I am obedient to him, then my sacrifice is gonna be worth it and I'll see the fruit of that obedience.
Carli: Hmm. He equips those he calls. Yep. And he will never ask you to step out in faith to do something he has not already prepared the way for you to do. And I think your journey to arise, to read everything that you're trying to achieve, whether it be things that you can measure through numbers of sight, words, and all of these metrics, or whether it be the intangibles of building confidence or changing the life of a buddy or a [00:30:00] coach, um.
Carli: It's really powerful and it's clear that he equipped you for a time such as this. Yes. In a place such as this.
Carli: I could talk to you all day and I, I really, I'm sad that we only have this amount of time together, but I do wanna do one thing we end our podcast with is a short game okay. Of fill in the blank.
Dr. Mouzon: Alright?
Carli: I don't have a list of sight words for you to use, so you'll have to come up with them from your own bank in your head.
Carli: But I'm gonna read a sentence to you and then give you a blank. Okay. The biggest challenge in early literacy today is blank.
Dr. Mouzon: The biggest challenge in early literacy today is time. Hmm. I think, um, as an educator, I always believed that we spent so much time in early education on so many things. I wish if I had my dream, the focus would be reading and math. Hmm. Yeah, and then just feed the other things into that as [00:31:00] opposed to having a time for all of the other things.
Dr. Mouzon: Mm-hmm. Of course, we need like music and PE and art, but if we could fit science and social studies within the reading, that would give teachers more time to be able to give the students those foundational skills they need in reading. Hmm. That's really powerful.
Carli: If every child could read at grade level blank,
Dr. Mouzon: if every child could read at grade level, then the possibilities would be unlimited.
Carli: Hmm. Your work touches my heart in a way that I can hardly describe. I'm not gonna try, I don't have words today and I will just bumble through it, but thank you for what you're doing and I just am really hopeful that in our time together, we have just began to, begun to scratch the surface of what a pervasive, intense issue this is.
Carli: Yeah. But with a heart to serve. Whether it be to pray, to [00:32:00] participate, or to provide, um, everyone can get involved. This is everyone's issue. This isn't just your issue. This isn't just Memphis's issue. It's societal and
Dr. Mouzon: national. It is all of our issue.
Carli: Mm-hmm. Thank you so much for being here today.
Dr. Mouzon: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share.
