March 19, 2010--Boston, MA--FableVision Co-founders Peter H. Reynolds & Paul Reynolds joined Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Boston Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Carol Johnson, Boston Public Library President Amy Ryan, Executive Director of the Boston Centers for Youth and Families Daphne Griffin, and hundreds of students and teachers at Lee Elementary and Lee Academy Pilot schools in Dorchester, MA to launch the all-new BostonLive Wire Learning Community project. The Live Wire Learning Community project unites schools, libraries, community centers and families with a mission, tools and training to improve student engagement, achievement and outcomes.
"The 'Live Wire' program helps activate the City of Boston's Community Learning Initiative in a really tangible way - with a pilot program right here in Dorchester's Franklin Field neighborhood," said Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Mayor of Boston. "This partnership with Boston-based FableVision - a national leader in educational media & technology - provides our teachers, librarians and community center leaders with cutting edge resources and technology to fully engage students, igniting a new level of learning and demonstrating the significant impact community learning can make."
The Boston Live Wire Learning Community project is an innovative, cross-sector approach to transform education by changing expectations of when and where students learn. The Boston Live Wire Learning Community project helps show an entire community -- schools, libraries, community centers and families - that when everyone works together toward common goals, they can help to improve academic achievement, promote creativity and deliver age-appropriate college and career readiness century skills.
"Mayor Menino is the ultimate 'dot connector', said Peter H. Reynolds, FableVision's Founder & New York Times best-selling Author/Illustrator (The Dot, Ish, The North Star). "The Mayor recognized the need to connect the silos of learning in our communities so we create a 'live wire' network of formal and informal educators who know how to light a spark 
for learning and how to help it to flourish anytime, anywhere."
Informed by the growing research base that demonstrates that increased time for learning can boost student performance, the Boston Live Wire Learning Community project seeks to link learning across the bounds of time and space. To that end, the Boston Live Wire Learning Community project includes four integrated learning resources:
- Inspirational Messaging: Books and storytelling that ignite a love of learning and encourage all learners to find and follow their talents and interest
- Common Teaching and Learning Tools: Education software that leverages writing & multi-media technology to make learning accessible and engaging for all
- Cross-Sector Professional Development/Community of Practice: A commitment to training and professional development for educators in every sector of a community and a way to let them connect, communicate, share & collaborate
- Community Learning Project: A customized learning project to address a specific learning goal and that leverages the tools & professional development in the Live Wire Community promoting creative, experiential and purposeful learning.
"Only by working together as a community can we transform teaching and learning across this City and close access and achievement gaps so that every student, in every neighborhood, achieves academic proficiency and graduates from high school prepared for success in college, career and life," said Dr. Carol R. Johnson, Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools. "With the Live Wire Learning Community project, we have a unique opportunity to engage students both inside and outside of the classroom and to make learning even more real, relevant and responsive to each child's talents, interests and core academic needs."
"The Live Wire Learning Community will demonstrate that by changing the way we think about education in neighborhoods we can change lives," said Amy Ryan, President of the Boston Public Library. "We all have a responsibility to nurture a love of learning and to help students navigate their path no matter where they are, what day it is or what time it is."
The Boston Live Wire Learning Community project is public-private partnership in action. Working together, the City of Boston, Boston Public Schools, Boston Public Library and the Boston Centers for Youth and Families and FableVision have defined a means to work together to nurture learning throughout the community. Project sponsors - donating books, educational software, technology and professional development totaling nearly $225,000 - include FableVision Learning, Candlewick Press, Wacom and eInstruction.
"There is nothing more exciting than bringing people together in support of children, learning and community development," said Paul Reynolds, CEO of FableVision Studios in Boston. "We can do amazing things when we all bring our passions, interests and talents to achieve a common goal. And there can be no better goal than lifting children and families."
The Live Wire Learning Community project pilot in Dorchester will serve as a model for other communities in Massachusetts and beyond. Over the next couple of years, the existing partnership is committed to extend the reach and impact of the Live Wire model to communities in the Circle of Promise (Dorchester and reaching into Roxbury), and beyond.
To learn more about the Boston Live Wire Learning Community, please explore their website.
