Reading Can Remove the Yoke of Poverty

• June 7, 2016

Hayward Cordy, executive director of the Oconee Regional Educational Service Agency, says we can’t talk about reading without talking about the reality of poverty.

For Cordy, who grew up with more than a dozen siblings as well as extended family living in a six-room house with no running water, reading was the way forward to a better quality of life. Although Cordy had incredibly difficult obstacles to overcome, he also had an advantage—a family who put education first.

“Our paths cross the lives of poor children daily,” Cordy says. “We must make them realize that life is not perfect. It’s not always fair. But we have a hand to play with our life. To live it to its fullest and to its highest level.”

Go back to watch Emily Rubin, director of education outreach programs for the Marcus Autism Center, who says babies need an incentive to communicate.

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