First Lady starts media campaign for literacy

Iowa’s First Lady Christie Vilsack is featured in a series of new radio and T-V public service announcements promoting reading. They’re part of Vilsack’s “Stories 2000 Initiative.”Vilsack is also distributing a brochure that explains why it’s so important to begin reading to children right after they’re born. Vilsack has selected seven Iowa communities to serve as sites for the first phase of “Stories 2000.”Vilsack says her literacy inniative is intended to be a compliment to legislative efforts to improve reading scores in the state.The communities of Algona, Ames, Bayard, Bell Plaine, Cherokee, Independence and Oskaloosa are creating programs to address gaps in literacy in the state.