Greetings,

I am Richard Wayne Griffin, PhD, PG, CPSSc, Professor, Research Scientist, Founder and CEO of ARC Communications, LLC of Texas. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to hear a part of my story.

For nearly 31 years, I have had the opportunity to observe high school students arrive on a college campus, receive their initial evaluations for classes that they should enroll in for their first semester, and begin their freshmen year taking remedial (developmental) reading, writing, and math classes that do not contribute to their degree program requirements. These students should have mastered the art of reading in elementary school, but must return to basic tutorials due to inadequate skills.

I am convinced that strong reading skills lead to stronger writing and math skills, because the ability to read well and clearly comprehend the written word serves as the foundation for the development of logical thought processes, and leads to confidence in expressing oneself through verbal and written modes.

My passion for reading began at an early age. My mother said that she taught me to read by the age of three, and honestly I don’t ever remember saying that “I don’t like to read”. As an adult, my issue now is that there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in each day to read the wealth of interesting articles that arrive electronically.

When a student, who is doing poorly on assignments and who is obviously not reading the assigned materials, informs me that he or she doesn’t like to read, then I am pretty safe in my assumption that the student probably does not read well and simply uses the “I don’t like to read” card to mask the inability to read and comprehend at a strong level.

As we know, strong youth grow to become strong adults, who build strong communities that support all citizens as they live out their allegiance to the state, nation, and global community. I may be oversimplifying the issue, and maybe I’m too narrowly focused in my attention on reading, but I honestly believe that if we do our small part very well, then others are free to do their part. The synergistic collaborations will ultimately produce a more peaceful world in which people are confident in themselves and their ability to positively contribute to the well being of all mankind.

As an educator and research scientist, I am all about addressing issues and getting to solutions that will strengthen our communities, the nation, and the global society. Over the years extensive travel within the United States, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Trinidad and Tobago has broadened my cultural and biodiversity knowledge and deepened a desire to share this knowledge with others through educational programs. Inspired by a book that my wife was writing about her educational experiences as a young girl, growing up in the South during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement, I formed ARC Communications, LLC with the objective of inspiring youth early.

ARC Communications, LLC is a Texas based Visual Art Communications and Publishing Company. Formed in 2010, the company’s mission is to promote visual literacy as a way to develop visual and critical thinking skills in pre-teen and tween youth, as well as to deliver multicultural literature for youth in print. Through the development and production of historically accurate storybooks, standards-based curriculum supplemental learning aids, animation, performing arts, music, games, artwork and other creative products, ARC’s approach to multicultural education is focused on the arts as culture, history and connectors of people.

ARC’s flagship initiative is “Little Flower®” also known as “The Little Flower Literacy Project.” Little Flower was created by my wife, Florita Bell Griffin, Ph.D., who is an urban planner, urban and regional scientist, and self-proclaimed cultural art enthusiast. In Spanish, her name Florita means little flower. Her book, “The Little Flower Vignettes – Story Behind The Story,” (2014) provides the non-fictional back-story for the fictional Little Flower character, who is the project’s namesake. Florita received the 2016 Zora Neale Hurston Award from the American Library Association (ALA) for her contribution to African American literature after launching The Little Flower Literacy Project in 2015.

Little Flower uses storytelling and components of artistic media as a stimulus for developing literacy and performance skills, while fostering student identification, student empowerment, diversity, inclusion, self-esteem, confidence, vision, and imagination in youth.

At ARC Communications, we’re excited about the ambitious projects we’ve undertaken, and we appreciate your visit to the website. Please look around the website and get in touch with us if you have any questions about school purchasing, product licensing, partnerships, or any other aspect of our work.

Sincerely,

R.W.Griffin