by Ginger Young
The Book Harvest family is catching its breath; this was not our typical week! Some of the highlights:
We shared the findings of the first-ever evaluation of our Book Babies program, conducted by researchers at Duke University’s Center for Child and Family Policy. The news was excellent! Read all about it here.
I had the privilege of being a lead discussant in a Grade-Level Reading Funder Roundtable entitled “Leading with Parents.”
Book Harvest co-hosted, with The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, a meeting of leaders representing 25 national parent-facing organizations — including National Head Start Association, Zero to Three, Nurse-Family Partnership, Buffett Early Childhood Fund, National Center for Families Learning, Parents as Teachers, HIPPY, MomsRising, Brazelton Touchpoints Center, Institute for Educational Leadership, National Black Child Development Institute, YMCA, and National PTA. Together, we spent two days in rich discussions about how we can best support parents and children. As part of the proceedings, we convened a panel of parent experts who serve on Book Harvest’s Parent Advisory Team to share their experiences and insights; they were deeply inspiring.
All three of these touch on a theme we think about a LOT these days: they acknowledge the vital and priceless role that parents play in laying the foundation for their children’s lifelong success.
We are inspired daily by the parents in our midst — the brain builders, first teachers, and fierce champions of their babies and children. We are honored to work with them to provide books and literacy support to help them in their journey to ensure brighter futures for their children; and we are lifted up by the community of visionaries also working toward these goals. Thank you to everyone who was a part of our special week!
