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Community Corner

YWCA to kick off partnership with Jumpstart

YWCA New Britain will host Jumpstart’s Read for the Record national campaign on October 3.  The annual event is one day of the year when millions of individuals across the country come together to celebrate literacy by breaking the world record for reading the same book on the same day.  The campaign highlights the need for quality early education in America by mobilizing adults and children to set a record for the largest shared reading experience.  This year, participants will read Otis by Loren Long to its Lion’s Den, Dancing Bears, and Jumping Jaguars classrooms.  Every child who participates will take home a copy of the book.

This event marks the kick off of the YWCA’s partnership with Jumpstart.  Jumpstart is the only national supplemental program that leverages the power of community and adult-child relationships to build the key language and literacy skills children need to take on the world.  Jumpstart is a national early education organization that recruits and trains college students and community corps members to serve preschool children in low-income neighborhoods. Their proven curriculum helps children develop the language and literacy skills they need to be ready for kindergarten, setting them on a path to close the achievement gap.  Jumpstart corps members will engage with the children at the YWCA in a two-hour session twice a week.  They will help them cultivate a life-long love for language and learning and ultimately provide a foundation for future success. 

The YWCA is part of a community-wide Jumpstart initiative facilitated by The Coalition for New Britain’s Children (formerly The New Britain Early Childhood Collaborative) which supports community partnerships that improve the lives of New Britain’s young children and their families.

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The YWCA is a leader in quality care and education for children.  “We are pleased to be a partner in a project which will benefit so many children by giving them additional opportunities to participate in literacy activities with CCSU student volunteers in our classrooms,” according to Associate Director, Tracey Madden-Hennessey, “This project is just one of the ways, the YWCA is working to increase children’s preschool literacy skills and better prepare them for kindergarten.”

Childcare and early education programs promote child development and school readiness, are vital for helping parents obtain and retain employment, and prepare our next generations for lifelong learning and success. Learn more about the YWCA and all the programs it offers at www.ywcanewbritain.org.

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For more information on the YWCA’s Read for the Record event, please contact Michele Eathorne at 860-225-4681 x251 or meathorne@ywcanewbritain.org.

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