READ 2 YOUR BABY
PROGRAM TO BOOST EARLY LITERACY
Tulsa City-County Library is partnering with KJRH Channel 2 and the Children First Program to provide a backpack of books to low-income, first-time parents.
A special announcement and literacy grant presentation is planned for Wednesday, Jan. 10 at 1:30 p.m. in Central Library’s Children’s Area, Fourth Street and Denver Avenue. A storytime with KJRH Ch. 2 on-air talent will follow the presentation.
Thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Scripps-Howard Foundation, the “Read 2 Your Baby” project will provide 300 at-risk families with a small backpack filled with 12 books appropriate for the changing developmental stages 0-2 years old. Also included is a “First Reader” packet that provides parents with tips and techniques to increase a young child’s early literacy skills.
"Literacy is the first seed from which all else grows," says Channel 2 Vice President and General Manager Michael Vrabac, "and by awarding grants like this one, Channel 2 is proud to help sow these seeds in our community."
Children First is a program administered through Women, Infants and Children (WIC) that provides informational and counseling to first time mothers while they are still pregnant and continues for the first two years of the child’s life.
“The Children First Program is excited to partner with the Library and The Scripps-Howard Foundation in the Read 2 Your Baby project. Promotion of early reading helps foster opportunities for success in school and creates a curiosity for life long learning,” said Cathy Sullivan, R.N., Children First program coordinator. “With the help of our generous community partners, Children First Parents will receive the tools they need to promote a lifelong love of reading for their children and instill success for their future.”
Children First serves an average of 300 clients a year. Approximately one-fifth of those are Spanish speaking families. These families will receive bilingual backpacks from the “Read 2 Your Baby” program.
“The Read 2 Your Baby project, sponsored by the Scripps-Howard Foundation, is an excellent opportunity to help families learn about the importance of reading with young children. Through our partnership with Children First, we’ll be reaching children during a very critical period for language development — 0-2 years,” said Jennifer Greb, Tulsa City-County Library’s Ruth G. Hardman Adult Literacy Service Coordinator. “This project will provide the tools needed to make reading an everyday habit for families and help babies develop the early language and pre-reading skills necessary to get ready to read and ready to succeed.
Since 1998, the Scripps-Howard Foundation has donated nearly $80,000 to help TCCL increase community literacy outreach. Programs from these grants have included giving books to kindergarten students attending at-risk schools through the “First Reader” program and supplying materials for adult literacy training.
For more information on TCCL’s community literacy efforts, call the Ruth G. Hardman Adult Literacy Service, 596-7958, or visit the library’s Web site, www.tulsalibrary.org.
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