Jumpstart's Read for the Record Campaign Raises $1.5 million for Early
Education
NEW YORK, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Children across the country made
history yesterday participating in the third annual Jumpstart's Read for
the Record(R) Campaign. An early morning reading with NBC's TODAY Show
co-host Matt Lauer featured a special White House reading with First Lady
Laura Bush. The TODAY Show also featured Jumpstart Honorary Spokesperson LL
Cool J, Jesse McCartney, Greg Kinnear, Maria from Sesame Street, and
Mary-Louise Parker. Children's author and National Ambassador for Young
People's Literature, Jon Scieszka, helped kicked off the day as thousands
of events took place across the country with hundreds of thousands of
children reading the story of Corduroy.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081003/NY37012 )
The 2008 Campaign raised more than $1.5 million for Jumpstart's early
education programs in low-income communities, while drawing national
attention to the country's early education crisis. It is still possible to
support early education by texting the word READ to 90999 to donate $5 to
Jumpstart. With entries still being tabulated, Jumpstart's Read for the
Record Campaign has broken the world record for the largest shared reading
experience with more than 300,000 readers registering at
http://www.readfortherecord.org!
Readers of all ages participated in Campaign activities in schools and
libraries, at colleges and universities, on playgrounds, and in malls,
offices and homes across the country, including reading events hosted by
Jumpstart in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco
and Washington, DC. Celebrations in hundreds of cities across the country
were supported by the Pearson Foundation, the Campaign's sponsor and
founding partner. Throughout the day, children and adults from all corners
of the nation were joined by mayors, school superintendents and principals,
and other dignitaries including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa,
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Schools
Superintendent of New Orleans Paul Vallas, Chicago Public School CEO Arne
Duncan, as well as celebrities including singer/songwriter/actress JoJo in
Boston; Gabrielle Union, Shaun Robinson of Access Hollywood and Lo Bosworth
(The Hills) in Los Angeles; R&B Star Mario in Washington DC and MC Hammer
in San Francisco.
The Campaign created the world's largest shared reading experience as
participants read this year's official Campaign book, the children's
classic, Corduroy, written by Don Freeman and published by Penguin Young
Readers Group. Along with today's record-breaking shared reading
experience, more than 200,000 copies of Corduroy were donated to children
in low-income communities.
Each year, one third of America's children arrive at their first day of
school developmentally behind their peers and without the skills necessary
to succeed. Jumpstart's Read for the Record Campaign brings national
attention to this critical learning gap.
The publication of the Campaign's official book was underwritten by the
Pearson Foundation, ensuring that 100% of the proceeds would directly
benefit Jumpstart's work with at-risk children. Additionally, each book
purchased online was matched with a donation from the Pearson Foundation to
support Jumpstart's early education programs for children in low-income
communities across the nation.
Jumpstart President James Cleveland noted the importance of the joint
efforts made by the Campaign's sponsors. "Working together is critical to
our common goal of eliminating the early education gap that exists between
income levels. Today's first graders from low-income communities have
one-fourth the vocabulary of their mid-income peers, immediately putting
them at an unnecessary disadvantage," said Cleveland. "This is a serious
matter as first grade is one of the best predictors of performance in later
grades. By giving children the tools they need, we can help lower their
likelihood to repeat grades, drop out of school, and even engage in
criminal activity."
Pearson Foundation President, Mark Nieker, added, "Research shows that
the ability to read is a key factor in a child's success in school and that
the strongest indicator of future reading ability is the number of books
children have at home. Statistics tell us that children in low-income
communities have from no books at all to just three at home, versus 50
books in the households of their middle and high-income peers. Pearson
recognizes the importance of Jumpstart's Read for the Record in donating
books to children who need them most and focusing a national spotlight on
sobering statistics like these."
During the 2006 and 2007 Campaigns, more than 400,000 people registered
for Jumpstart's Read for the Record Campaign and raised more than
$2,000,000 to support Jumpstart's mission. In addition, Jumpstart and
Pearson were recognized for their collaboration with a 2006 Cause Marketing
Halo Award and with Boston Business Journal's 2008 Corporate Philanthropy
Award for Education Partner of the Year.
Jumpstart's longstanding relationships with its national multi-year
partners, American Eagle Outfitters, Pearson and Sodexo, are key components
of its ongoing efforts to help at-risk children develop their language,
literacy, and social skills in preparation for kindergarten. Further
involvement from Jumpstart's 2008 Campaign Sponsors Hanna Andersson, Hyatt
Hotels & Resorts, LeapFrog Enterprises Inc., NBC, Penguin Young Readers
Group and Sirius XM Satellite Radio ensures the success of Jumpstart's Read
for the Record. Support of the Campaign is just one of many ways in which
these businesses make Jumpstart's work possible. Jumpstart looks forward to
its partners' continued support next year when Jumpstart's Read for the
Record will take place on October 8, 2009.
Corporate involvement highlights include:
-- Pearson has underwritten all publishing costs, making it possible for
Jumpstart to receive 100% of the proceeds raised through the sale of the
custom edition books. In addition, employees volunteered to organize and
run hundreds of events across the country. The Pearson Foundation also
donated more than 200,000 copies of this year's official campaign
book to pre-school children and teachers across the country.
-- American Eagle Outfitters sent store associates across the United States
and Canada to read Corduroy to thousands of children. They also hosted
a large event at their corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh and have
provided the official campaign T-shirt.
-- Sodexo scheduled a reading event at their corporate headquarters in
Montgomery County, MD and employees around the country created reading
events to help break the record.
-- Hanna Andersson sold Corduroy, the official Campaign book in stores, in
their catalog and online in addition to organizing several reading
events with public libraries in Portland, Oregon.
-- Hyatt Hotels & Resorts including Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt
Regency, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites properties created
reading events across the country and donated 3,000 books to children in
the Chicago metropolitan area.
-- LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. donated thousands of Corduroy books to
children in low-income communities, and employees personally delivered
books to schools in Oakland, California.
-- Penguin Young Readers Group published the special edition copy of
Corduroy and promoted the Campaign nationally.
-- Sirius XM Satellite Radio personalities and celebrities created taped
readings of Corduroy and posted them on XM's website
(http://www.xmradio.com) so families could read along on October 2.
About Jumpstart
Jumpstart is a national early education organization that works toward
the day every child in America enters school prepared to succeed. Through
extraordinary attention in yearlong one-to-one relationships, Jumpstart
inspires children to learn, adults to teach, families to get involved, and
communities to progress together. Headquartered in Boston, Jumpstart pairs
4,000 trained adults one-to-one with preschool children in need of
assistance. During the 2008-2009 program year, Jumpstart is serving 15,000
children across 20 states, in partnership with 300 early learning centers
and nearly 74 universities and colleges throughout the country.
Jumpstart's national sponsors include American Eagle Outfitters,
AmeriCorps, Pearson, Sodexo and Starbucks. Jumpstart is the recipient of
the Fast Company/Monitor Social Capitalist Award (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
and 2008) and the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy's Directors
Award. For more information, visit the Jumpstart Web site at
http://www.jstart.org.
About the Pearson Foundation
The Pearson Foundation extends Pearson's commitment to education by
partnering with leading nonprofit, civic, and business organizations to
provide financial, organizational, and publishing assistance across the
globe. The Foundation aims to make a difference by sponsoring innovative
educational programs and extending its educational expertise to help in
classrooms and in local communities. More information on the Pearson
Foundation can be found at http://www.pearsonfoundation.org.
About the Pearson Foundation and Jumpstart
Jumpstart's Read for the Record Campaign is just one component of the
Pearson Jumpstart partnership. Jumpstart and the Pearson Foundation share a
passion for education and inspiring people to reach their full potential.
These shared goals and values led Jumpstart and the Pearson Foundation to
create the Pearson Teacher Fellowship in 2001. Each year, the Pearson
Teacher Fellowship provides the opportunity for a select group of
achievement-oriented college graduates to enter the early education field
by becoming preschool teachers in Head Start and other early learning
centers serving at-risk children. The Fellowship provides these talented
individuals a stipend, intensive training, assistance earning teaching
certification, and additional support and resources during the first two
years of their teaching careers. In 2006, Pearson and its businesses The
Financial Times Group, The Penguin Group, and Pearson Education became the
Sponsor and Founding Partner of Jumpstart's Read for the Record, which to
date has raised over $2.2 million for Jumpstart's work to help preschoolers
from low-income communities with their language and literacy skills. For
more information, go to http://www.pearsonfoundation.org.
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