Teaching is a creative profession, as much art as science, and for those who go into the field, it can...
I was a sheriff for 22 years. What I learned the most is that we must be proactive instead of reactive. Bettering our communities starts with taking care of our children.
In January of 2020, The Hunt Institute—an education policy non-profit based in Durham, NC—released updates to its State Early Childhood...
Our kids need to put the devices down and to play outdoors more. This isn’t just another parent waxing nostalgic...
For babies to have the best start in life, they need to form a deep emotional bond with the person...
I see people signing all the time because I live in the Washington, D.C., area near the Red Line, which...
Everyone counts—homeless or hedge fund manager, black or white, undocumented or Mayflower stock. This is America, right? So what’s up...
Why Don’t We Just Do That?
Over Cocktails, Restaurateurs Hatch a Plan for Literacy
Three years ago, Amanda and John Horne, owners of Anna Maria Oyster Bar in Bradenton, Florida, heard that 51 percent of children in their local Manatee County school system couldn’t read at grade level by third grade. They were appalled.
“This was horrific,” Amanda says. “We had no idea that this was an issue.”
Over cocktails one night, Amanda and John wondered what they could do. Their clientele is largely composed of older “grandparent-type” people. They have four restaurants and a mailing list of more than 24,000 customers. What if they could pair children up with a grandparent figure or somebody who cares about them, read with them and maybe instill them with a love of reading?
Mobilizing Communities So All Children Make the Grade
Pop Up Neighbor events, community, collaboration, mobilization
Even without advance promotion, when word got out that the SuperMatt Laundromat in Sarasota, Florida, was offering free laundry all day, neighborhood residents formed a steady stream of customers.
Not only was laundry-and-all-the-fixings free—a boon to low-income families who can ill afford the $35 to $50 a week they spend trying to keep their kids in clean clothes—the food bank was there with abundant food to restock their pantries.
Best of all, there were books—lots of books—and plenty of volunteers to read to children while the adults did as many loads of laundry as needed. When the children left, books went home with them.
Mya-Rose Craig, 17-years old, has followed her passion for birds and the environment to create and galvanize a community of activists of all ages. In the process, as a young Muslim woman, she’s been trolled on social media. Not an insurmountable problem, though, as Mya-Rose is keeping her eye on a larger issue: saving the planet.
Robin Hood FUELs the Future for Children
Shares Brain Science, Strategically Partners to Create an Early Learning Metropolis
The greatest city in the world. More than 100,000 children 0-3 growing up in poverty. Two facts that are painful to reconcile.
This is a job for Robin Hood. Unafraid to challenge the seemingly intractable, the grant maker and all-around poverty fighter combines rigorous data and strategic partnerships with powerhouse fundraising.
Here’s the story behind the $50 million, five-year Fund for Early Learning (FUEL) .
Trauma, chaos and unrelenting stress can overwhelm anyone’s ability to nurture. For incarcerated parents, these hardships often have been a...
