The United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley’s Community Engagement Group, made up of community, school, and business leaders, meets quarterly to discuss ways to make the public aware of programs the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) has in place for children and their families. The group continues to build awareness of these important programs during October, which has been designated as Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children Month.
On Saturday, October 23, 2010, the United Way sponsored a “Fourth Saturday” literacy event at the Cops ‘n’ Kids Reading Room in Bethlehem. There were twenty children, 20 parents, 10 community volunteers, and 3 United Way staff at the event. Mayor John Callahan of Bethlehem attended that morning to present the United Way Community Engagement Group with a proclamation, naming October as Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children month. He stayed and read a book to the children. Beth Johnson, the author of the King Series of books, read several books from the series. Each child received one of the books from her as well as her autograph. In addition, children received five books from the Reading Room library – all of them free!
Each child received a bag with the “Learning Is Everywhere”, “Kindergarten Here I Come!”, and “Kindergarten Here I Am!” calendars. Also included in the bag were materials for the parents that explained the OCDEL programs as well as the “Report to the Community”.
Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children is a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of quality early education in young children’s lives and ways to help children reach their promise through quality early learning opportunities. Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Build Initiative, The Heinz Endowments, William Penn Foundation, The Grable Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Early Learning Keys to Quality, in partnership with OCDEL. More than 15,000 Pennsylvanians have signed the Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children declaration that they believe quality early education is vital for Pennsylvania’s future. Pictures from the event can be found in our Cops 'n' Kids Reading Room album on Facebook!
