FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 28 – Covington, KY.

Mayor Joe Meyer of Covington, Kentucky and his team have implemented an innovative approach to Early Literacy. Read Ready Covington is a city-wide coalition that engages all sectors of the community in maximizing early literacy efforts. Their coalition recognizes Footsteps2Brilliance as a vital component in its collective impact approach, especially during this past year as part of Covid-19 virtual learning. Read Ready Covington’s goals include increasing the percentage of children who enter kindergarten ready to learn and read proficiently by third grade. These goals align perfectly with Footsteps2Brilliance resources and are boosted by another City of Covington initiative called Covington Connect, a citywide free WIFI network to address the digital divide.

Washington, D.C. - On Tuesday, Feb. 9th at 3:30 EST, The Campaign for Grade Level Reading will showcase Dr. Barbara Nemko, Napa County Superintendent of Schools and Footsteps2Brilliance, to discuss how Napa County and other organizations throughout the nation have used technology to prepare children for kindergarten and stem learning loss caused by the pandemic.

Hawthorne School District is pleased to announce that it has received a grant from GRoW @ Annenberg in the amount of $100,000 for the innovative work that Superintendent Dr. Helen Morgan is doing to support citywide literacy. This grant will be used to extend the successful literacy partnership the district developed with Footsteps2Brilliance®.  It provides access to Footstep2Brilliance’s proven bilingual pre-K to 3rd grade literacy solution to every family in the city of Hawthorne.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Footsteps2Brilliance CEO, Ilene Rosenthal, has joined the ALAS Advisory Council based in Washington, DC.  ALAS, the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents, is committed to serving the educational needs of all students with an emphasis on Latin/o/a/x youth by building capacity, promoting best practices, and transforming educational institutions.

The language gap between rich and poor children begins at birth.  In fact, Stanford University research found that 2-year-old children of lower income families may already be 6 months behind in language development.  Early learning gives the strongest return on investment, providing a clear path to a college education and career success.

Footsteps2Brilliance is excited to announce our partnership with College Bound from Birth. Designed and delivered by the early childhood education experts at Collaborative for Children, College Bound from Birth is a three-year quality improvement program offered at no cost in selected neighborhoods throughout Texas.  Program components aim to improve the quality of early learning, leading to kindergarten readiness.  Nobel Prize winning economist, James Heckman, whose research has proven the economic benefits of quality early learning, serves on the Collaborative for Children’s Advisory Board.