Too Small to Fail New “Talking is Teaching Community Campaign Guide,”

Dear Florida Staff,

This was shared on a listserve by Suzanne Flint

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Too Small to Fail, a joint initiative of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation and Next Generation, aims to help parents, communities and businesses take meaningful actions to improve the health and well-being of children ages zero to five, so that more of America’s children are prepared to succeed in the 21st century. Too Small to Fail is focusing its work on closing the “word gap.”  Studies have found that by age four, children in middle and upper income families hear 30 million more words than their lower-income peers. This disparity in hearing words from parents and caregivers translates directly into a disparity in learning words. And that puts our children born with the fewest advantages even further behind.

Too Small to Fail has released a new “Talking is Teaching Community Campaign Guide,” a how-to roadmap for local leaders (including libraries) across the country to initiate and enhance on-the-ground efforts to help close the word gap and boost young children’s early brain development. The guide and corresponding free downloadable brand assets and other resource materials can now be found on www.toosmall.org/community.  

The Community Campaign Guide builds off the success and lessons learned from Too Small to Fail’s local campaign efforts in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Oakland, California. The local campaign, titled “Talking is Teaching: Talk, Read, Sing,” launched in these communities in 2014. Since then, Too Small to Fail has worked within these communities to engage trusted messengers — such as pediatricians, faith-based leaders, child care providers and librarians — to educate parents and deliver high-quality tools that can help them engage in meaningful interactions with their young children starting at birth.

The guide offers adaptive “Talking is Teaching” creative content and resources that: 1) encourage parents to talk, read, and sing with their children during every-day routines — from waiting for the bus, to making dinner to giving a bath; 2) offer ideas for engaging the business community and other allies to raise awareness; and 3) provide suggestions about elevating community messages through local media. The free multimedia assets can be easily tailored to respond to the individual needs of a community or library.

Since libraries are already actively engaged in delivering high-quality services to their youngest users, their families and caregivers, the State Library hopes this collaborative partnership with Too Small to Fail and their  additional resources will only help enhance the great work libraries are doing every day!   

Regards, Suzanne

Suzanne Flint

Suzanne Flint | Library Programs Consultant | California State Library

Library Building II | 900 N Street | Sacramento, CA 95814

916.651.9796 direct  916.653.8443 fax  suzanne.flint@library.ca.gov email

Early Learning with Families 2.0  http://elf2.library.ca.gov/

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