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
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