Long Island University Joins Jumpstart’s Read for the Record
- Helping make early education a national priority through reading campaign -

Brooklyn, N.Y. -– Long Island University Jumpstart is joining a national effort to create awareness about the education gap that exists between socioeconomic levels in the U.S., while raising money to fund early education for underserved youth. Jumpstart’s Read for the Record is a national campaign to engage children and adults in an effort to break the world record for the most children reading the same book on the same day.

“Early learning experiences are crucial to the growth and development of young children,” said Fabiola Alexis, site coordinator for Jumpstart Brooklyn at the University’s Brooklyn Campus.  “Jumpstart’s Read for the Record provides an opportunity for everyone in the United States to make early education a national priority.”  She encouraged readers of all ages to register at www.readfortherecord.org and sign up to read the campaign’s official book, “The Story of Ferdinand,” on Thursday, September 20. Tomorrow, celebrities such as Mayor Bloomberg, LL Cool J and Wycelf Jean will give readings of the book from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Rockefeller Plaza.

Jumpstart is a national nonprofit organization focused on intervening early in the lives of at-risk children, through intensive, one-to-one early education mentoring. Jumpstart’s Read for the Record will generate public awareness by creating the largest “shared reading experience” ever and by breaking the record set on a single day in August 2006, when 150,000 people across the country read the same book as part of the inaugural campaign. Last year, Jumpstart’s Read for the Record raised more than $500,000 to support the organization’s programs, which serve preschool children from low-income communities across 20 states.

“When children begin behind their peers, catching up, especially without additional assistance, is difficult and unlikely,” says Jumpstart’s CEO, George Askew, M.D. “Studies show that children from low-income communities engage in one-to-one reading far less often than their middle class peers.” Also, these children often do not have any age-appropriate books in their homes. The result: children from families with lesser means tend to enter kindergarten with vocabularies that are one-fourth that of children with greater financial resources.

Jumpstart’s longstanding relationships with its national multi-year partners are a key component of its ongoing efforts to help at-risk children develop their language, literacy, and social skills in preparation for kindergarten. Three of Jumpstart’s partners – Toys “R” Us, American Eagle and Hanna Andersson – are selling the custom limited edition of “The Story of Ferdinand,” which will be available in their retail locations (and on Hanna Andersson’s website) September 5-30. One hundred percent of the purchase price goes to fund Jumpstart’s programs in low-income communities. 

The campaign website, www.readfortherecord.org, provides information about donating books to Jumpstart children, as well as joining shared reading events.  For more information, contact Fabiola Alexis at (718) 780-4355.

ABOUT JUMPSTART’S READ FOR THE RECORD:
Jumpstart is a national nonprofit organization that engages preschool children from low-income communities in an intensive early education program to improve their cognitive and emotional development, ensuring they enter kindergarten prepared to succeed at grade level. Jumpstart’s Read for the Record is a national campaign to encourage hundreds of thousands of children and adults to read the same book, The Story of Ferdinand, on the same day, September 20, 2007. The expansive shared reading experience will raise public awareness about the early education gap that exists between income levels, as well as raise money to support Jumpstart’s national early education programs.  For more information, please visit the campaign website at www.readfortherecord.org or visit Jumpstart’s website at www.jstart.org.

ABOUT LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY:
Long Island University opened its Brooklyn Campus in 1926, welcoming a diverse population at a time when other major universities enforced quota systems against racial and ethnic minorities. Located at the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, the Campus is accessible to all major bus and subway routes and the Long Island Rail Road.