Celebrating Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children First Friday Scranton. For many years, the United Way and Success By 6 have worked with the state program Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children with a shared belief that every young child in our state deserves the chance to be successful in school and life. October is PA Promise for Children month, and we kicked off the month-long celebration by participating in First Friday Scranton, hosted by Peoples Security Bank and Trust. The theme this year was “I Have the Promise To Be...” and featured a closer look at various occupations. Children were invited to visit our table to draw a picture of what they want to be when they grow up. Their artwork was then displayed, making each child a featured First Friday artist! Children’s books, activities and developmental information was also distributed. In addition, volunteers from the Jewish Community Center of Scranton led our first-ever LIVE UNITED Zumba Flash Mob, and we highlighted our new “Picture Your Impact” initiative which features photographs taken by Marywood University student Laura Drapek at our partner agencies to put faces behind the statistics of those helped by the United Way everyday. Several of those photos can be found in this report.
read out loud. To highlight the importance of early literacy, Success By 6 continued its popular guest reader program during Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children month in October. This event LIVE UNITED recruits volunteers from local companies and organizations to “Read Out Loud” in area preschool 79 VOLUNTEERS classrooms. As part of PA Promise for Children month, this year’s book selections focused on career exploration as part of the “I Have the Promise to Be...” theme.
26 COMPANIES/ ORGANIZATIONS 1,032 CHILDREN 86 CLASSROOMS
READ OUT LOUD 2013
Pictured, above from left: Marywood University student Laura Drapek and the “Picture Your Impact” display; Angelena is one of our featured First Friday artists; Mindy from the Jewish Community Center of Scranton leads a spirited Zumba Flash Mob.
summer learning. Although school is over for the summer, the learning does not stop! Research indicates that children lose an average of more than two months of grade level equivalency over the summer, and the trend is even more alarming for children from lower income families. With funding from PNC Grow Up Great, the United Way is providing Summer Take Home Kits to students entering 2nd grade at McNichols Plaza in Scranton. Each kit will have five books, activity sheets and a journal. Program participants will be invited to events over the summer to encourage participation/completion. A similar program is also being implemented at the Carbondale Area Elementary School. 5 | United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties 2013-14 Annual Report