JetBlue "Soar with Reading" Event this Sunday at The Strand

Hey NYC: How does 100,000 FREE books into the hands of underprivileged kids here in the city sound? Have I got your attention? Great! Bring on the online #BookBattle.

Here's the back story -- Soar with Reading, a program designed to champion reading in children, was created by JetBlue Airways (through their JetBlue For Good program) & Random House Children's Books in 2011. To date, Soar with Reading has given out over 2,750,000 books to kids living in "book deserts," areas where children & their families have little or no access to purchase age-appropriate books, which we all know can stunt academic development. A truly incredible effort!

So, how do we get those books coming our way? Turns out one little vote (and a whole lot of spreading the word) is all it takes. You see, this online Book Battle is between NYC, Los Angeles, Boston and San Francisco. Whoever gets the most votes wins the contest, and we are currently in 2nd PLACE behind Boston. Boooo.... (sorry, Boston)!

To drum up excitement for this year's Soar with Reading competition, NYC residents & tourists alike are invited to Strand Bookstore this Sunday, August 6th, from 12-2pm. Authors R.J. Palacio (Wonder) and Chris Grabenstein (Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library) will be present for a meet & greet & book signing. Guests will enjoy complimentary scoops from JetBlue's local ice cream partner, Blue Marble, while also learning about the Soar with Reading program.

One last bit of good news: in an effort to measure Soar with Reading's impact, research was done in Detroit and Washington, D.C. after vending machine were installed in those cities. The results were more than positive:

• Three out of four children with access to the vending machines scored higher on early literacy exams than before they had access to the machines.
• Children who did not use the machine on average scored lower on the test.
• Parents in neighborhoods with the machines had more knowledge about their children’s reading habits compared to parents in areas without the machines.

So come on out! Bring your little reader and support an amazing cause from JetBlue and Random House Children's Books. And don't forget to VOTE! 

Disclosure: I am being compensated to promote this event and the Soar with Reading program by JetBlue. All opinions herein are my own.

New Campaign in NY Announces Children have #SeenEnoughTobacco

I am so glad that I see fewer and fewer people smoking. I hardly know anyone who smokes anymore, and that's amazing news considering I've had family members who sadly died from lung cancer. But to say that the tobacco industry is going away is a vast understatement. In fact, the way they target children in their marketing efforts is just horrendous, and as such, I'm proud to share the work of Tobacco Free NYS. Their current campaign (#SeenEnoughTobacco) is centered around children's over-exposure to tobacco promotions.

Did you know that in New York State, tobacco companies spend more than a half a million dollars every day to place promotions in stores where kids can see them? Stores located close to schools contain nearly three times the amount of cigarette promotions. There is a direct correlation here: the more children see these ads, the more they will want to try cigarettes. The average age of a new smoker is 13 YEARS OLD.

And if that wasn't enough for you, the U.S. Surgeon General calls smoking a "pediatric epidemic," directly stating that “Advertising and promotional activities by tobacco companies have been shown to cause the onset and continuation of smoking among adolescents and young adults.”

It's time to stand up against these marketing efforts towards children. You can pledge your support of Tobacco Free NYS' #SeenEnoughTobacco campaign HERE.

           

Thanks for doing your part!


Disclosure: I received compensation to assist in promoting this campaign by Seen Enough Tobacco. All opinions are my own.

A Morning w/ Citizen STEM Award Winners & Good Housekeeping

I recently attended a tour of Good Housekeeping's Research Institute at Hearst Tower as part of a group from the New Jersey Center for Teaching & Learning. The NJCTL, an independent non-profit that focuses on empowering teachers & students in STEM training, hosted a contest with Citizen for 9th grade physics students in New Jersey, and the four winners & their families were invited to NYC to take part in the tour.

With four (potential) future engineers in the room, the NJCTL wanted to demonstrate the many possibilities in the engineering field, and the kind of work performed at Good Housekeeping's Research Institute is an excellent example. I found the tour fascinating; did you know that Good Housekeeping stopped taking cigarette ads 12 YEARS before the Surgeon General's report on the effects of smoking came out? Good Housekeeping's engineers & technologists are proud of the research behind their Seal of Approval, as well they should be!

the view atop Hearst Tower

Congrats to the following winners (who were also gifted with a CTO watch from the Citizen Watch Drive collection):

Gabrielle Grupenhof, River Dell High School
Desire Trudy Walker, 9th Grade Academy, Trenton
MacKenzie Szabo, Secaucus High School
Isaac Hyungwoo Yi, Bergen Tech

Interested in learning more about the NJCTL? They offer free course materials on their website that are available for download, from kindergarten through 8th grade algebra & beyond! Summer vacation is coming up, after all...


Disclosure: This post was written in partnership with Citizen.