United Way of Miami-Dade participates in the 11th annual Read for the Record to focus attention on the importance of early childhood education

For the seventh consecutive year, United Way of Miami-Dade will participate in Jumpstart’s Read for the Record on Thursday, Oct. 27, a nationwide campaign, where millions of adults read the same book to young children to raise awareness for early childhood literacy.  United Way Young Leaders will once again take a leadership role in recruiting volunteers to read The Bear Ate Your Sandwich by Julia Sarcone-Roach to toddler and preschool students at the United Way Center for Excellence in Early Education, Demonstration School, Educare Miami. Young Leaders are matched with a student at the Center to promote the benefits of one-on-one, interactive reading. Each child is then given the book to keep as their own, and continue reading and learning beyond the classroom. SunTrust is the event sponsor.

United Way is focused on improving early literacy by funding local early education programs, establishing early education evidence-based practices at its Demonstration School, teaching families and educators through seminars and trainings, advocating for early education at the state and national levels, and coordinating the ReadingPals volunteer reader program, which aims to instill a love of reading in children at an early age.

United Way Young Leaders is a group of nearly 900 up-and-comers, under 40, who each make an annual gift of $1,000 or more to United Way of Miami-Dade. Young Leaders enjoys a series of year-round networking and volunteer activities that provide personal and professional growth opportunities. A few annual Young Leader events include: a Mural Painting Project at a Miami-Dade County Public School; Build Your Own Brunch; Luncheon with Leaders series, where the group learns from a C level executive; and Happy Hours for a Cause to network and mingle, among many others.