Some words of wisdom on a Monday morning:

• No cussing in the house
• It’s important to make good choices
• Tell the mice to get out of your house

These are not my insights, but rather the sage advice shared by several 3 and 4 year old students to Baltimore’s Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake during her recent visit to the Y Elgin Head Start Center in West Baltimore! I want to thank the Mayor for participating as one of dozens of Y volunteers and associates across Central Maryland who stopped into one of our 33 early childhood sites (both Head Start and Preschools) to read to Y kids last week. This was all part of the Read Across America initiative, a nationwide reading celebration that takes place annually in March in honor of the one and only, Dr. Seuss, on the occasion of his birthday!

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Here’s what Y Community Leadership Board member Regina Salliey had to say about her experience:

“What a rewarding experience it was reading to the Green Turtles classroom, during Read Across America week! We read Dr. Seuss’ book, Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? The preschoolers were very engaged and enjoyed repeating the fun sounds from the book. They were so funny and cute!

It was a pleasure returning to the Weinberg Y preschool, where my son had his first educational experience, and be able to give back. To know that a 15 minute investment in the promotion of reading could have a lifetime impact on a child made it more than worth it!”

Regina works at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, an important Y funder and partner dedicated to the well-being and success of children. Her comment about the value of an investment in the education of young children, the very thing that the wise and oh so clever Dr. Theodor Seuss Geisel dedicated his amazing life to, is exactly on point. It’s the reason we commit such significant resources to our entire early childhood program and it’s the reason we are so proud to report that last year over 86% of Y Head Start and Preschool children transitioning to Kindergarten assessed as proficient in domains related to school readiness.

Now that, Mr. Cat, is an impressive stat!

All the best,
John

John K. Hoey
President & CEO