Educators, government leaders, and children’s advocates from across the Lehigh Valley attended the Lehigh Valley Reads Experience at Northampton Community College on December 3, 2019. Attendees participated in a cradle to career immersion exercise. This interactive program helped attendees understand the importance of equity over equality; some children need less resources, and some need more. The audience worked together to share “resources” with the fictional students with the most need.
The exercise was conducted by Jill Pereira, Vice President of Education And Impact at United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, and Angela Zanelli, Campaign Manager for Lehigh Valley Reads.
Some audience members played the role of students, while others had the role of advocating for the students used available resources to help their students move toward prosperity. The exercise shone a spotlight on the impact that educational resources can have on students from a young age, and how life events can hinder a student’s chance of success through no fault of their own.
Read The Story from United Way Greater Lehigh Valley
Watch The Nightly News Segment from PBS39
The audience received updates from those leading the bodies of work about the progress made over the last year. The Lehigh Valley Reads mascot, Corey, made a special appearance to kick off the day.
Thank you Crayola for being our event sponsor!