Poverty and Children's Literacy

Bipartisan Celebration at PA Society to Benefit Children's Literacy Programs

All funds raised will go to First Book to purchase new books for children in Pennsylvania

Last update: 12:18 p.m. EST Dec. 8, 2008

HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec 08, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- A fundraiser to help bring the magic of a child's first book to thousands of Pennsylvania children is being held for the first time this year as part of the annual Pennsylvania Society weekend.

Sponsored by the non-partisan Pennsylvania Children's Foundation, the First Annual Holiday Celebration on December 12 will benefit First Book, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to expand children's access to books in order to improve their literacy skills and help them develop an interest in reading.

Governors Ed Rendell and Tom Ridge; U.S. Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey; Ambassador Marilyn Ware; and Mayors Michael Nutter and Luke Ravenstahl are chairing the First Annual Holiday Celebration. Other elected officials and state leaders are hosting the event.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, 18% of Pennsylvania children under the age of six live in poverty and children in more than two-thirds of the state are at moderate or high risk of school failure. Studies show that children from low-income families enter school at a significant disadvantage because they have not been exposed to books at home and over 80% of preschool and after-school programs serving low-income children have no age-appropriate books. As a result, the gap in reading comprehension scores between children from low- and high-income families is more than 40 points and 27% of Pennsylvania fourth graders are reading below grade-level.

The Pennsylvania Children's Foundation was created this year to benefit children's literacy programs throughout the Commonwealth. All funds raised at the December 12 Holiday Celebration in New York City will be dedicated to First Book programs in Pennsylvania. First Book works with local Advisory Boards who reach children through literacy programs at Head Start centers, libraries, soup kitchens, churches, housing projects and after-school initiatives.

The First Annual Holiday Celebration will be held on Friday, Dec. 12, from 10:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. in the Empire Room of the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel in New York City. Tickets are $250 each and tax-deductible as a charitable contribution to First Book. Contact Karen Walsh at 717-982-8194 or kwalsh@neimangroup.com for more information.

ABOUT FIRST BOOK -- First Book provides new books to children in need, addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy -- access to books. An innovative leader in social enterprise, First Book has distributed more than 60 million free and low-cost books in thousands of communities. First Book now has offices in the U.S. and Canada. For more information about the nonprofit First Book please visit http://www.firstbook.org or call 866-393-1222.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Children's Foundation