Planet Laundry Nov 2020

LAUNDRI ES CONNECT ING COMMUNI T I ES

Bob Nieman

Summit 2020: Literacy-Rich Spaces in Everyday Places

The LaundryCares Foundation, Too Small to Fail Host 3rd Annual LaundryCares Literacy Summit

In mid-September, more than 870 laundromat owners, librarians, educators and philanthropists came together for the 3rd annual LaundryCares Literacy Summit, a three-day virtual event that was spread out over a two-week period. Conducted via Zoom, this year’s Summit – hosted by the Coin Laundry Association’s LaundryCares Foundation and Too Small to Fail, the early childhood initiative of the Clinton Foundation – renewed commitments to promote early learning and create literacy-rich environments in everyday spaces, such as laundromats, for children and their families. In addition, the event focused on exploring the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on early learning, and actions business owners and community leaders can take to support parents and children in under-resourced communities. Kicking off the 2020 event, CLA President and CEO Brian Wallace mused on how far this annual event had come since its launch in 2018. “Basically, the first Summit featured about 30 of us, kicking around ideas and trying to figure out whether this concept had legs,”Wallace recalled. “How do we work together and combine our efforts to connect laundry customers and their kids with the books and literacy materials they need most?” Fast-forward to 2020, this year’s event featured such top-tier speakers as President Bill Clinton; Chelsea Clinton, vice chair, the Clinton Foundation; Patti Miller, CEO, Too Small To Fail; best-selling author Andrea Davis Pinkey; Cindy McCain, the McCain Institute for International Leadership; Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, senior vice president, SesameWorkshop; Dr. Susan Neuman, NewYork University; Ralph Smith, managing director, Campaign for Grade Level Reading; and best-selling children’s author MoWillems. The opening-day program featured a pre-recorded keynote by President Clinton, as well as a conversation between Clinton and

Wes Moore of the Robin Hood Foundation about the power of making a difference in a child’s life. Moore challenged attendees to find ways to show our youth that they truly matter. Also during the first session, Wallace moderated a panel discussion of laundry owners who shared the impactful ways they’re using their businesses to serve local families. The panelists included Brian Holland, Laundry Café, Philadelphia; JimWhitmore, WSI Laundry Corp., Gloucester, Mass.; and Jane Wolfe, WashWorld, New Orleans. All three of these owners have installed LaundryCares’ Family Read, Play & Learn centers in their facilities to help promote early childhood learning. Family Read, Play & Learn spaces, developed by LaundryCares, are playful, literacy-rich areas to help prompt activities like talking, reading, singing and writing among young children and their parents. These spaces include a sofa, a bookshelf

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coinlaundry.org November 2020

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