Thanks to the local organizations who made commitments prior to the Talk, Read, Play Conference & Community Conversation event August 25, 2014. We are blown away by your investment in the futures of Kansas City kids!

• Truman has committed to distributing Talk, Read, Play materials at its community outreach events.
• It sponsors family-friendly events such Touchdown Family Fest Health Fair and Healthy Halloween at Arrowhead that attract more than 3,000 families.
• In addition, Truman commits to distributing Talk, Read, Play materials at its seven Women, Infants and Children (WIC) clinics.
• These clinics see on average 13,000 participants each month.
• As the 9th largest employer in the metro with 4,200 employees, Truman has committed to promoting the Talk, Read, Play message to its employees through its e-newsletter and electronic messaging system in both hospital campuses.
• More than 7,200 babies are born in Kansas City, MO every year.
• Nearly half, 3,500, are born at Truman hospitals.
• With the help of the Kansas City Public Library and Mid-Continent Public Library, Truman will distribute a book and Talk, Read, Play-related materials to every baby born in their care.
• Truman also will train volunteers & staff in its maternity centers to share the importance of talking, reading, and playing with babies right from the start.

• The Kansas City Public library reaches more than 5,000 young children every month with its Stories-to-Go and Books-to-Go services.
• Mid-Continent Public Library is developing a brand new early literacy app called “Growing a Reader” due out this winter.
• Last year, Mid-Continent Public Library provided early literacy storytimes to over 90,000 children and caregivers at 30 library locations.

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• Today they commit to distributing 100,000 new books to children ages 0-5 over the next two years.
• LINC will work with FirstBook – a national non-profit which has distributed over 118 million new books to children in need – to secure high quality, age-appropriate books for early learners.

• One of the recipients of First Books will be Saint Lukes.
• Saint Luke’s Health System commits to distributing books provided by the First Book partnership to the families of the 5,500 babies who are born in their area hospitals each year.
• Their staff will include Talk, Read, Play tips about interacting with your child to the books.
• They will also feature Talk, Read, Play information at community outreach events and in internal communications with their 9,500+ employees throughout the year.
• Crittenton Children’s Center, a member of the health system specializing in behavioral health for children and families, will also distribute Talk, Read, Play information to parents through their various treatment and community-based programs.
• One program in particular, which has received considerable national attention, is Trauma Smart.
• It is an early childhood model to help preschool children who’ve experienced Toxic Stress and the adults who care for them calmly navigate difficult life challenges.

• American Academy of Pediatrics created a new policy that makes literacy promotion an essential component of pediatric practice, starting at the newborn visit.
• will also include tips on early language development thanks to Too Small To Fail.

The local coordinator for Text4Baby is the Mother and Child Health Coalition, which believes that the best gift a community can give its children is a healthy start.

• The Mother and Child Health Coalition has committed today to working with its health partners to increase the number of sign ups to Text4Baby and to distributing the Talk, Read, Play materials to its 300 members as well as to 800 families in the Kansas City Healthy Start home visitation program.

• It processes 20,000 birth certificate requests each year and has committed to including information about Talk, Read, Play with every request.

• More than 13,000 children are admitted each year to its hospitals and Children’s Mercy has committed to including information about Talk,Read,Play in its discharge packets.
• Also, in partnership with Reach Out and Read KC, Children’s Mercy will include Talk, Read, Play materials with books distributed at participating clinics and NICUs

• In the last couple of years, Kansas City Public Schools has invested in early learning in a big way, at a cost of $8 million a year .
• Kansas City Public Schools has committed to promoting Talk Read Play to families served by its early learning centers, and its Parents As Teachers program.
• Approximately, 1,200 3 and 4-year-olds attend preschool at KCPS and Parents as Teachers serves roughly 1,000 infants and toddlers every year through screenings and home visits.

• Hickman Mills is the first school district in Kansas City to provide free full-day pre-K for all four year olds within its boundaries.
• That’s 600 children.
• The district has invested over $9 million to renovate Ervin Middle School into Ervin Early Learning Center.
• Hickman Mills has committed to its early childhood teachers and Parents as Teachers sharing materials with and talking to families about the importance of Talk, Read, Play.
• The early childhood centers will also host family engagement events to reinforce the Talk, Read, Play message with its families.

• It will work with Partners-In–Quality and its community-based early learning programs to disseminate information about Talk, Read, Play.
• In total, MCEL reaches approximately 3,800 children and the members of Partners-In-Quality touch many thousands more.
• In addition, Mid-America Head Start will disseminate Talk, Read, Play materials through home visits, parent-teacher conferences, parent meetings, and classrooms.
• Roughly 3,000 children in the Metro are in Head Start.

• Over 6,700 young children and their parents are served by Success By 6 Centers.
• United Way will ask each Center to make information on Talk, Read, Play available to the parents they serve.
• In addition, United Way of Greater Kansas City will commit to providing Talk, Read, Play materials at every Dolly Parton Imagination Library enrollment event.
• Imagination Library signs up young children ages 0 to 5 to receive a book per month every year until age 5.
• United Way is committed to growing the enrollment to 5,000 children over the next five years.

• The Concerned Clergy has committed to disseminating a toolkit of materials and promotional ideas to its member congregations to promote Talk Read Play.
• The toolkit will have messaging that can be included in sermons and church newsletters, and materials that can be distributed at church events and other gatherings.

• Its employees to volunteer at Family Events at early childhood centers to emphasize the importance of Talk, Read, Play through fun and engaging activities.
• KCP&L will promote Talk, Read, Play in its customer newsletter, The Wire, which goes out quarterly to 800,000 households and businesses.
• KCP&L will also feature Talk, Read, Play in its employee electronic newsletter, which goes out to 3,000 employees.

• City of Kansas City Missouri has adopted the Talk, Read, Play campaign as a City initiative.
• Will include Talk, Read, Play insert in water bills;
• Promote Talk Read Play through the City’s social media channels;
• Air educational pieces on Channel 2;
• Post information to City employees (4,500) through our internal communications;
• Place bumper stickers on all 300 city vehicles;
• Display Talk, Read, Play materials at all 10 community centers. KC community centers receive 421,000 visitors last year.