FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, GA. – In a groundbreaking expansion within its home state, Preface recently formed a milestone partnership with the city of Washington, Georgia, the Wilkes County Community Partnership, and the Four “E” Youth Organization to promote early childhood literacy in the next generation.
To celebrate the launch of its models in Washington, Preface gave a Legacy Gift of children’s books and thousands of dollars of healthcare resources (donated by Earth Baby) to the Washington and Wilkes County community.
Like many less urban cities, Washington, boasting a population of 4,000, found that they needed to rapidly embrace innovation to best meet the educational needs of their students, especially with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Distance learning has also disrupted some of the vital daily routines that create positive learning environments for children.
To help address these challenges, Preface and leading community institutions within Washington teamed up to offer innovative solutions that didn’t require network access. Given Preface’s mission of fostering Equality Through Education and early childhood literacy, tailoring their literacy model and providing an in-person Legacy Gift library to meet Washington’s unique needs was a perfect fit, ensuring that local needs could continue to be met by local solutions.
“Washington will be leading the way in showing Georgia and our country how communities can come together.” said Jonathan “JT” Wu, Founder and Executive Director of Preface. “We can ensure that every child, no matter where they live, what they look like, or what language they speak, has the educational foundations that they need to pursue their own dreams.”
Preface and Washington-Wilkes County partnered with the Four “E” Youth Center to form a mentorship-based Preface program connecting high school and elementary school students within the county. The diverse selection of over 150 award-winning and educator-approved children’s books contained in Preface’s Legacy Gift is intended to help jumpstart reading relationships for students and high school “Ambassador” mentors across the County.
“Reinforcing the good efforts of our Wilkes County Schools to support and encourage reading is a total win for us,” said Bill DeGolian, the mayor of Washington, Georgia. “Preface Project’s focus on the mentoring of early grade students by high school students builds literacy and enriches our sense of community in Washington-Wilkes County.”
Preface leadership noted that this Legacy Gift was made possible by a generous grant from the Pritchard Foundation, and that the books were specially chosen to highlight the vast diversity and experiences of Washington-Wilkes students. This library will be housed in the Four “E” Youth Center and used by students in Washington for years to come.
“Partnering with Preface is golden for our Washington-Wilkes Community, because it will afford us the opportunity to birth a needed peer mentoring program, and increase literacy,” said Amethyst D. Wynn, Executive Director of Wilkes County Community Partnership, Inc. “The gift of popular, interesting, and age-appropriate books will help to make reading fun and exciting!”
A link to written coverage by The News-Reporter is available here.
About Preface:
Founded in 2019, Preface is a public-private philanthropic initiative dedicated to fostering Equality Through Education and early childhood literacy - often with a multilingual twist! Partnering with educators and community leaders, Preface empowers local high schoolers to give back to their communities and bridge opportunity gaps by fostering literacy among young students of all backgrounds. A federally recognized 501(c)(3) organization, Preface is proudly headquartered in Gwinnett County, Georgia and serves communities across America. Learn more at www.PrefaceProject.org.
For further inquiries, contact:
Devon Naftzger
Chief Marketing Officer
Preface Public Relations
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