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Advocacy

At different times, we may be called upon to be advocates for early literacy to different audiences: to our bosses, our boards of directors, our communities, our patrons, our local schoolteachers, businesses, or agencies. How can we be effective advocates?  Below are some advocacy-related blog posts to get you started:
 
To see all monthly "advocacy tips", click on the "advocacy tips" tag on one of the blog posts.

Advocacy Tip for July: Give handouts to parents during Storytime

Note: CLEL will be posting a new Advocacy Tip every month. To see all the tips, click on the "Advocacy Tip" tag above.

You are an early literacy advocate if you: Give handouts to parents during storytime. 

Handouts provide a tangible reminder of visiting the library, let the parents check out books they liked from storytime, and are an opportunity to provide low key early literacy tips.

Who's going to ALA? Report back!

It's annual conference time! Who's going to DC?  Alas, I am not going this year, but if I were, I would be sure to attend this one:
Monday, June 28 (From the ALSC site):

Nobel-prize-winning economist advocates for early childhood education

Dr. James J. Heckman, Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at The University of Chicago and a nobel-prize-winning economist, has spent his career studying the economics of human potential. Through his study, he has found that there are great economic gains to be had by investing in early childhood development. In fact, the rate of return on investment is 10%!

Report by Unicef ranks U.S. 24th in childhood poverty -- out of 24 wealthy countries.

At a recent U.S. Senate hearing titled "The State of the American Child", Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., called for the formation of a national commission dedicated to finding ways to improve the lives of children in this country.  This came as a result of a 2007 report by Unicef that found the U.S.

Colorado Early Childhood eNews: June edition features article on partnering with libraries

Uploaded by flikr user KOMUnewsIf you haven't already, check out this article by CLEL's own Priscilla Queen entitled "Libraries: A Natural Community Partner".

Support the efforts of CLEL: buy a t-shirt!

CLEL mugYou can now support CLEL with just one click! We've added a link to our zazzle merchandise shop to the homepage - on the lower right side. Part of the proceeds from each coffee cup, sticker, magnet, tote bag, or t-shirt goes to CLEL, helping our efforts to promote early literacy learning in Colorado! Thank you!

Advocacy Tip for June: Organize a Read In!

Note: CLEL will be posting a new Advocacy Tip every month. To see all the tips, click on the "Advocacy Tips" tag above.

You are an early literacy advocate if you organize a Read-In to kickoff the summer reading program, National Library Week, Children's Book Week, etc.

From flikr user http://www.flickr.com/photos/neu4bauer/