Jumpstart, a national early education non-profit organization, announced this week that actress and star of USA’s White Collar, Tiffani Thiessen, is the official celebrity ambassador of the 2013 Read for the Record campaign.
As ambassador, Thiessen will support the campaign by bringing awareness to the early childhood education crisis in America and Jumpstart’s solution to this critical issue by preparing children living in low-income communities to enter kindergarten with the skills they need to succeed.
Jumpstart’s Read for the Record, presented in partnership with the Pearson Foundation, is the one day of the year when millions of individuals come together to celebrate literacy by breaking the world record for reading the same book on the same day. On October 3, adults and children across the country will read Otis, by Loren Long in support of the campaign.
“We are honored to have Tiffani Thiessen as our 2013 Read for the Record celebrity ambassador,” said Naila Bolus, president and CEO of Jumpstart. “Her commitment to early education as both a public figure and a mother will be a valuable asset to the campaign this year.”
“As the mother of an almost three year old, Jumpstart’s mission hits close to home. I am proud to be a part of a campaign that advocates for all children to get the ‘jump start’ they need to thrive in school and in life,” said Thiessen.
In low-income neighborhoods, children start kindergarten 60 percent behind their peers from affluent communities, leaving them unprepared when it’s time to start school. When children start school behind, they are more likely to stay behind for the rest of their lives, and this gap only widens over time. In 2012, more than 2.3 million people participated in Jumpstart’s Read for the Record.
Thiessen currently stars as Elizabeth Burke in the hit USA Network television series White Collar.
For more information about Jumpstart’s Read for the Record campaign, please visit www.jstart.org/readfortherecord. To support Jumpstart and this year’s campaign, please click here.
