Members of the Tampa Bay Chamber’s Leadership Tampa Class of 2023 delivered hundreds of children’s books to the Tampa Police Department's District 3 Headquarters in East Tampa, making good on their class promise to the non-profit Champions for Children. More than a month after graduating from the nation’s third oldest leadership program of its kind, members of LT23 reactivated and re-gathered to install a children's reading area at the police station, where law enforcement agents serve local families in a variety of ways. The spot called a "book nook" was installed on-site on January 23rd. These LT23 classmates, now part of the Leadership Tampa Alumni association, partnered with the Hillsborough Education Foundation to secure the children's furniture for the book nook.
Champions for Children has 25 book nooks across Hillsborough County, by way of its TALK READ SING Tampa Bay program. It caught the attention of this LT class, after members learned that less than 50% of children born in Hillsborough County start kindergarten without basic skills necessary to learn. It’s a significant number of disadvantaged children when you consider that Hillsborough is the seventh largest school district in the country. This LT23 class project helps address this challenge of school readiness with its donation of hundreds of books for children 5 years old and younger. The effort led by Class Project Co-Chairs Dr. Meaza Morrison and Anna Corman raised nearly $600 towards the purchase of the books. That's enough to fully stock the book nook at the Tampa Police District 3 office for 1 year - 337 books in total - plus two other book nooks Champions has in the community!
"We are excited to continue this partnership by hosting book drives annually to keep our LT23 Book Nook in TPD Precinct 3 stocked and help stock other Nooks as well," said Morrison, Managing Partner at Morrison Advisory Consulting. "It has been an honor to work with Champions for Children's, Talk Read Sing Program in sharing their message on the importance of early engagement with reading," added Morrison, explaining how their group is planning annual book drives in August to restock the book nook at the police department year after year. "The part of this project I love is that it will continue on and have a lasting impression," said Mark Colvenbach, Chair of LT23 and Executive Director of Career Services at the University of Tampa.
For at least one Chamber member the book nook installation also became a great "teaching moment" with her young daughter. The little one saw first-hand how her mommy helped other children in the community, and she got to meet a real-life police officer!
“Champions for Children is honored to be chosen as the LT23 Project. We are excited through this partnership to be sharing books with even more families this year and for many years to come," said Kristina Kilpatrick, Manager of the non-profit's Community Initiatives and Partnerships. For Kilpatrick and the team at Champions, the Class of LT 2023 is certainly the best-class-ever! "Thank you for helping us continue to teach families about the importance of talking, reading, and singing in the early years," she said.
Learn more about LTA and Leadership Tampa.
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