Dear Friends,
This year, Jumpstart marked 25 years of service. Twenty-five years of putting children first and, with your support, investing in the potential of all young learners. To celebrate this milestone, we spent the 2018-2019 program year refining our approach, redoubling our commitment, and raising our voices in support of constituents and communities across the country.
Three words capture what guided and drove our work: opportunity, advocacy, and change. In the 2018-2019 impact report below, I am excited to share a few stories that illustrate the ways that we lived into these themes last year. Our efforts were expansive. We rolled out a revised version of our evidence-based curriculum to improve outcomes for children and developed a new stand-alone summer curriculum to enhance children’s kindergarten readiness. We piloted a new field staffing model to strengthen program delivery, and we conducted our first-ever survey of nearly 10,000 Jumpstart alumni. We initiated a new strategic planning process, celebrated our 14th Read for the Record, endorsed federal policies, and developed proposals for new legislation.
Our founders had an ambitious dream. Over the last 25 years, you have not only helped make their dream a reality, but helped Jumpstart grow, expand, evolve, and improve. As we conclude this anniversary year, we are already advancing toward our vision for the next 25 years. With your support, we will continue to seek opportunities for greater impact, advocate for and alongside our communities, and drive systemic change. I can only imagine what we will accomplish together in the next 25 years.
In service,
Naila Bolus
President & CEO
OPPORTUNITY
Preparing Jumpstart Children for Kindergarten and Beyond
Curriculum Revision Enhances Oral Language Skills
After piloting a curriculum revision for three years, in 2018-2019 we rolled out the revision to the full Jumpstart network — over 670 classrooms. The curriculum increases focus on the oral language skills of vocabulary and comprehension, with a special emphasis on social-emotional language skills, which studies show are linked to later school success.
Did you know? 97% of Jumpstart Members would recommend Jumpstart to a peer.
“Jumpstart has played such a large role in my life—not just from my formative years as a child with my sister in preschool, but even now as a college student.”
—Samantha Perez, Jumpstart child participant and current Jumpstart UCLA Member
ADVOCACY
A Leading Voice for Early Education Equity
TJX Supports 14th Annual Read for the Record® and Sparks a Global Literacy Movement
Jumpstart’s Read for the Record—an annual campaign focused on fostering awareness of the importance of early literacy, increasing access to high-quality children’s books, and building an intergenerational, global movement—was powered this year by the TJX Companies, the campaign’s Exclusive Presenting Sponsor. Launched in spring 2019, Read for the Record’s special edition of the campaign book, Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora, was available in English and Spanish. More than 150,000 campaign books were distributed for children to take home and enjoy for long after Read for the Record.
Did you know? #ReadfortheRecord garnered over 6,500 posts in the most recent campaign.
Jumpstart Support Helps Close Early Educator Pay Gap in NYC
NYC-based Jumpstart partners came together to urge the city’s leaders to recognize the significant role early educators play in the lives of our youngest children. In July, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, District Council 1707 Local 205 (DC 1707) labor union and the Day Care Council of New York reached a tentative contract agreement that creates a pathway to close the pay gap between community-based early educators and their counterparts in the Department of Education.
“Jumpstart is grounded in the notion that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, that opportunity is created when we each take responsibility, not just for ourselves, but for our neighbors and for our communities. We may represent just a small ripple in the resistance, but ripples can turn the tide.”
—Dianne Morales, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Phipps Neighborhoods and Jumpstart’s founding Chief Operating Officer
CHANGE
Build the Future of Early Education Leadership
$1M Workforce Grant Expands Early Education Pipeline
Jumpstart’s members have incredible potential to change the face and expand the pipeline of high-quality talent entering the early childhood workforce. Therefore, Jumpstart has made workforce development a critical component of our work. Thanks to a major initial investment from the Stranahan Foundation secured this year, this work will grow in the coming three years.
Did you know? In a recent survey of alumni, over 50% of respondents reported working in early childhood education and over 83% cited Jumpstart as inspiring their career path
“I wouldn’t be the teacher I am today, or probably a teacher at all, if it weren’t for Jumpstart.”
—Patrick Romero, Education Coach with Mission Neighborhood Centers, Inc and Tufts University Jumpstart alumnus
Our Supporters
$500,000+
- California Volunteers
- Corporation for National and Community Service—AmeriCorps, State and National
- Corporation for National and Community Service—Senior Corps, Foster Grandparent Program
- Massachusetts Service Alliance
- New Yorkers Volunteer
- Chris and Loretta Stadler
- The TJX Foundation
- Robert and Jennifer Waldron
$250,000 - $499,999
- Barr Foundation
- Missouri Community Service Commission
- Serve Connecticut
- Serve DC
$100,000 - $249,999
- Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Thomas Connolly
- CVC Capital Partners
- The Eisner Foundation
- Franklin Templeton Investments
- Hearst Foundations
- David Humphrey and Markella Zanni
- Greg and Tracy Johnson
- Joshua and Anita Bekenstein Charitable Fund
- LEGO Community Fund U.S.
- Lissy Family Fund
- May and Stanley Smith Charitable Trust
- MFS Investment Management
- The Pinkerton Foundation
- Silver Giving Foundation
- United Way of Greater Atlanta/Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation
$50,000 - $99,999
- Anonymous (2)
- The Ahmanson Foundation
- Bright Horizons Family Solutions
- Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority
- Early Education Funders Collaborative
- Richard Friedman
- GGS Foundation
- Liberty Mutual Foundation
- Jennifer and Andrew Marrus
- Mimi and Peter Haas Fund
- Kay and Anjan Mukherjee
- News Corp
- PwC
- The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation
- Research Foundation CUNY
- Richard W. Goldman Family Foundation
- The Rose Hills Foundation
- Robert Small and Christine Olsen
- The Stocker Foundation
- Stranahan Foundation
- Valley of the Sun United Way
- W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation
