Orlando Mayor Dyer joined with preschool children, families, volunteers and ORLANDO CARES partners Early Learning Coalition and Adult Literacy League to launch the latest Cities of Service initiative on Tuesday.
During the launch of the Preschool Ambassadors program, Dyer cheerfully read to a group of kindergarten students, “Miss Bindgarten gets Ready for Kindergarten” by Joseph Slate.
Preschool Ambassadors, one initiative under the ORLANDO CARES volunteer plan, is a program that aims to engage families in early literacy activities, increase pre-kindergarten enrollment and improve literacy instruction in pre-kindergarten centers. Preschool Ambassadors program will specifically focus on increasing student readiness for elementary school and address low student enrollment in free pre-kindergarten programs, by training a cadre of volunteers to educate families and enroll children in low-participating neighborhoods.
In March earlier this year, Mayor Dyer launched ORLANDO CARES, the City’s high-impact volunteer service plan made possible through a $200,000 Cities of Service Leadership Grant awarded to Orlando in June 2010, and funded jointly by the Rockefeller Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
ORLANDO CARES is designed to address the issues of youth crime prevention and education through six service initiatives.
Other programs already launched under ORLANDO CARES are: Mayor Buddy’s Book Club, COMPACT Expansion and The Garden initiative.
Today’s launch of Preschool Ambassadors at the Conway Learning Center, marks the fourth program, with the remainder to be launched later this fall.
