Sponsor Highlight: PNC Bank
During Child Abuse Prevention Month, Champions for Children is proud to highlight some of our long-time partners here on our website and via our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter channels.
Today, we are excited to share about our partnership with PNC Bank, PNC Foundation and their PNC Grow Up Great® program. Since 2015, PNC has generously supported Champions for Children through more than $75,000 in sponsorships and grants. In addition to providing critical funding for our Layla’s House and Parents as Teachers programs, PNC also played an instrumental role in enabling us to kick off our Talk Read Sing Tampa Bay Community Campaign in 2019. We are also proud to have two members of the PNC team serve on our Board of Directors: Keith Fakhoury, a PNC Wealth Management relationship strategist, who joined us this year and has already brought new energy and ideas to our work; and Dianne Jacob, PNC Bank’s senior vice president of Client & Community Relations, who since joining us in 2016 has been a leading voice for early childhood programming, and will take on the role of our Board President in 2022.
Right now, many Tampa Bay families are struggling to balance a wide range of stressors while trying to adapt to the ever-changing “new normal.” During this time, it is more important than ever that we as a community, not lose sight of ensuring every child has a good beginning that lasts a lifetime. That’s why Champions for Children works every day to build stronger families with thriving children and is proud to work with corporate partners like PNC whose values strongly align with ours.
Since 2004, PNC Grow Up Great has been helping children from birth to age five develop a passion for learning. This bilingual initiative is designed to help prepare children – particularly underserved children – for success in school and in life. Through the program, PNC emphasizes the importance of the first five years of life, which research has shown is critical to long-term achievement and provides innovative opportunities that assist families, educators, and community partners to enhance children’s learning and development. Like Champions, PNC believes that an investment in pre-K students and their families makes good economic sense and plants the seeds for the dynamic workforce of tomorrow.
Through the Grow Up Great program, PNC brings quality early learning experiences to young children and provides free resources to foster daily learning interactions with young children. If you’re a parent, caregiver, or educator, these are great resources – and they’re completely free!
- PNC Grow Up Great Lesson Center: Free, high-quality arts and science lesson plans, with a Teacher’s Toolkit that contains videos and tips to support inquiry-based learning in the early childhood classroom.
- Sesame Street® Learning Resources: Bilingual resources – from digital storybooks to podcasts and more – that were developed in partnership with Sesame Workshop and make learning together fun.
- Everyday Learning Tips: Tips for every time of day – whether that’s bedtime, mealtime, or doing errands – that parents can use to turn everyday moments into learning opportunities for their child.
Research shows that communities that invest in early childhood education and support programs don’t have to spend nearly as much money later on special education, remedial job training, correctional facilities, and other costs that are a drain on economic growth. Free educational programs and resources like those offered by both Champions and PNC Grow Up Great® promote better lifelong outcomes for children by providing families in Tampa Bay with the building blocks for educational achievement, economic productivity, and successful parenting of the next generation.
We are grateful to work with partners like PNC to make Tampa Bay a great place for families.