LaundryCares Foundation: Bringing Early Literacy and Learning to Laundromats Across the US
Recent “Free Laundry and Literacy Days” in Ohio and Florida launch new Family Read, Play & Learn sites.
“See this,” said Joe Amato, owner of the 4th Quarter Laundromat in Cleveland, Ohio, waving an arm at the young children playing with blocks, reading books to one another, and playing with puppets. “This is what making a difference means in my community.” Joe was referencing the newly installed Family Read, Play & Learn Center, part of the national LaundryCares Foundation initiative. For the past eight years and all through COVID-19 closures, laundromats across the country have been lifting their communities through critical early literacy resources.
“We believe that meeting people where they are is critical to reducing barriers and increasing access to books and early literacy programming, “ says Liz McChesney, a career-long children’s librarian and Early Childhood and Community Partnerships consultant to the project. “Bringing early learning into places like laundromats where families have a long wait time is just common sense,” says Liz. “Most families have limited time during the week. But when they are at the laundromat — an everyday space they frequent with regularity — there is a wonderful opportunity to engage the young children and their parents in critical early literacy activities,” Liz states.
Her colleague, Dan Naumann, EVP of LaundryCares, says, “Laundries are hubs in communities, and being able to connect those hubs to essential learning is our mission, our passion, and duty.” LaundryCares is a partnership between the Coin Laundry Association’s Foundation, LaundryCares, and the Clinton Global Initiative’s Early Childhood arm, Too Small To Fail. Together, the team has installed close to four hundred Family Read, Play & Learn sites across the country and hopes to continue to expand through statewide networks in 2024.
The spaces were curated by a team of children’s library specialists, including Marisa Connor, formerly the Early Childhood Specialist for Baltimore County Libraries, and Jane Park. Marisa states, “The furniture, toys, and early literacy tools are all proven to be effective, safe, and fun for kids to learn.” The nooks come in a variety of sizes, appropriate to fit into, say, the footprint of a commercial washing machine, or large enough to provide a parent and child couch — perfect for reading or playing together. One thing is constant for all the kids: new books which arrive on a monthly basis. Laundromat owner Jim Whitmore of Salem, MA, says, “The kids know when I am going to bring the new books out and eagerly await the boxes coming!”
Partnerships with local libraries like the Salem Public Library help to ensure that high-quality early learning happens in these spaces regularly. Indeed, all across the country, public libraries are picking up the mantel of providing outreach services in nontraditional settings. Dr. Susan Neuman, an NYU Early Literacy researcher, says, “Adapting the approach that learning happens everywhere is critical to the future of early literacy.” Dr. Neuman’s research indicates that early literacy strides are happening in these spaces, especially when public librarians lend their expertise.
Meanwhile, back at the 4th Quarter Laundromat, the Cleveland Public Library’s Community Outreach Manager, Isabelle Rew, is hard at work getting kids to practice the principles of early literacy. From singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star into a mini boombox to reading aloud with her, she is evidence of community-based early learning in public libraries. “At CPL, we believe in community-based outreach as a way to meet families where they are.” And indeed, she saw over fifty children and seventy-five parents in the three-hour event.
In Kissimmee, Florida, the Osceola Public Library brought library card applications, resources, and books for kids to choose from at another Free Laundry and Literacy Day. “I love this!” states Lisa Jones, Children’s Librarian for Osceola. “It’s exactly what families need to promote literacy and learning!”
To learn more about place-based library services that move beyond outreach and into continual service within communities, please reach out to Liz McChesney at Liz@laundrycares.org.