First 5 California Partners With First Book To Distribute Free Books At Bay Area Book Festival

Children Attending the Bay Area Book Festival Will Receive a Free Book at the East Bay Children's Book Project Tent.
Jun 4, 2015 9:00 PM ET
Campaign: EcoMedia

BERKELEY, CALIF., June 4, 2015 /3BL Media/ – To further its mission to improve the lives of California’s young children, First 5 California has partnered with First Book to distribute hundreds of books at the Bay Area Book Festival to advance youth literacy. Each child who stops by the East Bay Children’s Book Project tent on June 6-7 will receive one free book to take home.

First 5 California’s participation in CBS EcoMedia’s EducationAd program is a public-private partnership. As a result of this partnership, EcoMedia funding will be used to expand First Book’s literacy programs at the East Bay Children’s Book Project in Oakland, the Panamericana Lodge Public School in Los Angeles, and The SCUSD Connect Center in Sacramento, providing more than 7,000 books for children age 5 and younger.

“Books pave the path to a child’s success, in school and in life,” said Kyle Zimmer, president and CEO of First Book. “By putting these critical educational resources in the hands of local kids in need, First 5 California and First Book are improving lives today and investing in the future of their community.”

“Today, 32.4 million American children go without books,” said Paul Polizzotto, President and Founder, CBS EcoMedia. “First 5 California is helping us address this issue by putting thousands of new books into the hands of local kids who need them most. This unique public-private partnership will inspire these young children to become lifelong readers and lifelong learners.”

First Book provides new books and educational resources to programs serving children from low-income families. By working with a network of more than 160,000 community-based schools and programs, First Book helps elevate the quality of education for kids in need. With help from partners like First 5 California, First Book hopes to reach each of the nearly 30 million kids living in low-income households in the United States.

About First 5 California

First 5 California, established through a voter approved initiative in 1998 known as the California Children and Families Act (Proposition 10), oversees the expenditure of tobacco tax revenues to support, promote, and optimize early childhood development through coordinated programs that emphasize child health, parent education, child care, and other services and programs for children prenatal through age 5. First 5 California’s overarching goal is to improve the lives of young children and their families to ensure California’s children receive the best possible start in life and thrive. For more information, please visit www.first5california.com/parents.

About First Book

First Book is a nonprofit social enterprise that has distributed more than 125 million books and educational resources to programs and schools serving children from low-income families throughout the United States and Canada. By making new, high-quality books available on an ongoing basis, First Book is transforming the lives of children in need and elevating the quality of education. For more information, please visit them online or follow their latest news on Facebook and Twitter.

About CBS EcoMedia Inc.

At EcoMedia, we’re propelled by the desire to create positive social change; that’s been our mission since we founded the company in 2002. In 2010, after successfully partnering with CBS on a wide range of environmental projects, EcoMedia became the newest addition to the CBS Corporation portfolio, exponentially scaling our reach across television, radio, interactive, publishing, and outdoor media. 

Through our patent-pending EcoAd, WellnessAd, and EducationAd programs, an innovative twist on traditional advertising, advertisers are able to support much-needed local projects which in turn creates jobs, saves taxpayer money, and improves the quality of life in communities nationwide. In the process, we’re fundamentally altering the advertising landscape, elevating the ordinary, traditional commercial – and media, in general – into a catalyst for tangible, quantifiable social change. Please visit ecomediacbs.com, like us at facebook.com/EcoMediaCBS or follow us at Twitter.com/EcoMediaCBS.

By participating in EcoMedia’s EcoAd, WellnessAd, and EducationAd advertising programs, EcoMedia’s advertisers agree to provide funding for projects we believe will have a beneficial effect upon the environment, health, and/or education within local communities. EcoMedia’s advertising programs are not certification programs nor are the EcoAd, WellnessAd, or EducationAd logos seals of approval. EcoMedia does not in any way certify, endorse, or make any representations about EcoMedia program advertisers, their products, or services.

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Press Contact:

Theresa Scheiber

CBS EcoMedia

929-243-6300

theresa.schieber@ecomediacbs.com