Acting U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. will join literary, sports and musical celebrities in three events this weekend in Oakland, California, spotlighting the critical importance of early literacy in helping children succeed in school. The events are being held with the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, the advisory board of Bay Area leaders helping prepare for the upcoming 50th Super Bowl.
On Saturday, King will host a Read Where You Are event teaming up with the Host Committee, East Bay Community Foundation, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee and the Oakland Raiders’ Justin Tuck in support of President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative to raise awareness about the importance of opportunities for children to read often even when they are not in school. King, Mayor Schaaf, Rep. Lee and others will read to students invited to attend the event. At that event, First Book will announce a new initiative to encourage barbers and beauty salon owners across the country to have books in their businesses, answering the Education Department’s Read Where You Are call to action.
On Sunday, The Re(a)d Zone, the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee’s early literacy initiative, will celebrate with an event at the Fox Theater for 1,000 staff, volunteers and funders of more than 25 Bay Area nonprofits who received more than $800,000 in grants as part of The Re(a)d Zone last summer. The program will feature new early literacy announcements from local, regional, and national partners, including the Host Committee’s commitment to train and deploy a significant number of the 5,000 volunteers recruited for Super Bowl 50 as tutors for struggling readers.
King will give remarks about 6:15 p.m.. Grammy award-winning artist Wyclef Jean will perform.