SALESFORCE CEO BENIOFF GIVES BOOST TO COUNCIL’S EARLY ED INITIATIVE

The innovative early childhood education program that the Bay Area Council is helping lead in Oakland got some good news this week when Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff generously offered to fund 1,500 more “Talk Read Sing” kits for parents, families and caregivers. The Council launched the Talk Read Sing program last year in partnership with former Sec. Hillary Clinton’s Too Small to Fail organization, with support from Bay Area Council members UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, Kaiser Permanente, UPS and Clear Channel Outdoor. The kits include a t-shirt, bath towel, a baby onesie and other learning materials that feature prompts to encourage and make it easy for busy parents to talk read and sing to their babies and toddlers.

The Talk Read Sing program also was among the topics discussed at a recent meeting in New York that Council President and CEO Jim Wunderman attended as a member of former Sec. Clinton’s Too Small to Fail Advisory Council. In addition to funding the new kits and committing Salesforce employees to volunteer to assemble them, Benioff previously donated $3 million to support the initiative and featured it during the company’s major Dreamforce global conference last year. To engage in our early childhood education work, contact Senior Vice President Matt Regan.