Duration: 1 hour, 5 minutes
Status: Now available on demand

Phoenix Public Library serves a diverse urban population, including communities with high rates of childhood poverty and low third-grade reading proficiency. Recognizing the importance of early literacy and caregiver engagement, the library has prioritized support for children from birth to age five—training families to be their child’s first and best teacher.

In 2018, the library added LENA Start to its early literacy offerings. The addition brought new insights into child development and equipped staff with tools and strategies to better support families. In this recorded webinar, Kathleen Harris, Early Literacy Outreach Team Supervisor, shares their LENA Start journey—from implementation and staff development to adapting during COVID-19 and returning to in-person programs.

Topics discussed:

• Community partnerships and funding strategies
• Staff training and development
• Transitioning to virtual formats during the pandemic
• Plans for scaling in-person early literacy programming

Panelist:

Kathleen Harris
Early Literacy Outreach Team Supervisor, Phoenix Public Library
With two decades of experience as a children’s librarian, Kathleen now focuses on outreach for children ages 0–5 and their caregivers. She led the rollout of LENA Start and currently oversees the team delivering early literacy classes across the library system.