Message from Phyllis Bookspan, Co-Chair



Increase Your Happiness and Health



Did you make a new year’s resolution? Was your resolution to do something to improve yourself or was it to do something to help others? My resolutions were to learn new things every day, pump up my muscles, and to do my best job as co-chair of the Giving Circle.

 Toward my learning goal, I re-read a self-help book that was sitting on my bookshelf. The book is YOU Staying Young the Owner’s Manual for Extending Your Warranty, by Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, MD The authors say that today all of us can live 35% longer than expected. You too can read this book, make some changes, and maybe live longer. But, is that enough? I think not... I suggest it’s even more important to choose to live well—to feel alive while aging, to stay young while getting older. For me, life, is not just about living longer, it is doing so with happiness and a good quality of life.

Are you asking yourselves what does this have to do with TTN Giving Circle? The answer is everything! We in the Giving Circle come together to make a positive impact on our community. We (that includes YOU) are philanthropists, who care deeply, dream big, and believe that together we are a force for good. And, I am suggesting to you that your act of giving can have a positive impact on your aging.

A growing body of scientific literature concludes that philanthropy benefits the giver as well as the receiver in terms of well-being. Researchers have found that philanthropy contributes to the following positive effects:



• Greater overall happiness

• Lower stress levels

• Better physical health

• Heightened sense of connection to others

Professors at Harvard Business School, the University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University (Canada) found that people who spend money on others report greater happiness. Dr. Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist and researcher at our own Thomas Jefferson University reports that prosocial spending generates calculatable happiness. When people are altruistic and generous, it creates a response in the brain that taps into positive emotions. The brain also produces and releases neurotransmitters and hormones, such as dopamine and oxytocin, that help us feel happiness and pleasure.

And not only can giving increase happiness, it also can improve health. When over 1,000 older adults in Brooklyn, New York were asked whether participants gave or received more in their exchanges with others in the last three months. The study found that levels of social support given were associated with lower morbidity, whereas levels of receiving were not.

How nice is it to learn that being a part of collective giving is good for your happiness and health. Even better, if you are in the Giving Circle, you don’t just give—you join others in giving guided by joint values. And additional research shows that giving, guided by values, is shown in addition to the other benefits, to activate your anterior prefrontal cortex. Surely, we all want to activate our anterior prefrontal cortex!

So, mark your calendars now for the Annual Voting Donor meeting on May 16th. Share you your voice on how we give. Try it out. Let me know how it feels. I know I feel better just sharing this with you. Here’s to a healthy, happy, and giving year.

P.S. For additional information on research cited in this letter, see below...

TTN Philadelphia Giving Circle announces Part II of their two part series entitled PHILADELPHIA'S EARLY LITERACY CRISIS: REASONS TO BE OPTIMISTIC

We heard about reading challenges; now let's learn about new techniques that are changing the way reading is being taught. Our second educational program of 2024 on the topic of children's literacy is titled Philadelphia’s Early Literacy Crisis: Reasons to be Optimistic.  This program will focus on how the Read by 4th Campaign is working to protect every child's right to read. This collective effort brings together partners to address the needs of children and their families from birth through 3rd grade. As a result, there is much to be optimistic about. So come hear from our panel of experts in the field of early literacy education. 

Moderator - Jenny Bogoni – Executive Director, Read by 4th 

Nyshawana Francis-Thompson, Ed.D – Chief of Curriculum and Instruction, School District of Philadelphia

Sean Perkins – Mayor's Office, Chief of Early Childhood Education

Laura Boyce – Executive Director, Teach Plus PA

Shadeen Holmes and Tiye Thompson - Read by 4th Reading Captains

To learn more about our panelists, click here.

What is happening to address this dire situation? Our panel of experts, moderated by Jenny Bogoni from Read by 4^th, will tell you about exciting partnerships that are forming to ensure that children will be able to read by the time they enter 4^th grade. Having realized that drastic transformations were needed to ensure that this problem was addressed, state and local municipalities, universities and local communities are working together in creative ways that will positively impact children from infancy to age 9.

The program on February 20 will focus on ways in which partners have come together to address a variety of needs that collectively increase a child’s chance of becoming a proficient reader.

Read by 4^th Reading Captains, Tiye Thompson and Shandeen Holmes, will let us know about efforts to support families and caregivers as first teachers. These efforts include empowering families with reading tips and resources. For example, sending brief, easy- to-implement suggestions for reading readiness as texts to caregivers of pre-school aged children. Read by 4^th also holds workshops for families of children in grades K through 3 to teach them the fundamental skills of reading lessons focused on phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency and comprehension.

Laura Boyce Ed.D of Teach Plus PA will fill us in about the critical legislation in Pennsylvania that would ensure that every child in Pennsylvania has access to high-quality literacy teaching and instructional material. Sean Perkins, Chief of Early Childhood Education in Mayor Parker’s office, will tell us about new initiatives to improve PreK programs.

And finally, Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson, known as “Dr. Ny,” Chief of Curriculum and Instruction for the Philadelphia School District, will describe the ways in which the School District is now making the adjustments necessary to implement structured literacy in its classrooms and how the big change will take place next year when the new curriculum is adopted.

So, join us for this spirited and informative discussion by registering!

TTN Philadelphia Giving Circle is inviting you to its Annual Donor Appreciation Event. Join your fellow Giving Circle members and hear from two of our 2023 Grantees . . . YASP and ASAP.

Registation will open soon. For now we are just asking that you

SAVE THE DATE!

Lori Severino, Ed.D provided us with a history of the debate among educators as to the best way to teach reading, from fundamental phonics and the Whole Language approach to what is now referred to as 'Structured Literacy” - which has been widely accepted by both scientists and educators as the most effective way of teaching children to read. Front-line educators, including Principal Rodney Johnson and Megan Zor from Moffet Elementary School discussed how their school has implemented the Structured Literacy approach to reading, by shifting their curriculum and transitioning their entire staff through professional education and training. And Tracie Johnson, Youth Ombudsperson for the City of Philadelphia, provided an important insight as to the long-term consequences of when children fall behind in elementary school, including, disconnection from school and employment, inability to compete in today’s job market, poverty and involvement in the criminal justice system.

The science of reading is settled—95% of children, regardless of their background, can learn to read with explicit, systematic instruction that encompasses phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency and ultimately, comprehension.

In Part II of this two-part program entitled Philadelphia’s Early Literacy Crisis: Reasons to be Optimistic we will hear more about the structured literacy approach and our panelists will discuss what the State, our City and the School District of Philadelphia as well as educators and community leaders are doing, collectively, to make a difference in the lives of our children.

This program was recorded. In case you missed it or you wish to hear it again, you will find the link to the recording below.

https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/31aLAP2uKD6vRK23KT3l5w9E-_fong0Ombvgu3BJfStLSOnk6hU8AW5NVBMlIVv-.PdBldK8GG4wNBmm2

Passcode: xn@7nrJQ

Childhood Reading – Pending Legislation

There are two bills before the Pennsylvania legislature that aim to ensure that every child in PA has access to high-quality literacy teaching and instructional materials. The bills are: SB 801, view the State’s memorandum on the Senate bill text here. And for HR 998, view the State’s memorandum on the House bill text here.

Interested Individuals (non-organizations) can engage by contacting their elected officials in Harrisburg.



We got such a nice note from Pat Hardy after the program we thought we would share it with everyone. Pat Hardy is the mother of Jim Hardy, founder and director of the Kensington Soccer, Club, and is currently serving on the 2024 Grants Committee. Pat's work both in the field of education and on the fields at Kensington shows how we are all connected through philanthropy and caring.

I was excited to be part of today's meeting about the Crisis in Early Literacy in Philadelphia. The panelists were excellent, well-informed, and full of passion and dedication to their mission to teach reading skills to our students. I know Principal Rodney Johnson, since Kensington Soccer Club has led after-school soccer programs at Moffet School for 9 years with our community partner Norris Square Community Alliance (now Xiente). We actually worked closely with Prin. Johnson during the period of virtual instruction in 2020-21, when we provided the Moffet students with hundreds of culturally diverse books, as well as soccer balls. 

I am a retired elementary school teacher whose entire teaching career was during the period when the Whole Language approach determined our curriculum. At the same time, I became familiar with the Wilson curriculum, and observed the success students had with it. Part 2 on February 20 will be exciting to watch!

I have watched the recording of the Grants Committe Orientation on Jan. 17, and am ready to jump in to be a full part of the committee. Thank you again both for your generosity to KSC and for your process of selecting grantees.

*

Park, S., Kahnt, T., Dogan, A. et al. A neural link between generosity and happiness. Nat Commun 8, 15964 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15964

Dunn E., Aknin L., Norton M.,  ProSocial Spending and Happiness Using Money to Benefit Others Pays Off. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:11189976

The Science Behind Giving Back  https://www.jeffersonhealth.org/your-health/living-well/the-science-behind-giving-back