Clean Rite Center, located in New York City, is encouraging children to take home a free book as part of a nationwide movement to bring learning to local laundries. On April 2, the Bronx laundromat will unveil a new reading and learning space for children – featuring a LaundryCares Family Read, Play & Learn Center – and will announce upcoming family storytime sessions and financial education programming.
A ribbon-cutting and unveiling of the children’s learning area at 11:00 a.m. will be followed by a 1:00 p.m. presentation by the Qualitas of Life Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to improving Hispanic family financial security. The talk will overview an upcoming free, eight-week financial education program for customers that will be held at the laundromat.
In addition, storytime sessions for children and families – to be led by librarian Sherice White of Clason’s Point Library – are scheduled bimonthly on Friday afternoons, beginning April 8.
Both of these events are free and open to laundry customers.
“The root of Clean Rite’s entire success is in the communities we’ve served for the past 25 years,” said Alex Weiss, owner of Laundry Capital Co. LLC, parent company of Clean Rite. “Anytime we can find an opportunity to give back to any of these communities, we think it’s truly important to do so.”
“We want to meet families where they are, and a laundromat is a place, especially in New York, where families congregate,” White added. “During the waiting period at the laundromat, which can be upwards of two hours or more, we have an opportunity to engage with kids and spark an interest in reading and learning that we hope will last a lifetime.”
The new Family Read, Play & Learn space at Clean Rite is designed by the LaundryCares Foundation and the Clinton Foundation’s early childhood initiative, Too Small to Fail, to support children’s early brain and language development. The space includes a comfortable seating area, high-quality books, toys and other materials designed to help parents engage in literacy-rich interactions with their children during laundry time. It features books from Scholastic Corp., which children are encouraged to take home, as well as furniture and toys from Lakeshore Learning.
RPL spaces, which are popping up in laundromats throughout the United States, are important because 60 percent of children in the U.S. start kindergarten underprepared, according to Too Small to Fail. Moreover, research shows that 80 percent of brain development occurs before the age of 5, which makes this time critical for children’s future success and learning.
“By increasing language-rich, meaningful interactions with their children during the early years, parents can support their little ones’ learning and development and prepare them to learn, grow and thrive in school and in life,” said Too Small to Fail Partnerships Manager Nikki Hasani-Ferrera.
The RPL ribbon-cutting will bring together a number of organizations committed to enhancing childhood literacy and family well-being – including Qualitas of Life Foundation, dedicated to improving Hispanic family financial security; Too Small to Fail, dedicated to early brain and language development and empowering parents with tools to talk, read and sing with their young children from birth; the LaundryCares Foundation, focused on enriching the communities of Coin Laundry Association members through programming that addresses the unmet needs of laundry customers; Clason’s Point Library and the New York Public Library, with the mission of inspiring lifelong learning to strengthen the communities they serve; and Laundry Capital, parent company of Clean Rite Centers and Laundromax, and the largest operator of retail laundries in the U.S.
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson and representatives from these organizations are expected to attend the ribbon-cutting event.
The unveiling is expected to be the first of several events to help promote family and community well-being by Laundry Capital and Clean Rite Centers.
“Our tie to the community runs deep, and Laundry Capital is fully investing time and resources into bettering the areas where our laundries are located,” explained Laundry Capital Chief of Staff Felicia Galitsky.
Laundry Capital, headquartered in Rego Park, N.Y., operates 40 locations in the outer boroughs of New York City and more than 30 locations across seven other states.
