“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” – Frederick Douglass
You’ve likely had a few pressing issues on your mind these last several months. Namely, the health and well-being of your family, employees and customers – not to mention, quite possibly, that of your laundromat business itself.
Right now, early childhood literacy may not be top of mind. In fact, your children’s play area or any type of reading/learning center you may have established in your store no doubt is safely cordoned off for physical distancing reasons. Any children’s books and furniture are packed away, and “wash-dry-go” is the order of the day. Get the customers in and out as quickly and expediently as possible.
But we all know that this triage business model is just temporary.
PlanetLaundry’s cover story in September examines some of the key trends that will be helping to shape the industry’s post-COVID-19 “new normal.” Quite honestly, many of these trends are taking the industry in the direction in which it was already headed and simply accelerated the pace.
Clearly, there will be a good bit of the “old normal” mixed in with the “new normal” as we move forward. It’s perhaps comforting to know that a global pandemic hasn’t been able to completely alter our industry.
Less comforting are some statistics that also haven’t changed with the outbreak of the virus:
- By 18 months, children in families with low incomes begin to fall behind their peers in vocabulary development.
- By age 3, on average, children in families with low incomes have heard less language and up to 30 million fewer words than their affluent peers.
- Also, by age 3, a child’s brain is 80 percent of its adult size, and essential wiring for thinking and learning has occurred.
- By age 5, the average child from a family with low income recognizes only nine letters of the alphabet, compared to 22 letters for a child from a middle-class family.
- Of first- through third-grade students in the U. S., about 80 percent of those from families with low incomes are not reading proficiently.
- Students not reading on grade level by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school than their peers.
Given these sobering numbers, the Coin Laundry Association’s LaundryCares Foundation continues to work in concert with Too Small to Fail, the early childhood learning initiative of the Clinton Foundation, to help promote early brain and language development by supporting parents and caregivers with tools to talk, read and sing with their young children. The mission is to meet parents where they are – such as the local laundromat – to help them prepare their children for success in school and beyond.
For the third year in a row, the CLA and Too Small to Fail will present the LaundryCares Literacy Summit, which will be held September 15, September 17 and September 22 as a free, three-part webinar series.
This series will feature keynote presentations by former President Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Cindy McCain, as well as the results of groundbreaking research into childhood development by Dr. Susan Neuman and much more.
According to Too Small to Fail, nearly 60 percent of children in the U.S. start kindergarten unprepared, lagging behind their peers in critical language and reading skills.
This issue isn’t going away unless we all do something to reverse its course.
Now is the time for you to start planning for your business’ post-coronavirus future. And there’s perhaps no better way to return to some sense of normalcy and to cement your laundromat’s standing within your community than by reaching out to – and serving – the many families that now more than ever look to you for more than just clean clothes.
The events of the last several months have rocked us all, and continue to do so. But, as the owner of an essential service, you truly have never been more essential to your customer base. To find out how you can give back to the neighborhood that supports your business, visit: www.laundrycares.org.
And commit to connecting with your community like never before!
