Literacy in Community

At LINC, Pride Month is a celebration of the importance of representation, belonging, and the power of stories that help every child feel seen, valued, and affirmed. We believe early literacy grows strongest when children see themselves, and others, reflected in the books they read, building confidence, empathy, and connection from the very beginning. 🏡💛

This week, we’re sharing a few favorite children’s books with our LINC community for families and caregivers to enjoy together at home, at your local library, or bookstore:

🌈 It's OK to be Different" by Sharon Purtill, illustrated by Sujata Saha
🌈 "Téo's Tutu" by Maryann Jacob Macias, illustrated by Alea Marley
🌈 "Leo and the Pink Marker," by Mariyka Foster
🌈 "Pink Is for Boys," by Robb Pearlman, illustrated by Eda Kaban

These stories open the door to meaningful conversations about identity, kindness, and self-expression, helping little readers grow in both literacy and love. Sign up for your next LINC reading adventure: lincnyc.org/programs

Looking for your next great literary night out? 📚🍷Join LINC’s Associate Board (LAB) on Tuesday, June 23 for Literacy Lounge, an intimate gathering with The New York Times best-selling author Jean Hanff Korelitz featuring a conversation around her acclaimed novels “The Plot” and “The Sequel.”

Hosted at Sullaluna Nyc, the evening will include light refreshments, networking, an author reading and Q&A session, and the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of NYC’s littlest readers. 💛🏙️

Books will also be available for purchase during the event. Secure your ticket today: tinyurl.com/LitLounge26

🌞📚 School may be winding down, but literacy adventures are just getting started! Join LINC from June 8–14 for free family programs filled with stories, songs, play, and practical tips to help young readers grow all summer long:

📍East New York
️🗓️ Jun 12, 3pm | Father's Day x Family Day at HELP USA. Celebrate dads, grandpas and family figures with stories, music, and family fun.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/help26eny

📍Inwood
️🗓️ Jun 11, 11am | Planting Stories, Growing Readers at The Met Cloisters RING Garden. Enjoy outdoor stories, hands-on activities, and free books for registered families.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/ring26spring

📍Kingsbridge
🗓️ Jun 9, 11am | Phonics Rich Homes workshop series at NYPL The New York Public Library's Kingsbridge Branch Library, NYPL. Learn playful ways to build early reading skills at home.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/4z5rv8vu

📍South Jamaica
️🗓️ Jun 8, 10:30am | Baby Talk workshop series at Queens Public Library. Discover simple ways to support your baby's language development from day one.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/qpl26
🗓️️ Jun 12, 3pm | Growing Readers at New York City Department of Parks & Recreation's South Jamaica Infinity Garden. Celebrate reading outdoors with stories, songs, and activities.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/read26grow

📍Staten Island
️🗓️ Jun 9, 11:15am | Summer Starts with Stories at West New Brighton Library. Enjoy the warmer weather with songs, stories, and a free book to take home.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/wnbl26r

📍Washington Heights
️🗓️ Jun 9, 8am | Growing Love Through Stories at Mamá Tingo Childcare Learning Center. Bilingual storytime, songs, and social-emotional learning activities.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/bdsweec4
️🗓️ Jun 9, 11am | Read, Sing & Play at NYPL Fort Washington Library. Stories, songs, and playful activities that help build early literacy skills together.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/ypvu78k6
️Jun 11, 11am | Celebrating Reading Champions at Family Enrichment Center Washington Heights & Inwood. A special celebration honoring families' reading achievements with stories, music, and community fun.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/3kd76huj

📍Virtual
️🗓️ Jun 9, 12pm | Little Babies, Big Feelings workshop series. Learn on Zoom, strategies to support your baby's emotional development and early learning.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/rt63ukmt
️🗓️ Jun 10, 10am | Literatura Socio-Emocional workshop series. Taller virtual en español sobre emociones, lenguaje y aprendizaje temprano.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/embwa37t

All LINC programs are 🌟FREE,🌟 designed for families with children ages 0–5, but all ages are welcome.

🎶👶🏽 This week’s Vroom tip (⬆️ Desliza para español): your voice is one of your child’s favorite sounds. Try responding to their coos, babbles, and wiggles with a playful sing-song voice and notice how they react!

These joyful back-and-forth moments help babies build language, connection, and communication skills long before they can speak. 💛🧠📚

Our 🙌🏾Latino Books Month🙌🏾 celebration continues!

At LINC, we believe every child deserves to see themselves, their families, languages, and communities reflected in the stories they grow up with. That’s why we’re continuing to spotlight some of our favorite Latin-based books that inspire curiosity, imagination, joy, and a lifelong love of reading. ❤️📖 This round of favorites includes:

📘 "Picadillo for Paulina," by Ruth Behar and Gabriel Frye-Behar, illustrated by Erika Rodriguez Medina
📘"Mi hermano, mi sombra" by Fabiana Rocha, illustrated by Bruna Assis Brasil
📘 "Manny Matches the Weather" by Jenny Lacika, illustrated by Antonieta Muñoz Estrada
📘 "Las maneras en que papi dice te quiero" by Delia Ruiz, illustrated by Carlos Vélez Aguilera

While Latino Books Month is celebrated in May, at LINC we celebrate Latino stories, authors, illustrators, and young readers every single day, because building strong early literacy connections starts with making children feel seen, heard, and represented from the very beginning.

Sign up for your next LINC reading adventure: lincnyc.org/programs

🎤📚 LINC’s professional development work continues to make an impact across New York State!

Last week, LINC's Chief Program Officer, Laura Walsh, and Senior Director of Early Literacy, Josh Barocas, presented at the Annual Professional Development Conference hosted by the New York State Head Start Association in White Plains, sharing strategies and insights that help strengthen early literacy and family engagement practices for young children and caregivers.

As the training, education, and advocacy voice for Head Start and Early Head Start programs across New York State, the organization plays a vital role in supporting children and families during the most important years of development. 👶🏽🧠

At LINC, we’re proud to collaborate with educators and early childhood leaders who are helping build strong literacy foundations from birth onward.

🌻🎶📚 School may be winding down, but summer learning is just getting started! Join LINC from June 1–7 for a week of FREE family programs across NYC filled with stories, songs, outdoor adventures, and playful literacy fun designed to help little readers learn, connect, and shine all season long:

📍East New York
️Jun 1, 3pm | Reading with Excitement at P.S. 7K. Stories, songs & literacy fun for little learners.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/ps7k26r
️Jun 6, 12pm | Little Babies, Big Feelings workshop at Brooklyn Public Library's Arlington Library. Support your baby’s emotional growth through play and connection.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/3att4x8f

📍Fordham
️Jun 4, 12pm | Little Garden Explorers at New York Botanical Garden. Nature-inspired stories, songs & discovery activities.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/yefj3re9
️Jun 6, 11am | Seeds of Creativity Garden Event at Jardin de La Roca. Celebrate literacy outdoors with stories & family fun.
🎟️ Register here: lincnyc.org/programs

📍Kingsbridge
️Jun 2, 8:15am | Little Explorers at Rose Hill Pre-K. Songs, stories & playful early learning adventures.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/yeprtw9u
🗓️Jun 3, 11am | Little Readers Library Club at Kingsbridge Branch Library, NYPL. Read together and discover favorite family stories.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/4z5rv8vu
️Jun 5, 8:30am | Little Learners, Big Emotions at Our Casa. Explore feelings through storytime, songs & play.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/casa26linc

📍Inwood
️Jun 2, 10:30am | Growing Love Through Stories at Mamá Tingó Childhood Learning Center Dominican Women's Development Center (DWDC). Bilingual stories, songs & joyful reading moments.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/4j79mt42
️Jun 5, 11am | Stories & Sunshine at NYPL's Inwood Library. Summer reading fun with stories & literacy tips.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/8yhdejr4

📍South Jamaica
️Jun 1, 10:30am | Baby Talk Workshop at Queens Public Library. Learn simple ways to support your baby’s language development.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/qpl26
️Jun 4, 10am | JCP Fun Day at Jamaica Community Partnership. A joyful community celebration for young readers.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/jcp26re
️Jun 5, 3pm | Growing Readers at New York City Department of Parks & Recreation's Infinity Garden. Outdoor stories, songs & discovery activities.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/read26grow

📍Staten Island
️Jun 6, 11am | Fatherhood and Family Fun Day at FDR Boardwalk. Celebrate dads, families & literacy together.
🎟️ Register here: lincnyc.org/programs

📍Washington Heights
️Jun 4, 10am | Reading Everywhere at Columbia Community Partnership for Health (Columbia Neighbors). Interactive stories, songs & seasonal literacy fun.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/ccph26s
️Jun 5, 11am | Read, Play, Grow! at NYPL Fort Washington Library. Read, sing & play together while building early literacy skills.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/4m56kenc

📍Virtual
️Jun 2, 12pm | Little Babies, Big Feelings workshop on Zoom. Explore emotional development and language learning together.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/rt63ukmt
️Jun 2 + 4, 4pm | Social Emotional Literacy workshop on Zoom. Build emotional vocabulary through engaging family activities.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/7r9ty8p7
️Jun 3, 10am | Literatura Socio-Emocional workshop en español por Zoom. Actividades y estrategias para apoyar el desarrollo emocional y del lenguaje.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/embwa37t

All LINC programs are 🌟FREE,🌟 designed for families with children ages 0–5, but all ages are welcome.

📣🏙️ Shout it from the rooftops: Early literacy builds community!

On Monday, June 8 at 10:30 AM, LINC is joining our partners at City's First Readers (CFR) on the steps of City Hall (New York City Council) to make sure New York City’s children are seen, heard, and invested in.

This is our moment to come together in a BIG way and show the strength, joy, and power of community-powered literacy. We’re calling on organizations, educators, advocates, families, partners—and especially families with strollers—to stand with us as we rally for early literacy funding and support across NYC ahead of the City Council FY27 Executive Budget Hearing.

📖 Fun community read-aloud
💛 Wear yellow (or grab a yellow lanyard!)
🍽️ Lunch provided
👶🏽 Bring the children!

Let’s make our voices loud and clear on the City Hall steps. To register, contact [email protected] or call 516-554-5036.

🛁 🌬️ This week’s Vroom tip (⬆️ Desliza para español): everyday sensations can become powerful learning moments for your little one!

Talking with your child about how things feel—soft blankets, warm bath water, cool breezes, or slippery ice—helps build their vocabulary and understanding of the world around them. These simple back-and-forth conversations strengthen early language skills while helping children connect words to feelings and experiences. 💬🧠

☀️📚🌿 Storytime in the garden, playful learning, music, movement, and meaningful family moments—LINC’s free programs are bringing literacy to life all across NYC this week! Join us May 23–29 for joyful early learning adventures designed to help little readers grow, connect, and thrive from the very beginning.

📍East New York
️🗓️ May 23, 12pm | Little Babies, Big Feelings program series at Brooklyn Public Library's Arlington Library. Support your baby’s emotional growth through play and connection.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/3att4x8f
️🗓️ May 27, 5pm | Turn The Page with Dad at Cypress Hills Child Care Corporation Center. Celebrate dads with stories, crafts & family fun!
🎟️ Register here: # # #
️🗓️ May 28, 8:30am | Reading Starts with Hearing workshop series at SCO Family of Services. Build listening and sound skills that support reading success.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/sco
🗓️️ May 29, 12pm | Baby Talk program series at
Services. Learn simple ways to build your baby’s language skills through everyday conversation.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/4xk2auup

📍Fordham
️🗓️ May 28, 12pm | Print Concepts workshop series at . Explore letters, signs, books & print through hands-on play.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/nybg26pc

📍Kingsbridge
🗓️️ May 26, 8:30am | Social Emotional Literacy workshop series at Our Casa. Help children understand feelings through stories and affirmations.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/our26casa
️🗓️ May 27, 12pm | Little Learners, Loud Feelings at . Songs, stories & activities exploring big emotions.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/praxis26rd

📍Inwood
️🗓️ May 28, 11am | Planting Stories, Growing Readers at The Met Cloisters RING Garden. Outdoor stories and gardening-inspired literacy fun.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/4xr8fb8v
️🗓️ May 29, 8:15am | Celebrate Storytime A joyful morning of stories, reading tips & play.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/ps98read26

📍South Jamaica
️🗓️ May 29, 3pm | Growing Readers at New York City Department of Parks & Recreation's South Jamaica Infinity Garden. Celebrate spring with stories, songs & outdoor discovery.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/read26grow

📍Staten Island
️🗓️ May 29, 10:30am | Bubbles, Books, and Beats at NYPL The New York Public Library's Stapleton Library. Stories, music & bubble-filled fun for families.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/tt26si

📍Washington Heights
️🗓️ May 28, 10am | Serve & Return program series at Columbia Community Partnership (Columbia Neighbors). Learn playful back-and-forth interactions that help build young brains.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/ccph26sr

📍Virtual
️May 27, 4pm | Memorial Day! Join us online for stories, music, crafts & community celebration.
🎟️ Register here: tinyurl.com/mem26rc

All LINC programs are 🌟FREE,🌟 designed for families with children ages 0–5, but all ages are welcome.