Jumpstart Kids

Join us in giving a warm welcome to Matt Doherty, the newest member of Jumpstart Kids' National Board of Directors!

Matt is head of the Alternative Investment Platform for Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs, where he leads the firm's Alternative Capital Markets, Private Company Investments, and Secondary Advisory businesses. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2011, was named managing director in 2019 and partner in 2024, and earned his BA from Princeton University and his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Matt's financial expertise will help power Jumpstart Kids' growth for years to come, bringing early learning experiences to even more preschoolers.

International Literacy Day is a reminder of something simple: the joyful and transformative act of reading aloud with a child is powerful. It's how vocabulary grows, how questions turn into conversations, and how a love of books takes root. This is the idea at the heart of Jumpstart Kids: Read for the Record celebration, which connects families, classrooms, and communities across the world to celebrate and uplift the critical importance of early literacy and put high-quality books in the hands of children everywhere.

We are thrilled that Brave Like a Lion, written by Megan Piphus, and illustrated by Nina Mata Illustrations, is the official book selection for this year's . We can't wait to read together as a community on February 25, 2027. Visit https://bit.ly/4A7sv4i to learn more and pre-order your Jumpstart Kids limited-edition books today.

Dolly Parton believed that every child deserves books of their own, from birth. Through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, she made that belief real for families in homes across the country and around the world, mailing free books to children month after month, year after year.

That conviction is one we share. Our work rests on a simple idea backed by research: a caring individual can change the course of a child's early learning. For generations of young readers, Dolly was that caring individual, opening the door to literacy and a lifelong love of books.

We are saddened by her passing, and we are grateful for everything she gave to children and to early education. Her legacy lives on in every child who turns a first page.

You could be the first to know. 📚🎉

We're about to reveal the 2027 Jumpstart Kids: Read for the Record® book selection, and newsletter subscribers find out before the public.

Want in? Sign up today and the official book announcement lands in your inbox first: https://bit.ly/3UzyMVS

The right words at the right moment open doors.

We need caring, committed volunteers to join us as Jumpstarters this fall, working directly with preschoolers in local classrooms to build the literacy, language, and life skills kids need to succeed in kindergarten and beyond.

Jumpstarters join a small team, follow our research-based curriculum, and become the steady, caring presence a child can count on every week. One conversation at a time, you help build what's ahead.

Registration is open in Massachusetts, New York, and Southern California. College students: many roles qualify for Federal Work Study.

Register by 9/18: https://bit.ly/4wKTu2m

"Everyday is a magic moment because every time I walk in everyone greets me with smiles and hugs. They always ask if I'm going to show up next week and to stay with them forever... It's a huge improvement since when I first started."

Our Jumpstarter, Maria, shared the pure joy of every Learn Out Loud session opening with smiles and hugs, and ending with sweet goodbyes and the wish that she could stay forever.

A preschooler asking Maria to return next week was no small ask. It's a child who knows that they have a dependable adult in their life their to support them alongside their teachers and caregivers.

Crayon in hand, trust on the table. 🥰

One of our Jumpstarters, Tseyang, shared a simple from the classroom: "When a kid got comfortable enough with me to ask me to draw for him."

This quiet, unremarkable-looking moment is what our Learn Out Loud program is built on. A seemingly small ask is really a big shift. Trust in a preschool classroom doesn't usually announce itself. It shows up as a kid handing you a crayon. 🖍

We ask Jumpstarters to reflect on their time in the classroom, and one answer from Freesia stood out. She not only saw real growth of the children, but within herself as well.

"I was able to gain and enhance my abilities such as communication, teaching, problem solving, and creativity... it made me learn new things about myself and how much I love helping these children succeed and grow... [to] be able to express themselves more, problem-solving with each other, and sharing & being kind with their friends."

That's part of the unique, lasting impact of our Learn Out Loud Program - trained volunteers embedded in classrooms twice a week, building skills in preschoolers and gaining real, transferable ones themselves.

Last week in downtown Boston, new and longtime friends of Jumpstart Kids gathered to celebrate the launch of our Local Champions Circle and to welcome Ashley Jaundoo, our Regional Director of Massachusetts. 🎉

Guests heard firsthand about Jumpstart Kids: Learn Out Loud and how it helps children build literacy, language, and life skills in early learning settings across the state. The conversations that evening made one thing clear: this community is ready to show up for young children in Massachusetts.

We are entering a new chapter as Jumpstart Kids in Massachusetts, and we are glad to have this community alongside us. 🥰