'Street-Smart' Youth Learn Valuable Life Lessons

Because youth are outdoors more during the summer, Sunset District police officers and firefighters visited children at the Noreiga Child Development Center June 12 to talk about how good reading and thinking skills help keep them street-safe.

The Noreiga Child Development Center, located at 1775 44th Ave., organized the event with Hoopoe Books' Share Literacy Program (www,shareliteracy.org). About 70 children, aged four to five years of age, listened to police officers from the Taraval Station and firefighters from Engine Company 23 as they read books and offered advice for being safe.

Making children aware of their surroundings plays a big role in their learning process and helps keep them safe. When children learn to read they are more aware of safety, pedestrian and traffic signs and signals and what is happening around them.

Early understanding of police officers and firefighters as positive role models in their communities helps youth develop a sense of respect for public safety representatives.

During the event, the children also got an "up close" look at a fire engine and related safety and firefighting equipment.

Hoopoe Books' Share Literacy Program (www.shareliteracy.org) is a nationwide program first introduced in the Bay Area in 2006. Share Literacy partners with early education agencies serving poverty level and low-income families, after-school programs and organizations providing ESL and adult literacy instruction.

In 2008, Share Literacy distributed more than 15,000 books to needy Bay Area children. Share Literacy's programs and book donations are funded by a grant from the Kaiser Permanente Community Grants Program and Wells Fargo Foundation.