Supporting Early Childhood Literacy with Books2BETTER

Studies show that a child’s exposure to books in their early childhood years is essential to the development of their literacy skills and is proven to be a strong predictor of their future academic success. Children from low-income families often lack access to books, as food and shelter are priorities – this puts them at a disadvantage to their peers.

Supporting childhood education is important at Konica Minolta. As a technology and solutions company, we’re interested in promoting education to shape our nation’s next generation of leaders and thinkers. In March and April, Konica Minolta furthered our mission to promote childhood education with the Books2BETTER program. This initiative encouraged Konica Minolta employees at branches nationwide to organize local book drives to support underprivileged young readers in their community by collecting new books for preschool and kindergarten-aged children from low-income families.

This is the second year in a row that Konica Minolta has conducted the Books2BETTER program. With 12 branches participating we were able to meet our goal of collecting and distributing 2,000 books. The books were donated to over 12 local schools and non-profit organizations in communities where Konica Minolta does business across the US.

Konica Minolta will continue to give back to the community this year with other initiatives geared toward supporting underprivileged school-aged children.  This summer we’ll run our annual Food for Thought program which aims to provide nutritious meals to children in need during the summer vacation season and this fall we’ll introduce our Back to School program where employees nationwide will collect school supplies for students from low-income families to help these children succeed in school.

At Konica Minolta, corporate citizenship is at the foundation of our management philosophy. As is the case for many of our employees, supporting the community is a priority for me in my personal time as well. Outside of the office, I serve on the Board of Trustees for Books for Kids and the Orange County Ballet Theater (OCBT) and I am a supporter of the ocean preservation organization Oceana. For regular updates on community involvement, follow me on Twitter @kaydufernandez. For more information about Konica Minolta’s community activities, visit https://kmbs.konicaminolta.us/about/community/.