Shakira, John Legend Help Obama Launch Early Childhood Education Campaign
Shakira, John Legend, Julianne Moore and Jennifer Garner will help President Barack Obama launch a new national campaign, Invest in US, that promotes better programs for early childhood development and education.
The campaign, organized by the First Five Years fund and its philanthropic partners, launched earlier this week at the White House Summit on Early Education. Obama will call on celebrities, business leaders, philanthropists, advocates and public officials to help create and fund programs in local communities across America designed to help children from birth to age five.
Shakira recently participated in a Twitter Q&A with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. The singer discussed her experiences with education since becoming a mother, her reasons behind joining the campaign and what she would change about the U.S. education system.
Shakira, Legend, Moore and Garner have all lent their voices to a series of PSAs that highlight individual programs already making a difference in Chicago, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia. Shakira’s video, about Max, an educator in Utah, is available to watch above (she also recorded a version in Spanish), while the others are embedded below.
According to a statement, dozens of corporations, foundations and nonprofits have already pledged to help raise awareness for Invest in US. Earlier this week, the White House announced over $1 billion in funding from the private and public sectors, which will mark the beginning of the campaign, and hopefully encourage others to invest as well.