National Summer Learning Association Announces Partnerships with iHeartMedia, Clear Channel Outdoor Americas, and Litton Entertainment
The media giants will help promote the importance of summer learning opportunities across the country through a multi-platform campaign
(BALTIMORE, MD, JULY 11, 2018) – Research shows that summers without quality learning opportunities hold our nation’s youth back in core subjects like math and reading; this “summer slide” is particularly acute among low-income communities. To help raise awareness of the importance of summer learning and to combat the summer slide, the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) has partnered with iHeartMedia and Clear Channel Outdoor Americas (CCOA), along with Litton Entertainment, in a national media campaign to elevate the importance of keeping all kids learning, safe and healthy during the critical summer months.
Through a multi-platform campaign, iHeartMedia, will air public service announcements (PSAs) across its more than 850 radio stations nationwide during the month of July, featuring John Urschel, former guard for the Baltimore Ravens and current doctoral candidate in applied mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). iHeartMedia will also run a PSA that highlights the many free or low-cost summer learning activities that families can find in their own communities this summer. CCOA will run PSAs on 1,200 digital billboards across 28 markets. View campaign billboards here and listen to radio PSAs here.
Litton Entertainment will run NSLA PSAs as part of its Smarter Summers = Brighter Futures campaign, which promotes summer learning and engagement opportunities for K-12 youth. Check out the PSA here which will run on Litton Entertainment’s programming blocks on the following broadcast outlets: The CW (“This Old House” and “Dog Whisperer”), Bounce, LAFF, GRIT and Go Time.
The benefits of engaging children in summer learning opportunities are well documented. A RAND Corporation/Wallace Foundation study — the largest-ever study of summer learning — found that students with high attendance in free, five-to-six-week, voluntary summer learning programs experienced educationally meaningful benefits in math and reading.