Hundreds of parents, educators, community organizers and local
celebrities rallied together inside the Cosby Auditorium of Spelman
College as a call-to-action to improve parental involvement in their
child’s education. The Box Tops for Education® Town Hall,
sponsored by Walmart and Honey Nut Cheerios®, and presented by BET
Networks, took place January 24, 2013 and will premiere via webcast on
BET.com Monday, February 4.
Left to right: Lamar and Ronnie Tyler of Black and Married with Kids; City of Atlanta Chief of Staff Candace L. Byrd; BET Networks Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility Sonia Lockett; MSNBC Contributor and Politic365.com Executive Editor Jeff Johnson; actress Nicole Ari Parker; BET's "Real Husbands of Hollywood" star Boris Kodjoe; Grammy Award-Winning Artist Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas; Spelman College President Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum; Box Tops for Education Brand Manager Tommy Hillman; and Sharonda L. Britton, Director of Marketing for Walmart. (Photo: General Mills, Inc.)
Viewers can visit btfe.com/townhall
to access the webcast and watch as MSNBC contributor and executive
editor of Politic365.com Jeff Johnson moderate a rousing discussion
among panelists, including Spelman College president Dr. Beverly Daniel
Tatum, and Box Tops for Education brand manager Tommy Hillman shared a
broad perspective on how a child’s academic success benefits our
society. BET’s “Real Husbands of Hollywood” star Boris Kodjoe and his
wife, actress Nicole Ari Parker, and Grammy Award-Winning artist and mom
Rozanda “Chilli” Thomas, also shared anecdotes about innovative ways of
educating their children.
“When my son gets good grades, I get animated. I get excited,” said
Chilli. “And when I’m excited, he gets excited. I’ll take him somewhere
during the weekend to hang out. We have to make them work for it.”
Johnson added, “What young people need to see is us not talking about
education, but us walking education,” for which garnered a round of
applause. “We show up for sports events at school, but not for science
events.”
Audience members were eager to jump into the conversation sparking
passionate dialogues about their personal challenges while CNN’s
“Raising America with Kyra Phillips” correspondents and Box Tops
bloggers Black and Married with Kids posed questions to the panel from
their Twitter feed after the panel discussion.
Box Tops for Education and the National Urban League have joined forces
to drive parental engagement in their child’s educational journey with
the Educational Success Toolkit, which contains resources such as
back to school preparation tips, parent-teacher conference guidelines
and a college preparation checklist. Parents can access the toolkit via
the following link: btfe.com/townhall.
Box Tops for Education was designed to help combat some of the budget
challenges many of our nation’s schools are facing by creating an easy
way for community members to support schools without having to spend
extra money. Since 1996, schools nationwide have earned more than $525
million through the Box Tops for Education program, including $47
million just since March 2012. Schools can earn up to $20,000 a year
from the program.
For more information about Box Tops for Education and the Town Hall
event, please visit: btfe.com/townhall.
This site will provide access to the Town Hall webcast airing on
February 4, 2013, and the Educational Success Toolkit, a resource
developed by the National Urban League and Box Tops to support parents
in being active in their children’s educational journey.
About Box Tops for Education
America’s schools have earned
more than $525 million through the Box Tops for Education® program since
the program started in 1996, including $47 million just since March
2012. More than 90,000 schools use that cash to purchase items such as
computers, library books, art supplies and playground equipment. Schools
can earn up to $20,000 by clipping Box Tops coupons from 240 products
and can earn eBoxTops by shopping online through the Box Tops
Marketplace. To learn more and for a list of participating products,
visit www.btfe.com.
Facebook at www.facebook.com/BoxTopsforEducation
Twitter
at www.twitter.com/BTFE
YouTube
at www.youtube.com/user/boxtops4education
About BET Networks
BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc.
(NASDAQ: VIA, VIA.B), is the nation’s leading provider of quality
entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for
the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than
90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the
Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET is the
dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of
business extensions: BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black
entertainment, music, culture, and news; CENTRIC, a 24-hour
entertainment network targeting the 25- to 54-year-old African-American
audience; BET Digital Networks - BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive
alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Home
Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home
environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Event Productions, a
full-scale event management and production company with festivals and
live events spanning the globe; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones,
games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International,
which operates BET in the United Kingdom and oversees the extension of
BET network programming for global distribution.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130125005513/en/