Beginning Monday, April 20, “Mondays with Michelle Obama” will kick off a four-week series of videos that will feature Mrs. Obama reading aloud from beloved children’s books, one book every Monday through May 11.

Penguin Young Readers, Random House Children’s Books, and PBS KIDS today announced a special collaboration with former First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, in support of the recently announced “Read Together, Be Together” Penguin Random House literacy initiative and PBS KIDS’ “Read-Along” effort on Facebook and YouTube.

The former First Lady shares this, “As a little kid, I loved to read aloud. And when I became a parent, I found such joy in sharing the magic of storytelling with my own children—and then later, as First Lady, with kids everywhere. At this time when so many families are under so much stress, I’m excited to give kids a chance to practice their reading and hear some wonderful stories (and to give parents and caretakers a much-needed break).”

“Mondays with Michelle Obama” (#PBSKIDSRead, #ReadTogetherBeTogether) will be livestreamed simultaneously on PBS KIDS’ Facebook page and YouTube channel, and on Penguin Random House’s Facebook page, and will remain available for viewing on demand on all of those platforms immediately thereafter. The four books Mrs. Obama will read are:

April 20, 9am: THE GRUFFALO
Written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler

April 27, 9am: THERE’S A DRAGON IN YOUR BOOK
Written by Tom Fletcher and illustrated by Greg Abbott

May 4, 9am: MISS MAPLE’S SEEDS
Story and pictures by Eliza Wheeler

May 11, 9am: THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR
By Eric Carle

Resources for Parents and Kids

Wide Open School is a free collection of the best online learning experiences for kids curated by the editors at Common Sense. Visit WideOpenSchool.org for direct links to the following resources and many more!

Essence Entrepreneur Virtual Summit

In an effort to keep Black-owned businesses connected to available capital, critical insights and viable resources as our communities navigate their way through the novel coronavirus pandemic, ESSENCE is proud to bring you their first-ever Entrepreneur Virtual Summit.

The Summit is the latest launched as part of the ESSENCE Benefit Series to aid our communities in the fight against COVID-19 and will include an afternoon of informative discussions with some of the most influential business executives from across multiple industries who will weigh in on the road ahead for entrepreneurs in this new normal.

April 24, 7am-3pm

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Home Composting and Urban Gardening Workshop Videos: Because LA Sanitation temporarily suspended their monthly workshops, they wanted to offer some videos online to keep everyone’s composting and gardening skills fresh. So they enlisted their friends and partners, Horticulturist Steve List and Pacoima Beautiful, to work on some educational video series with us. The first, released today, is a 3-part series focused on Victory Gardens and vegetables.

Part 1: history and significance of victory gardens
https://youtu.be/ROEBAFkxehI

Part 2: varieties of garden vegetables
https://youtu.be/A5btn-PhAaQ

Part 3: vegetable planting tips
https://youtu.be/SYfAekgODwk

As we film more, we’ll post them here:
lacitysan.org/compostworkshops

Resource Database

Findhelp.org is a comprehensive, accurate, and constantly updated aggregation of free and reduced-cost programs helping the community, with programs for those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic prioritized to the top of search results.

Anyone in the U.S. can type their zip code into findhelp.org and find more than a thousand programs in their area. This includes programs that previously existed to help meet urgent needs and newly created programs that offer assistance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That means newly jobless folks can find unemployment programs. People worried about feeding themselves and their families can find programs offering free food. The uninsured can find ways to get healthcare.

LA Animal Services New LA City Lost and Found Pets Resource

LA Animal Services announces LA City Lost and Found Pets, a new online resource for LA City pet community to help reunite lost pets with their owners. The new Facebook group page will feature daily posts from residents who have either lost or found a pet, as well as updates on the pets that have been reunited with owners. www.facebook.com/groups/LACityLostandFoundPets