United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley held a press conference to spotlight the First National Summer Learning Day on Northampton Community College's Main Campus June 18.

Alongside the presidents of Northampton Community College and the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley were the superintendents for the Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton school districts as well as the mayors of Bethlehem and Allentown. Although the mayor of Easton could not be in attendance, remarks were read on his behalf.

Each advocate thanked the United Way for its work towards creating this series of programs. Some voiced their concerns with the previous lack of summer learning.

"There are so many pieces of the puzzle," Dr. Joseph Roy, BASD superintendent. "I thank you, United Way, for bringing in partners to help us."

He expressed hope that the work being done will fight against the cycle of progression during the academic year and regression during the summer, also known as "summer slide."

For this reason, Junior League of the Lehigh Valley President-elect Julie Kister described summer as "both an opportunity and a challenge."

To kickoff the programs, the First National Summer Learning Day was organized for June 19.

Three events took place in Bethlehem, hosted by Cops 'n' Kids and Northampton Community College, Boys and Girls Club of Bethlehem and the Bethlehem Area Public Library.

Cops 'n' Kids and NCC hosted free story time, crafts, a viewing of "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" and a free cooking demo and meal at the NCC Fowler Family Southside Center.

At the Boys and Girls Club, members were invited to attend a live video reading marathon.

The library provided free literacy programs all day, which will continue to be held throughout the summer.

For more information about the summer learning programs being offered, visit www.unitedwayglv.org.