Community and state leaders from Iowa will join with experts from the Sesame Workshop for a virtual “Iowa Town Hall with Sesame Workshop” on Jan. 27 at noon, focused on supporting children’s social and emotional development. Presenters will include Jeanette Betancourt, senior vice president for U.S. social impact at Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind “Sesame Street,” with Teree Caldwell-Johnson, president and CEO of Oakridge Neighborhood, and Kelly Garcia, director of the Iowa Department of Human Services. A panel of education and health leaders will also discuss how families can support children’s healthy development, particularly during the pandemic. The town hall is part of a rollout of Sesame Street in Communities in Greater Des Moines by the Iowa Alliance for Healthy Kids. The Iowa initiative is supported through a $500,000 grant to Sesame Workshop from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. For more information about the free town hall event, visit the Alliance for Healthy Kids website. To read a Business Record article about the Sesame Street in Communities project, click here.