Raising A Reader is turning 20 years old! That means two decades of bringing our evidence-based early childhood literacy program to the children that need it most. We could not have done it without your critical support! Thank you for your generosity!
During the 2018-2019 school year, Raising A Reader partnered with several new affiliates and launched programming at multiple new locations. New communities throughout the country are benefiting from Raising A Reader’s theory of change.
Baldwin Park, a community about 20 miles east of Los Angeles, launched the program this school year. The children and families of Baldwin Park are thrilled to now be part of the Raising A Reader community.
The Raising A Reader team is filled with gratitude in your support of our mission. Here’s to another 20 years of changing children’s lives one book at a time!
Thank you for your generous support of Raising A Reader through 2018 and beyond! Your support funds the critical work of bringing our evidence-based early childhood literacy program to those children that need it most. We are truly grateful for your commitment and the transformative culture of literacy you make possible for these children.
Your gift is placing high-quality books into homes where there are none; bringing vital knowledge to parents through workshops; and providing training on how to engage families to the educators in our already under-resourced schools. In 2018, we served more than 137,000 children, nearly 20,000 more than in 2017! We expanded and launched in many new sites across the country including Bismarck, North Dakota, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Solano and Coachella, California to name a few. We also began a $1 million expansion in the State of Maryland. As we celebrate our 20th year of program implementation, we are poised to continue to help children develop, practice, and maintain the reading habits they need for healthy brain development, language and comprehension that will lead to life-long academic success.
Each story of success is your celebration, too! Here is a note from one of our hard-working, dedicated teachers on the front lines of our program:
"I find Raising A Reader makes a significant impact on our young readers. The texts are teeming with insightful information, the children and parents appreciate the opportunity of rotating reading material and the diversity with respect to culture that's found in the book selections. Children are excited about taking books home to read on a regular basis."
In the United States, we are losing 7 out of 10 children by 4th grade each year because they can not read. This leads them to struggle through middle-school and each one of these 7 children is 4 times more likely to drop out of high school. Raising A Reader fights this trend, providing our proven program through more than 290 providers across 3,000 sites across the country in 36 states. We provide the books that do not exist in 60 percent of the 16 million homes of the children that live in poverty in our country. And we also provide the training that empowers parents and caregivers no matter their own reading level to be their child's first teacher. In our 20 years, we have served nearly 2 million children and familes thanks to supporters, like you, and our implementing partners.
On behalf of our entire team, thank you for investing in this very important mission. With your generous gift, we are changing children’s lives one book at a time!
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As we enter the home stretch for the year, we wanted to update you on some of our impact this year thanks to all of our literacy and #booksforall donors.
The transformational power of literacy and the role it plays is the great equalizer for children living in poverty. Sharing a story aloud with a child can chart the course for their academic achievement and empower them to live their best life. If current trends hold true almost seven million low-income children in the birth to age eight group are at increased risk of failing to graduate from high school on time because they won’t be able to read at proficiency reading level by the end of third grade. The cost of inaction will have a devastating impact in the United States.
In California this year, we have been able to expand our critical program to another 2,000 children in kindergarten. Children living in poverty enter kindergarten with a 30 million word defiicit than their more affluent peers. Because of the success and changing academic behaviors witnessed by educators and administrators in these schools, our program is being expanded into 1st and 2nd grade to help children reach proficiency by 3rd grade.
"Hitting the 3rd grade reading level target is absolutely essential. It will set the trajectory for high school, college and beyond. The earlier we get kids involved and excited about reading, the better. It’s more difficult if they get to 3rd grade and they don’t have the reading skills necessary to read and comprehend science or geography. We saw as a district that if we can’t get our kids to read by 3rd grade, they may never catch up. If you don’t start them in Kinder and 1st, when are you going to start?" - Superintendent of a California Elementary School District
In another high need area, the Northeast quadrant of Oklahoma City, due to a generous investment form an Oklahoma native giving back, Raising A Reader is being implemented for the first time in six elementary schools in all pre-school, kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade classrooms serving 1,000 children. Raising A Reader trained 40 educators in our family engagement program to enhance the launch of the program there.
This year due to your help, we have been able to expand to more than 300 implementing partners across more than 2,900 sites in 37 states.
Thank you!
Fall is here! The weather is cooler and the leaves are changing as we say our last goodbye to summer. It’s time to curl up with a good book next to the fireplace and celebrate the joy of reading. Before you get too comfortable with your favorite book and that pumpkin spice latte let me share something with you.
We have the power to change the world with just a book. It’s that simple. The trajectory of a child’s life in poverty can be altered with access to books and empowering their parents and caregivers to be the first and most important teacher in their lives.
Few other early literacy programs operate as Raising A Reader does with national reach and proven impact. Since 1999, donors like you have helped us serve more than 1.6 million families to develop, practice and maintain home-based literacy routines that are linked to school and life success. And, we are on a mission to ensure that every child, from birth, has the same access to opportunity through literacy.
Your donation to brought education programs to young readers has impacted not only the more than 125,000 children we will have served this year, but their families, their educators, and their entire communities as our program is based on engagement through sharing high-quality books. Our books are mirrors and windows to the world that show children what is possible while instilling long-term literacy habits for their success in life.
On behalf of the future President of the United States, the ER nurse, the special education teacher, the chairwoman of the board we thank you for your passion and commitment to ensuring all children can read and pursue their dreams, whatever those may be.
Read on,
The Raising A Reader Team
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Raising A Reader serves 125,000 families and children on average annually. This year thanks to all of our supporters, we have been able to expand our evidence-based program to three more States! We now rotate books through children’s homes in 37 States. Thanks also to our 315 implementing partners, we have more than 15 million high-quality books rotating across the United States.
And the impact is real! Here is a note from one of our school principals in Hawaii!
“Our first cohort in the Raising A Reader program is in their 3rd grade year and they are showing the highest proficiency in reading than any other grade in a tested grade! It is exciting to see how the subsequent cohorts do, that have been able to have books to read at home. Hawaii Elementary Principal
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