What can you do?

Contact Senators Webb and Warner before their vote on November 29th.

Click here to contact Senator Webb or call (202) 224 4024

Click here to contact Senator Warner or call (202) 224 2023

Copy and paste the message  below and send it in your e-mail:

Dear Senator,

Just say No to the Coburn Amendment #4697!

What will you do support vital national projects such as:

• Teach for America
• Reading is Fundamental
• Reach Out and Read

These vital projects will lose their funding through this broad-brush approach to banning earmarks AND authorized projects.  This can only affect the poorest of our state’s children and our nation’s future!

Reach Out and Read is a research proven, cost effective program run by thousands of medical practitioners who volunteer their time to running the program.  In 2010 we served 121,000 of Virginia’s children and their families.

Please forward this to all your friends and colleagues and ask them to support us. You can also Support RIF directly

To read more about the initiative, click this link: http://www.reachoutandread.org/newsroom/press_article.aspx?id=310

Greetings readers! On October 29^th, 2010, Reach Out and Read was one of the ten charities who attended the CVC Charity Fair, sponsored by Richmond City Health District. We were fortunate enough to be extended an invitation by Judy Marston and had an information booth at the event.

At this kick off, Reach Out and Read Virginia had the opportunity to speak to many government employees and interested persons about our mission and the program. Many were excited to learn about our efforts to increase early literacy in children and our partnerships with pediatricians throughout Virginia (and nationwide of course). The kick off also had a cash raffle and an exercise dance (led by a Health District Representative) to promote cardiovascular exercise and health. This event was an absolute blast and provided a wonderful opportunity for Reach Out and Read to spread its message. We hope it will continue in the future!

A big thank you once again to Judy Marston, the Richmond City Health District, and all those who stopped by the RORVA booth! Your support is an indelible part of our program.

In her spare time, Kathryn Stark, a Reading Specialist for the Richmond Public Schools, is not only an enthusiastic voluntary Literacy Ambassador for Reach Out and Read Virginia, traveling throughout the region promoting the ROR mission to many community groups, but also an accomplished children’s book author.

Here Kathryn is photographed with Pam McCausland of the Beta Upsilon Chapter of the Alpha Delta Kappa Society at a recent function in Fredericksburg, VA.

A big thank you to Kathryn for all she does to promote literacy!

Grant Mathews has taken his bachelors degree in English from Virginia to Cambodia and back again, and this past summer Reach Out and Read Virginia [RORVA] was lucky enough to have Grant put his academic talents and cosmopolitan experience to use as an intern for the program.

Grant returned to Virginia in order to attend graduate school at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education, and in the summer of 2010 he received funding from the Southern Education Foundation and the Walmart Foundation to become an RORVA intern.

Grant’s main goals for the job included expanding literacy awareness to rural areas in Virginia considering most RORVA sites are located in highly populated urban areas. RORVA has since made great strides toward this goal identifying and beginning the application process for potential program sites in rural areas. Another goal for Grant’s internship was to identify specific school districts who needed literacy aid. Through the VA census and the 2009 Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) test results, Reach out and Read Virginia targeted the five worst performing school districts, located pediatric centers within these districts, and is setting up RORVA programs there. These clinics will be very influential, serving a majority of families that live are 200% below the federal poverty line and helping to fulfill the ROR mission of “preparing America’s youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together.”

Grant also focused on ROR’s legislative promotion. He spearheaded a campaign to write letters and make phone calls to state senators, congressional representatives, and legislators who have Reach Out and Read sites in their districts or are members of the state Educational Advisory Board. The goals of the campaign were; to encourage these politicians to visit RORVA sites, read to children, and gain a better understanding of the program. This better understanding will, hopefully, lead them to promote appropriations bills that will benefit ROR.

What started out as a summer job really shaped Grant’s view of early childhood education. He encourages others to get involved and says, “If you believe in the mission of Reach Out and Read, it’s really easy to help the program. Volunteering as a reader is the easiest way to touch the children’s lives immediately.”

Amy Rogers, University of Virginia, October 2010

Grant’s enthusiasm for Reach Out and Read is catching and Amy will now be working to promote Reach Out and Read volunteer opportunities to the UVA students on campus. Thank you, Amy!

Mr. Jackson explains his role at the Children’s Health Project as “easing the pain through books.” Each day wherever the schedule takes them, Jackson sets up his bus and gives books to the children through Reach Out and Read. The children gather around him like Santa Claus and he sits and reads to them, an act which has caught on, as the older children now read to younger children as well. Jackson explains, “Mississippi has such a high dropout rate and kids grow up without education and reading. Here, I don’t only give out books and read, I try to encourage education. Many kids report back to me about what the last book I gave them was about, before I give them another book. It’s like my own private school. It is refreshing to find out how many kids are eager to learn if you can just provide them with the resources.” Mr. Jackson also explained how the Reach Out and Read program has helped many parents share a positive experience with their children despite the sometimes harsh realities of the Hurricane recovery efforts.

“The Book Man,” who has raised two children of his own, ages 17 and 20 now, is so grateful to be part of the Reach Out and Read family. “I love children. I love teaching and coaching kids. Now, through Reach Out and Read, I am able to continue doing what I love for so many more kids around the state!”

Carol Rasco discusses a new study (released by Learning Point Associates) which points to the importance of print materials in early childhood learning. In addition, Reach Out and Read also partners with Reading is Fundamental to increase children’s literacy.

For more of this story, click or type the url below.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/study-access-to-print-material.html

Letter

‘Kindergarten Ready’ May Begin With a Book

To the Editor:

As the leader of a team of 30,000 doctors, nurses, and volunteers committed to ensuring that every child arrives at kindergarten prepared to succeed, I could not agree more with Elanna S. Yalow’s argument that the most critical investments we can make in education are in the first five years of life (“‘Kindergarten Ready’ Needs to Be the New ‘College and Career Ready,’” Commentary, edweek.org, July 26, 2010).

High-quality early-childhood-education programs will be part of the solution, but it’s important that we also recognize the role of parents as children’s first educators. They can single-handedly change the developmental arc of their children, through reading to them every day, beginning at birth. In fact, a study published in the February 2010 issue of the journal Pediatrics showed that the gap in communication skills between infants who are read to and those who are not is already evident at 6 months of age.

Unfortunately, far too few American parents recognize the importance of reading aloud to young children, and less than half do it daily. So how do we reach parents in the years before school to help them understand their immense power for change?

The founders of Reach Out and Read discovered that pediatricians are the ideal messengers for promoting early literacy and school readiness, because they see 96 percent of all children under the age of 6 at least once annually, and they’ve earned the trust of parents. So at every regular checkup, participating doctors give a brand-new book to their youngest patients and share age-appropriate reading tips with parents. Children served by the program enter kindergarten with a home library of 10 books, as well as a larger vocabulary and a six-month developmental edge.

Improving outcomes for America’s students will take time, but by empowering parents with the proper guidance and tools, we can make a significant impact in the “kindergarten readiness” of millions of children nationwide.