NC Reach Out and Read Newsletter
Spring 2016 –
Reach Out and Read NC is proud to announce the addition of a new Reach Out and Read site at Burlington Pediatrics West, located on South Church St in Burlington. At this site there are five providers. Since opening in December, approximately 1200 books have been distributed to the children. An Open House was held in December at the site to celebrate.
Kidzcare Pediatrics, located on S. Mebane St. in Burlington has recently completed the final phases of their orientation and training and are now up and running. Kidzcare has two providers. An Open House to welcome this practice to Reach Out and Read Alamance was held in April.
We are working with the Charles Drew Clinic and Scott Clinic to support the Reach Out and Read program that is currently running. The Charles Drew Clinic is located on N. Graham Hopedale Rd in Burlington. Prior to this, the clinic has self funded the Reach Out and Read project. Joining Reach Out and Read Alamance will help them sustain the project that they have begun. Charles Drew Clinic has nine providers. The expansion was made possible by a grant from Impact Alamance, a local health foundation.
Books are restocked in our Reach Out and Read sites quarterly and all sites will soon receive a large order of books to maintain their supplies. Many sites have requested a mixture of English, Spanish, and bilingual books. The sites are excited about the program and grateful to our generous donors.
We are very pleased to welcome these new sites to the Reach Out and Read Alamance community. With the help of our generous donors, we are proud to be able to be a part of welcoming even more children to the literacy community.
On-going Efforts to Sustain Reach Out & Read Funding
Members of the Reach Out and Read committee have been busy raising funds to start and sustain new sites. We have raised a combination of donations and grants from a cross-section of the community.
In May 2015 Reach Out and Read Alamance held an awareness/ fundraising event at the Children’s Museum in Graham. “Read and Romp” was open to the public and featured exploration of favorite books through arts, crafts and games. A variety of literacy opportunities created and manned by volunteers from the community were available throughout the museum. Excited children explored the different sections of the museum, listening to stories and completing crafts and activities related to the books read. In the blocks center children heard the story of The Three Little Pigs and then made puppets to act out the story. They decorated their own houses to take home as well. Each section provided a hands-on opportunity for the children to engage with literacy. Each child left the event with a complementary book provided by the Alamance Partnership for Children.
Congress Recognizes the Importance of Pediatric Early Literacy Programs
We’re thrilled at the overwhelming bipartisan support for a bill that recognizes the importance of pediatric early literacy promotion. President Obama has just signed into law the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, titled the Every Student Succeeds Act (S. 1177), that seeks to ensure the provision of a quality education for all children.
Significantly, this bill authorizes the Reach Out and Read model in federal education policy for the first time. In signing the bill, President Obama talked about expanding access to early childhood education as one of its three aims. Increasingly, research shows that the foundation children need to succeed in school and beyond is built in the early years, from infancy. We are pleased that Reach Out and Read has been recognized as a leader in the field of early learning, and that our model, reaching families with young children through pediatric care, is recognized in this important legislation.
Inclusion of pediatric early literacy promotion in this act is fully consistent with the American Academy of Pediatrics’ policy statement, published in 2014, recommending that pediatricians incorporate book promotion and literacy guidance as an essential element of pediatrics starting in infancy.
We have received amazing, bipartisan support on our journey to this point: we are grateful to U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who have tirelessly supported early literacy services for children, and have been the leading advocates in the Senate for Reach Out and Read for over 15 years; to U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D- MA-02), who has championed Reach Out and Read in the House for well over a decade; and to Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative Katherine Clark (D-MA-05), who were instrumental in ensuring support for pediatric early literacy intervention in the Every Student Succeeds Act in their roles on the education committees.
