ADVOCATE
Help us spread the word about the importance of early literacy and school readiness.
How You Can Take Action
Elected officials expect to hear from their constituents about innovative and effective programs that are being implemented in their home states or districts. This represents an opportunity for you to educate your legislators about the impact of Reach Out and Read on the children and families served in your community. Telephone calls, letters, meetings, and Reach Out and Read program site visits can have a tremendous impact.
Reach Out and Read is an evidence-based early literacy and school readiness intervention with broad bipartisan support in Congress. See which members of Congress were volunteer readers!
From Fiscal Year 2000 through 2010, Reach Out and Read received funding through the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill, administered through the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Education (FIE).
In addition, the U.S. Department of Defense funded a pilot project to introduce Reach Out and Read at 20 military bases. Additional private funding has enabled Reach Out and Read to expand throughout the country, serving more than 116,000 children of military families, helping them to cope with the stress and anxiety of separation and deployment. This allowed Reach Out and Read San Diego to start at Navy Medical Center San Diego and Camp Pendleton Hospital, as well as several tri-care clinics throughout the county. Military families greatly benefit from Reach Out and Read’s message, however offices that serve these families are unable to solicit funds to support the program and therefore are most in need of the support of AAP-CA3.
From 2007-2010, Reach Out and Read San Diego received public funding from First 5 San Diego to strengthen and grow the model throughout San Diego County. Today Reach Out and Read has become the standard of pediatric health care with 92 offices participating. The program has been embraced by every health care system in the county, from the community clinics to Indian Health Sites. San Diego doctors can’t imagine practicing pediatrics without Reach Out and Read.
With the active involvement of our many supporters, Reach Out and Read continues to seek public funding and private support to enable us to bring our early literacy intervention to as many children and families as possible.