At Reach Out and Read, we know that reading aloud together, telling stories, and sharing books help forge a lasting, meaningful connection between caregiver and child—they create Moments that Matter. We continue to encourage families to make reading aloud part of their routine, and celebrate the importance of spending time snuggled up close together.
More and more, the evidence is clear that we’ve had it right all along: This time is not just special and joyous, it’s life-changing!
Simply spending time with a child reading together for fifteen minutes every day will deliver tangible and lasting benefits. Even better, these moments spent together are ones that the caregiver can also enjoy.
Parents and children alike can look forward to cuddling up together with a book each day. What’s more, they can be confident that it’s time well spent, helping forge closer bonds and build the empathy and resilience that children will rely on throughout their lives.
Brittany Anderson, MD, along with her staff at Anderson Family Care in Demopolis ,gives 2,000 books to the children and families they serve. each year.
During 2022, we welcomed five new sites to Reach Out and Read-Alabama. These five sites
provide almost 11,000 books each year to the children and families they serve.
Program expands statewide
Our yearly events — the Grand Pediatric Pentathlon, Rx for Summer Reading and the Iron Bowl Virtual Book Drive — helped raise money for and awareness of the program throughout the state.
The ninth annual Grand Pediatric Pentathlon was one of our most successful yet. Over 40 participants taking part in the event by reading, kayaking, walking/running, biking and swimming at The Lodge at Gulf State Park along with the event sponsors raised over $16,000 for the program. Read more here….
Ruby had no worries this summer as she made her way across the state to 40 program sites for our Rx for Summer Reading events ranged from pediatric providers reading in the waiting room and fun coloring sheets handed out with the books to having guest celebrities read the book along with a fun party in the practice. Read more here….
The Reading and Relationships Project -- Families' Experiences with Books and Their Babies
The EARLY Lab at Auburn University, in collaboration with Reach Out and Read-Alabama, is committed to supporting early literacy and parent-infant relational health. From February through May 2022 through a partnership with Dothan Pediatric Clinic and Pediatric Clinic, LLC, the EARLY Lab conducted a study of parent-infant book sharing practices and parents’ perceptions of the Reach Out and Read-Alabama program. A total of 1,000 books were distributed across both clinics, as well as high-impact posters elevating the project’s central message: Book sharing builds brains and relationships. and each clinic received colorful refrigerator magnets -- featuring the project’s logo and encouraging parents to “Share Books With Your Baby!” -- to give to families after the four- and six-month well-child visits. Labels on the backs of the books encouraged parents to participate in a short online survey after the visit.
The Iron Bowl Virtual Book Drive raised almost $5,000 for Tuscaloosa and Lee county program sites The biggest winners of course are the families who will receive not only books but also advice from their pediatric healthcare provider that they are their child's first and most important teacher. Read more here…
July 2022 marked one year since Governor Kay Ivey announced a new partnership that would assist Reach Out and Read-Alabama and their mission to integrate reading aloud into pediatric care by providing books and coaching to help families make reading a part of their daily routine.
The partnership also includes state agencies like the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, Alabama Medicaid Agency and the Alabama Public Health.
In 2022 24 practices and clinics participated in the program as part of the partnership, providing 32,145 books to the children and families they serve.
53% of Alabama children aren’t proficient in reading by fourth grade. This percentage is even higher for the pilot counties the campaign serves.
Through the Grade-Level Reading Campaign, Reach Out and Read-Alabamwas able to expand its services to children living in these five pilot counties:
Jefferson • Macon • Marshall •. Monroe • Randolph
