Social Profiles

Overview

35% of children enter kindergarten unprepared to learn, according to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. This achievement gap is much higher for low-income and other high need children. Raising A Reader MA directly addresses this need by annually working with the parents and early educators of more than 8,500 children to deliver the following services:
1. Our signature red bag book rotation program, which puts more than 100 high quality, developmentally and culturally appropriate books in the hands of children and families to share at home each year
2. Multilingual workshops, training tools, and other support services that train parents in Dialogic Reading strategies so they can read and share stories at home in a way that supports their childrens pre-literacy development
3. Training and support for early education and care providers in the development of childrens pre-literacy skills through storytelling, book sharing, family empowerment, and related activities.
Raising A Reader MA offers these services through partnerships with school- and community-based early education programs and family child care centers in high-risk communities.

An affiliate of a national organization, Raising A Reader came to Massachusetts in Spring 2006 through the generous support of the GreenLight Fundan organization that identifies groundbreaking, innovative, and results-oriented nonprofits in cities around the country and replicates those programs in Massachusetts. Originally launched in Chelsea, Raising A Reader Massachusetts now has well over 32,000 childrens books in circulation and reaches over 8,000 young children ages birth through five and their families in sixteen communities across the Commonwealth.