Reach Out and Read

Reach Out and Read is a national non-profit organization that integrates early literacy promotion into pediatric primary care. Founded in 1989, the program trains medical providers to encourage parents to read aloud to their children and provides new, developmentally appropriate books during routine checkups. The intervention begins in infancy and continues through age five, leveraging the trusted relationship between clinicians and families to foster healthy brain development. Research demonstrates that families served by the program are more likely to read together, leading to improved language scores and school readiness for children. The organization operates through a network of thousands of clinical sites across all 50 U.S. states, reaching millions of children annually.