About ROR VA
Fast Facts
Many states, including Virginia, use reading scores to help predict the number of prison beds to fund in the next decade. Excellent readers excel in school and rarely need them.
A typical middle-class child enters first grade with approximately 1,000 hours of being read to, while the corresponding child from a low-income family averages just 25 hours.
It costs $40 to put a child through ROR for 5 years. This fee buys each child two books a year. A small clinic that sees about 1,000 children annually needs $5,500 to fund the program every year.
Doctors Prescribing Books as part of a healthy childhood
Reach Out and Read Virginia is an early literacy program that provides doctors with books they can offer free of charge to parents of young children, with a special emphasis on children growing up in poverty. Doctors encourage these parents to regularly read to their children ages 6 months to 5 years old and as a result, instill a love of reading in these youths right from the start.
Research consistently shows that doctors who provide Reach Out and Read in their clinics deepen their rapport with parents and their patients, and the children who receive the culturally and developmentally appropriate books excel in school at a greater rate than those who frequent clinics without the program.
The Difference is Doctors (and Nurses!)
What differentiates Reach Out and Read from other nonprofit organizations that promote youth literacy is the relationship between the parent and their child's doctor (or nurse).
The recommended schedule of pediatric check-ups facilitates frequent and on-going contact between parents and health care professionals. For many families, especially those with babies and young children, the pediatric check-up is their sole opportunity to speak with someone who can provide professional advice on their child's growth and development.
At Reach Out and Read, we understand that parents trust their child's doctor for this very reason. Who better to offer literacy advice and help parents begin as soon as possible to equip their children to thrive in school?
Our History
Reach Out and Read Virginia is an affiliate of the Reach Out and Read national center, based in Boston, Mass. The national Reach Out and Read program began about 20 years ago as the grassroots effort of two pediatricians, who were intent on insuring that the low-income children they regularly served had access to books.
The first Reach Out and Read site in Virginia was established in 1996 at the University of Virginia Hospital. Reach Out and Read steadily expanded to other pediatric clinics across the state as more doctors became familiar with the program. MCV Hospital launched Reach Out and Read in its pediatric emergency room and children's clinic in 2001.
Today, more than 100,000 children ages 6 months to 5 years old receive free books from their doctors each year to help them build personal libraries and learn to read.
More about ROR National Center.
An affiliate of the Reach Out and Read National Center
A project of the Partnership for Families Northside
Endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics