According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 10 million children — 13.7 percent of children under 18 — are living in poverty. Those children are three times as likely to experience Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which can have long-term impacts on health and well-being.

In addition to our regular programming, the podcast for Reach Out and Read, a national nonprofit at the forefront of promoting early childhood literacy and relationships as part of pediatric care, launched a limited five-part series featuring experts on the childhood poverty epidemic and its lifelong impact on children. Dropped biweekly in the fall of 2024, the series featured a variety of child development experts and focused on how early relational health and learning can work to mitigate poverty’s impact.

The five-episode series covered key themes including:
  • How we can frame conversations about public issues that seem insurmountable — like poverty — so people will listen
  • What the data says in terms of how to study childhood poverty
  • What on-the-ground, large, organizational structures like home-visiting programs can reveal about what families need to thrive
  • The research behind how positive interpersonal approaches with children can mitigate the effects of poverty-related ACEs
Listen to the “Spotlight on Poverty” Highlight Reel

00:00 – 01:13
Nick Kristof, Journalist, The New York Times
“Part 1: Nick Kristof on How to Talk so People Will Listen”


01:15 – 03:01
Christi Carman, Dir. of RAPID Survey Project at the Stanford Center on Early Childhood
“Part 2: Seeing Families Beyond the Numbers”


03:02 – 04:51
Emily Callahan, Parent Educator, Parents as Teachers at MGH Revere Healthcare Center
“Part 3: Home Visiting Supports Families Where They Need it Most”

04:53 – 06:31
Dr. Kate Rosenblum, Prof. of Psychiatry, OB-GYN, and Pediatrics at the University of Michigan
“Part 4: Positive Relationships Can Help Mitigate the Effects of Poverty”


06:33 – 07:00
Dr. Ruth Coleman, Reach Out and Read National Senior Director of Growth
“Part 5: How Reach Out and Read is Helping”


07:02 – 07:38
Nick Kristof, Journalist, The New York Times
“Part 1: Nick Kristof on How to Talk so People Will Listen”

“Spotlight on Poverty, Part 1: Nick Kristof on How to Talk So People Will Listen”

“We measure poverty with metrics of income and wealth, but that doesn’t get at the real gaps. Looking back, the kind of poverty that mattered most had to do with how infrequently children were read to, or hugged, or told they were loved.” — Nick Kristof, New York Times Journalist

Listen to the full episode
“Spotlight on Poverty, Part 2: Seeing Families Beyond the Numbers”

“One piece of really powerful advice is: The more you can maintain consistency and predictable routines for your child, the more that helps, sort of, get in the way of some of the things that introduce stress into households.” — Phillip Fisher, PhD, Director of Stanford Center on Early Childhood, Stanford University

Listen to the full episode
“Spotlight on Poverty, Part 3: Home Visiting Supports Families Where They Need It Most”

“There are all kinds of information I could give [to parents], but that’s sometimes not quite as important as just noticing and validating what they might already be doing. All parents are doing their best. So, making sure that I’m finding the opportunities to validate that —even if it’s just a simple response with a smile to what their child has accomplished —can go a long way.” — Emily Callahan, Home Visitor, Parents as Teachers

Listen to the full episode
“Spotlight on Poverty, Part 4: Positive Relationships Can Help Mitigate the Effects of Poverty”

“[Parent-child] relationships begin before a child is conceived. Little ones during pregnancy are in an environment where they experience many protective and wonderful things, but can also experience stress. The stress hormone cortisol crosses the placental barrier and can affect kids too.” — Kate Rosenblum, PhD, Zero to Thrive, University of Michigan

Listen to the full episode
“Spotlight on Poverty, Part 5: How Reach Out and Read is Helping”

“One of my favorite things about Reach Out and Read is our structural focus on the strengths of families and the challenges of living in under-resourced communities.” — Callee Boulware, Regional Exec. Dir., Reach Out and Read Carolinas, Virginia, and Washington, DC

Listen to the full episode

Our Impact

Our program has the greatest reach of all early literacy programs serving families with young children:

  • Reach Out and Read has near universal scale — we serve 4.6 million children annually
  • More than 60 percent of the children we serve are Black, Indigenous, and people of color, and nearly 70 percent are from low-income families.
  • Our model has the potential to reach 90 percent of all children in the United States through well-child visits, beginning at birth.
  • We have a growing network of clinicians, with more than 39,000 clinicians trained to deliver our model today.
  • We are a trusted partner in care of the whole child.

About Reach Out and Read

As a 501(c)3 nonprofit, Reach out and Read leverages the near-universal reach of the pediatric well-child visit to support caregivers in fostering healthy relationships with their young children through shared reading. In FY24, Reach Out and Read served more than 4.6 million children and provided 7.7 million free books across 9.3 million well-child visits. More than 70 percent of the children Reach Out and Read serves are from low-income families. The only national pediatric literacy model endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Reach Out and Read serves children in every state across the U.S., through 6,200 clinics and the expertise of 39,000 clinicians. Recent research in a peer-reviewed study published in American Pediatrics confirms the program’s effectiveness in increasing the frequency of parental reading, child builds early language and literacy skills and strengthens family relationships.