Our Impact

Reading is a Right

We encourage healthy growth and early literacy for millions of children.

We share the power of reading with families of all backgrounds and economic means, helping them make reading a part of their daily lives. This creates a ripple effect throughout our communities. About one-third of young children—and half of children living in poverty—in the U.S. arrive at kindergarten without the skills that they need to do well in school. By giving every young child a foundation for success, we strengthen our society and help combat the effects of income inequality.

Reach Out and Read delivers results.

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 4.2 million children annually.
  • Two thirds of the children we serve are from low-income families.
  • Our model has the potential to reach 90% of all children in the United States through well-child visits, beginning at birth.
  • We have a growing network of pediatric providers, with more than 33,000 pediatric clinicians trained to deliver our model today.
  • We are a trusted partner in care of the whole child.

We are the only national pediatric literacy model endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.