Fact:
Reading at grade level by the third grade is the leading indicator of school success and high school graduation
Fact:
Almost half of third graders in South Florida fail to achieve this critical benchmark.
The Read to Learn initiative is hoping to change that.
The Children’s Trust and The Center for Literature and Theatre at Miami Dade College have teamed up for Read to Learn / Books for Free a program focused on increasing access to books for kids in underserved communities. The hope is that by placing bookshelves stocked with age-appropriate new and gently used books in WIC offices, public housing, public health clinics, juvenile justice centers and other family-centered locations kids and parents will gobble them up take them home and get reading.
Almost 200,000 books have been distributed in the first two years of operation.
The biggest challenge so far has been to keep a steady flow of age-appropriate books on the shelves.
To help address the need for more books The Miami-Dade Police Department has recently announced it is joining the team by placing book donation drop-off bins in 9 police districts.
You can help by donating books or buying selected books here
Children’s Trust also takes aim at younger kids. It hosts a free, monthly book club for all 3-year-olds in Miami-Dade County. On their third birthday, all children are eligible to receive a free book every month, delivered to their home.
Literacy program helps children read at grade level | Miami Herald
Previously on Book Patrol
A book-of-the-month club for the infants and toddlers of Washington D.C.
The Book Cops of Delaware
top photo: Daniel Bock for the Miami Herald