Putting Books Into Children’s Laps:
Spotlight on Local Raising A Reader

One of Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s early learning initiatives, Raising A Reader is a pioneering national early literacy program as well as a supporting organization of the community foundation.  As a supporting organization, Raising A Reader provides program support and technical assistance to all affiliates in the nationwide network. Started in 1999 from a San Mateo County Library System pilot program, Raising A Reader has generated national interest with proven results.  Winner of Fast Company's Social Capitalist Award for the third year in a row, the program now reaches nearly 200,000 children through 125 affiliates across 32 states and four countries. It is designed to fill a critical niche by providing a low-cost, scalable method for communities to implement read-aloud routines in the homes of low-income families. According the National Commission on Reading, “The single most significant factor influencing a child’s early educational success is an introduction to books and being read to at home prior to beginning school.” 

How does the program actually work?  Raising A Reader is a rotating, take-home book bag program promoting home-based reading experiences for children and parents. The program provides book bags free of charge to low-income families with children under age five.  The book bags are readily available at preschools, home-visiting programs, adult education centers, family childcare homes and other locations. Each durable canvas book bag contains four high quality, illustrated children’s books on a wide-variety of topics to suit different ages and cultures. Due to the large number of Spanish-speaking families served, Raising A Reader also places a special priority on offering the very best in Spanish-English bilingual books.  At the end of each week, families return and receive a new bag of books, insuring each child has a wide array of book selection and continued excitement for reading.

Some 6,000 children in more than 300 classrooms and homes experience the local impact of Raising A Reader each year throughout San Mateo County. Teachers and caregivers who participate in the program find that the simple act of sending book bags home inspires children with a love of books and reading. Diana Gonzalez, a teacher from Siebecker Preschool in South San Francisco states, “Raising A Reader has helped us build a bridge with families because children have gotten their parents excited about bringing books home.  We also have noticed more interest in the children at circle or free time when they sit down and choose to look at a book.” Others appreciate the family bonding outcome of the program as children experience a strong, positive response to books when parents share books with them. Trisha Violette, a parent at Family Service Agency’s Early Learning Center in San Mateo, says, “Story time is the most intimate time we spend together. The boys just love to snuggle and read books, and getting the book bags adds an extra surprise element to our time together.”

The community foundation is responsible for the implementation of the local Raising A Reader initiative. Pat Flynn Sasso is the community foundation’s local contact.  Before joining the community foundation as an initiative officer, she implemented the Raising A Reader program in multiple early childhood settings: a home-based preschool, a parent cooperative nursery school and a state-subsidized child development center. For Pat, Raising A Reader is unique among literacy programs because it offers important home and school connections. “One of my favorite quotes is, ‘Readers are made on the laps of their parents,’” she says. “I know that Raising A Reader is designed to get children reading on the laps of their parents.”

For information regarding the local Raising A Reader program, contact Pat by pfsasso@siliconvalleycf.org or 650.450.5494