Raising A Reader MA

Raising A Reader MA, founded in 2006 with the support of the Greenlight Fund, aims to give every child an equal opportunity for achievement by engaging parents from low-income communities in a routine of daily book sharing with their children from birth to age five.

The early literacy skills development that Raising A Reader MA promotes is proven to impact school readiness, academic performance and lifetime achievement for children. Raising A Reader directly addresses this need, working with over 8,000 children ages 0-5 across the Commonwealth and over 107,000 children nationwide. Raising A Reader's award-winning program circulates high quality children's books into children's homes and helps children, families and early childcare providers to develop, practice and maintain the habit of sharing those books. Independent evaluations have repeatedly demonstrated that Raising A Reader's unique program engages families, builds kindergarten readiness skills and is cost effective and scalable. Raising A Reader has been named one of the top 45 social entrepreneurs changing the world by Fast Company Magazine and among top non-profits by Philanthropedia.

Raising A Reader MA launched in Chelsea in March 2006 as an initiative of the GreenLight Fund, and is currently reaching young children and families in Chelsea, Somerville, Everett, Malden, Medford, Cambridge, Stoneham, East Boston, Winthrop, Revere, and Lawrence. Raising A Reader MA partners with a variety of early childhood partners, including child care centers, preschools, family child care providers, home visiting programs, and playgroups, and brings the Raising A Reader program to these partners at no cost.

Raising A Reader MA's goal is to reach approximately 12,000 young children and their families throughout Massachusetts by 2011.