Starting A Site

Join Reach Out and Read New Jersey and your site will benefit from the following services:

• Provider training
• Book donations
• Volunteer recruitment network
• Communication and information sharing network
• Book funding for eligible sites

Becoming a Reach Out and Read® site

Visit Reach Out and Read's National Center to start your online application, a streamlined process that is detailed in convenient step-by-step instructions completed online. Contact the Reach Out and Read - NJ office at 973-292-0240 for assistance with completing your application--we're happy to help! 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How will our clinic benefit from becoming a Reach Out and Read site?

Thousands of doctors and nurses across the country, in large urban hospitals and small rural clinics, tell us that Reach Out and Read has become an essential part of their pediatric practices. By introducing a beautiful new book at the beginning of a well child visit, providers find they can better engage and calm the child, provide strong and helpful positive messages to the parent, and build connections with the family. Using the book in the exam room opens up the opportunity to talk about other issues - healthy routines, sleep issues, and even school readiness, and also offers providers a new and valuable tool for assessing the child's development. Becoming a Reach Out and Read site will mean that your clinic offers new and valuable benefits to your patients and their families and important developmental guidance, beautiful age-appropriate books, enrichment in the waiting room - and also gives your providers new ways to strengthen their relationships with the families of young children.

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2. What is the Reach Out and Read Model for pediatric literacy intervention?

The Reach Out and Read model for pediatric literacy intervention has three key elements:

• Primary care providers (doctors and nurses) are trained to deliver early literacy guidance to parents of children six months to five years of age during each well child visit. This guidance centers on age-appropriate strategies, including: how to enjoy looking at board books and naming pictures with infants, the importance of rhyme and repetition to toddlers, and asking open-ended questions when reading with preschoolers.
• During the well child visit, in the exam room, the provider gives the child a new, developmentally appropriate children's book to take home, building a collection of ten new books in the home before the child goes to kindergarten.
• Many Reach Out and Read programs also choose to create literacy rich waiting rooms, including providing gently used books for waiting room use or for siblings to take home. In many of these waiting rooms, Reach Out and Read volunteers model for parents the pleasures and techniques of reading aloud to very young children.

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3. How do we know Reach Out and Read is effective?

Reach Out and Read is an evidence-based intervention. Peer-reviewed and published studies show that literacy promoting interventions by the pediatrician, using the Reach Out and Read model, have a significant effect on parental behavior, beliefs, and attitudes toward reading aloud. Studies also show that parents who get books and literacy counseling from their pediatricians are more likely to read to their young children and provide more books in the home. Several studies also show improvements in the expressive and receptive language scores of young children receiving this intervention. The Reach Out and Read website has additional information on Reach Out and Read-related research.

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4. Who pays for the books?

It costs approximately $5.50 per year, per child to deliver Reach Out and Read in your clinic. Each new Reach Out and Read program receives a start-up award from the National Center, when the application is approved, to cover the cost of books for up to the first six months of the program. Your clinic will need to raise funds to pay for the remaining books needed for the first year. After the first year, Reach Out and Read programs are eligible for additional funding for book purchases-usually 25% or more of their annual book costs.

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5. How much money will we need for books?

The "Reach Out and Read annual book budget calculation" is generally based on an average of two books per year for the total number of participating children - that is, one book for every well child visit between six months and five years of age at about $2.75 per book.

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6. Is this program for everyone?

We at the Reach Out and Read National Center feel strongly that this message about the importance of reading aloud is important for every young child and every family - and, of course, that books are important for every child. We are eager to work with any clinic or practice which wants to implement the program. However, because our funds are limited, and because our federal funding in particular is designated for children at-risk, we are more limited in our ability to provide start-up funding to those practices which serve mostly affluent children.

We are often able to help - but not necessarily to provide a full six months of books - and we have worked with many such practices which have found ways to pay for their own books. In any case, we welcome inquiries from all practices - but acknowledge that our first priority, and the recipients of the majority of our funding, are the clinics and practices which serve a substantial number of children growing up in poverty.

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7. What kind of staff do we need to run a Reach Out and Read program?

Each Reach Out and Read program has a Reach Out and Read Medical Director - a doctor or nurse who is responsible for the job of training medical colleagues, connecting with the executive leadership of the clinic, and generally serving as the medical "face" of the program. The Medical Director is supported by a Program Coordinator who is responsible for the administrative aspects of running the Reach Out and Read program (i.e. ordering books, stocking exam rooms, coordinating volunteer readers). The Reach Out and Read Coordinator can be any interested staff member familiar with the clinic, the staff, and the patient population. Both roles are most often voluntary in nature and take very little time each month.

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8. We want to become a Reach Out and Read program - what steps should we take now?

• Review information about the Reach Out and Read model at www.reachoutandread.org
• Identify an on-site Reach Out and Read Medical Director.
• Talk to your clinic's administration and pediatric staff to engage their support.
• Begin to gather demographic information on your clinic population - ages six months to five years. (You will also need to determine a rough approximation of the percent of families living at or near 200% of the poverty level, or give us other demographic information to indicate whether you serve a substantial number of children who should be considered at risk.)
• Brainstorm about how you will pay for books beyond the money Reach Out and Read provides.

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9. How will our doctors and nurses get trained in the Reach Out and Read model?

Reach Out and Read training for pediatric primary care providers offers practical, concrete, and effective strategies for talking to parents about books and for using books in the well child visit. All participating Reach Out and Read providers need to complete the Reach Out and Read training before they begin implementing the program. For new sites with more than four providers, the Reach Out and Read National Center can arrange an on-site training session shortly after the application is approved. Both a training video and a one-hour on-line CME course on pediatric literacy promotion are available as training options for clinics with fewer providers.

A one hour on-line orientation for new Reach Out and Read program coordinators and volunteers is also available on the Reach Out and Read website.

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10. What books should we purchase for participating Reach Out and Read families?

The Reach Out and Read model calls for the provider to give a new, age and culturally appropriate book in the exam room at each well child visit. There are a number of ways that you can purchase books for your program.

Reach Out and Read publishes a book catalog available exclusively to approved Reach Out and Read programs, with hundreds of carefully selected children's books from more than 25 publishers, at substantially discounted prices. The catalog is organized by child's age, to make the book selection process easy. Many Reach Out and Read programs also choose to purchase high quality children's books from other local or national sources that offer discounts to literacy programs. You can also solicit new book donations from individuals or businesses in your area.

The Reach Out and Read Program Manual, has a chapter devoted to identifying good children's books for use in the program, as well as suggestions for ordering, tracking, and storing your book supply.

Many Reach Out and Read programs also like to have "gently used" donated books available in the waiting areas for siblings, for sick visits, or for long waiting periods.

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11. How do we create literacy rich waiting rooms and recruit volunteers?

Reach Out and Read recognizes that children and parents often spend a fair amount of time in the waiting room. To take advantage of this time, the Reach Out and Read model recommends using the waiting room to promote the joy of reading aloud and to provide information for parents about how to read to their young children. In many Reach Out and Read waiting rooms:

• Volunteers provide children with positive reading experiences and help parents understand that a picture or storybook is an easy, portable way to keep a young child engaged in almost any situation.
• Volunteers can model read-aloud techniques that show parents by example that reading with children is a vigorous, enjoyable process.

Not all clinics have waiting rooms or wait times suitable for volunteer reader programs. However, all Reach Out and Read sites can develop a waiting room component of the program. For example, Reach Out and Read programs can:

• Ask volunteers to collect gently used books, sort them, and put them out on shelves in the waiting room so children of all ages can read them in the waiting room and take them home if they choose.
• Develop displays of short poems, stories, and laminated posters to display in the waiting area.
• Provide posters and pamphlets about health literacy and family literacy opportunities available in the community.

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12. How do we find Financial Support?

There are lots of ways to raise money for your Reach Out and Read program. Many sites hold an annual fundraiser, such as a bake sale or a pancake breakfast. Still others seek funding from wealthy individuals in their communities or from small businesses, large corporations, or charitable foundations that support local causes. The kind of fundraising plan that you need will depend on the size of your population and your budget. The Reach Out and Read National Center can help you in many ways:

• We provide templates for fundraising letters and grant applications that you can personalize for your own program.
• We have national relationships with foundations and corporations, many of which include local grants.
• Our frequently updated website, where you can also find the Reach Out and Read Manual, provides current information on potential funding sources in your community.

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13. How do we find Community Support?

Collaborations can help your program with local fundraising for books, volunteer recruitment, community visibility, and publicity. There are other people in your community working to promote literacy, and there are many service organizations that might want to link up with you locally. Reach Out and Read programs often work with the following groups:

• Libraries
• Faith-based organizations
• High school and college community service leaders
• Civic groups (e.g., Rotary Club, Kiwanis, Junior League)
• Municipal literacy initiatives

There may also be a regional or citywide Reach Out and Read collaboration in your area or a Reach Out and Read Coalition in your state. Call the National Center to learn if there is such a group near you; they can offer valuable guidance and support as you begin to raise funds and advocate for pediatric literacy intervention in your community.

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14. How do programs contact the National Center?

The staff at the Reach Out and Read National Center provides ongoing technical assistance to our programs. We like to keep in touch - whether through our newsletter or our monthly email to share fundraising tips. In addition, if your program is in a region with a Reach Out and Read Coalition, you will benefit from their assistance and support as well.

Each Reach Out and Read program files a progress report with the National Center twice a year. Brief online report forms are submitted in January and August, from the time a new program has been up and running for six months. The forms can be completed in about 20 minutes and are crucial for us to understand the size and scope of Reach Out and Read nationwide, as well as to help us identify our strengths and also the problems that need attention at a local or national level. The progress reports also provide the data we need in order to make our semi-annual "sustainability awards" for book funding from the National Center to high-quality active Reach Out and Read sites. This on-line report typically includes contact updates and brief questions pertaining to program activity: how many books were distributed and children served in the previous six month period; how many providers are actively participating in the program; and how many volunteer hours have been donated.

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If you have further questions, see the National Center's Frequently Asked Questions page.

Doctors and nurse practitioners are trained to give advice to parents about appropriate books and reading activities that support their child's healthy development.

Children get to take home a free, new, developmentally appropriate book at every check-up from birth to five years.

Trained volunteers read aloud to children in waiting rooms, modeling for parents how to share books and tell stories, and engage families in waiting room activities surrounding books and reading.