U.S. Senator Jack Reed joined health professionals and childhood literacy advocates from Reach Out and Read RI at the Chafee Health Center in Providence to celebrate President Obama signing Reed’s Prescribe a Book Act into law. Reed’s legislation creates federal grant opportunities for pediatric early literacy initiatives, authorizing competitive funding that could be used to help doctors and nurses provide low-income parents with a children’s book to take home at every wellness visit. This marks the first time a pediatric early literacy promotion initiative has been written into federal education policy.
The legislation authorizes funding for literacy programs that target at-risk children. This law builds upon the success of Reach Out and Read, an evidence-based organization that addresses the importance of reaching children in the first years of life by incorporating literacy promotion into pediatric care. Coupled with the measures the Senator added into the ESSA to support school libraries along with other literacy provisions, the new law contains an enhanced focus on helping young people read.
“Literacy is the foundation for learning. Developing and building these skills begins at home, with parents as the first teachers. That is the basis for the Prescribe a Book Act, and its inclusion in the Every Student Succeeds Act is an important step forward. Helping young people learn to read is one of the most important things in terms of setting them along the right path and helping them develop the skills they’ll need to be successful. This initiative empowers parents to help their kids and provides them with free books to get started,” said Senator Reed, the author of the bipartisan Prescribe a Book Act, which was cosponsored by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA).
