Read to Grow, Inc

Read to Grow's mission is to improve early literacy for all Connecticut children by providing books, by helping families share books with their babies starting at birth, by encouraging language development, and by promoting an awareness of literacy services.

Description:
Read to Grow's Books for Babies program works with parents in the hospital when a baby is born, linking health to the importance of early literacy, language development and attachment.
Emphasizing the vital role they play in their child’s literacy development, we encourage parents to begin reading aloud to their babies right from birth. To start them off, we give a "literacy bag" containing a free new children’s book and informational guide to all parents of babies born in our 8 participating hospitals: Yale-New Haven Hospital, Hospital of St. Raphael, Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Hartford Hospital, Manchester Memorial Hospital, Bridgeport Hospital and St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport. A unique feature of our program is the in-hospital visit from a Books for Babies volunteer. To help all families get started, volunteers who have been trained by our program visit with parents on maternity units to introduce Read to Grow and to talk about the “how and why” of reading aloud to babies.

Through our Books for Kids program, Read to Grow works to increase families' access to books by distributing donated new and gently used books free of charge to children in need, from birth through middle-school age, and to health centers, schools, child care centers and community organizations that serve children.

History:
Read to Grow began in 1998 in response to a call for children’s books from a New Haven, Connecticut health care center. Local bookseller Roxanne Coady rallied the Shoreline community and collected two busloads of books for the center's pediatric patients. Shocked to learn that so many children did not have books of their own, Roxanne brought together bankers, philanthropists, business leaders, educators and health care professionals to create the Books for Babies program to ensure that all babies in the New Haven area start life with a book of their own and parents who understand the importance of reading to them.

In 2000, the name Read to Grow was adopted to reflect a broader mission and additional services. Over the past 10 years, with support from our donors, volunteers and community partners, Read to Grow has grown, reaching hundreds of thousands of children, and expanding programming to address Connecticut’s literacy crisis and ever-widening achievement gap.

Contact people:

Robin Baker, Office Manager, (phone), (email) Linda Sylvester, Books For Kids Coordinator, (phone), (email) Priscilla Russo, Books for Babies Coordinator, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: 203-488-7735

Address:

53 School Ground Rd. Unit 3 Branford, CT 06405 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.readtogrow.org

Directions:

From New Haven I-95 to Exit 56. Left at end of exit onto Leetes Island Rd. Follow straight and cross Route 1. Road become School Ground Rd. Follow School Ground Rd. approx 1/4 mile and Read to. . . (more)   Nearest Bus Stop: Rout e 1 Branford, 15 minute walk

Last updated on February 3, 2009