It is no surprise that children who read on grade level by the end of the third grade are more successful in school, work and life. You may be surprised to know that students who don’t read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to leave school without a diploma when compared to proficient readers. This number rises when those children also come from poverty.

The good news is that early intervention can make a difference. The Down East Partnership for Children is committed to work in a variety of ways with the help of national, state and local partners to reach young children in efforts to improve their chances for success.

Since proficiency in reading is such a strong indicator of future success in school, it is important that resources are in place for children and families to build a strong literacy-rich environment from the very start.

We have built a great foundation for improving outcomes for many young children through programs like Raising a Reader, the Rocky Mount Telegram’s book drive for children and Reach Out and Read. These efforts are putting books in the hands of children who have few books at home.

Each effort is a unique opportunity to reach young children in our own community and couldn’t be accomplished without the help and resources from business and community partners as well as volunteers.

With Smart Start funding, the Down East Partnership for Children supports Raising A Reader an evidence-based early literacy program delivered by Braswell Memorial Library that promotes daily book sharing between parents and their young children. Raising a Reader serves identified children in child care and their families through the weekly distribution of a book bag containing high quality children’s books. Additionally, the program provides reading sessions to children in child care weekly for a school calendar year. Parents of the children in the project are invited to participate in at least four parent early literacy events where they learn book-sharing strategies.

Reach Out and Read partners with doctors to prescribe books to young children and encourage families to read together. Down East Partnership for Children recently received a grant to launch Reach Out and Read in select offices in Nash and Edgecombe counties. Participating doctors and nurse practitioners incorporate Reach Out and Read’s evidence-based model into regular pediatric check-ups and give developmentally-appropriate books to children at each visit. This program begins at the 6-month checkup and continues through age five with a special emphasis on children growing up in low-income communities. The program has shown that families who have participated read together more often and their children entered kindergarten with larger vocabularies, stronger language skills and a six-month developmental edge.

We are also excited that our community has been selected as one of the first sites in North Carolina to participate with the national program Reading Partners. We are in the preliminary stages but are on track to implement this initiative next school year. This program is designed to partner with select elementary schools and provide intensive one-on-one instruction using a standardized curriculum, yielding an average improvement of an entire grade level in reading skills after 26 hours of tutoring. The effort depends on recruiting and training volunteers and a commitment from the school to create a dedicated reading center.

Finally, the Rocky Mount Telegram’s book drive recently put more than 300 gently used books in the hands of young children who participate in the scholarship program through the Down East Partnership for Children. Plans are underway to expand this community book swaps to ensure that all homes in our community are literacy rich. We know that working together we can make a difference.

This year the Partnership will celebrate literacy during the Week of the Young Child with a Family Literacy Night on from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. April 26 at Braswell Memorial Library. The event will feature storytellers and family fun. Kids can wear their favorite pajamas and bring a favorite stuffed friend as they listen to different stories presented by entertaining storytellers and each child will receive a book to take home.

Other events featured during the Week of the Young Child this year include a Children’s Parade held from 10 to 11 a.m. April 23 at Sunset Park. The Down East Partnership for Children’s annual State of the Child Luncheon will be held at noon April 27 at Lakeside Baptist Church.

Anyone interested in sponsoring one of these programs or events should contact the Partnership at 252-985-4300. We look forward to our continuing work together to raise every child as a reader.