STATE SENATOR PARKER PROMOTES READING IN EAST FLATBUSH

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STATE SENATOR PARKER PROMOTES READING IN EAST FLATBUSH
Parents can prepare kids for kindergarten by reading aloud daily

Senator Kevin Parker reads aloud to children at the Caribbean-American Family Health Center in East Flatbush to promote school readiness.

December 21, 2012, Brooklyn, NY…Read aloud and read often! That's the message State Senator Kevin Parker shared with families at Lutheran Family Health Centers' Caribbean-American Family Health Center in East Flatbush. His visit highlighted the work of Reach Out and Read of Greater New York, a program that empowers parents to prepare their little ones for kindergarten by reading aloud to them every day.

"As we all know, children who are read to by their parents and grandparents, and who read early and often, are more likely to succeed in school and life," said Senator Parker. "Children are our future, and we must all do our best to help them succeed, and to help them lift our community upward. That is why I am happy to be here today supporting Reach Out and Read in its work with our children."

By the time children from low-income families enter kindergarten, they are typically 12-14 months below national norms in language and pre-reading skills.¹ Through Reach Out and Read, pediatricians fight this developmental gap by giving families free books and by counseling them on the importance of reading aloud for healthy language development.

"We are very happy to participate in the Reach out and Read Program," said Anita Beecham-Robinson, M.D., Medical Director, Caribbean-American Family Health Center. "Reading aloud plays a crucial role in a child's language development. That's why we encourage parents to read to their children at an early age. Thank you to Senator Parker, Reach Out and Read of Greater New York, and our AmeriCorps members who make this program possible."

There are Reach Out and Read programs at 42 hospitals and health centers in Brooklyn, including five Lutheran Family Health Network clinics: Sunset Park Family Health Center, Park Slope Family Health Center, Park Ridge Family Health Center, Family Physician Health Center, and the Caribbean-American Family Health Center. In Brooklyn, over 71,000 children participated in the Reach Out and Read program last year

¹ "A Quiet Crisis: The Urgent Need to Build Early Childhood Systems and Quality Programs for Children Birth to Age Five," Policy Statement. (2009) The Council of Chief State School Officers.

The Lutheran Family Health Centers Reach Out and Read program is coordinated by Lutheran Family Health Centers' Sunset Park Community AmeriCorps and HealthCorps programs and always welcomes new book donations and reading volunteers.

Reach Out and Read of Greater New York distributes books to a quarter of a million children annually at 185 Reach Out and Read clinical locations throughout New York City, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Dutchess, Orange, Sullivan and Ulster Counties. For more information, visit our website: www.reachoutandreadnyc.org. Reach Out and Read of Greater New York was recently featured on PBS NewsHour.

Reach Out and Read is an evidence-based, national nonprofit organization that prepares America's youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together. Reach Out and Read currently serves one-third of the most impoverished children in the U.S. The Reach Out and Read model is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the program has one of the strongest records of research support of any primary care intervention. This year, Reach Out and Read's 28,460 volunteer doctors and nurse practitioners will provide 6.4 million new books to 3.9 million children at 4,779 healthcare locations in all 50 states. For further information, please visit Reach Out and Read's website at www.reachoutandread.org.

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