Greater Cincinnati Reach Out and Read Coalition

Reach Out and Read prepares Greater Cincinnati’s youngest children for success in school by local doctors prescribing reading and giving young children a foundation for success by incorporating books into pediatric care and encouraging families to read aloud together.

Cincinnati Children’s serves as the leader of the Greater Cincinnati Reach Out and Read Coalition and supports nearly 30 Primary Care Medical Centers across Cincinnati who participate in Reach Out and Read. The Greater Cincinnati Reach Out and Read Coalition serves nearly 30,000 children and families annually.

During regular pediatric check-ups, Reach Out and Read pediatricians, family physicians, and nurse practitioners give new, developmentally appropriate books to children, from infancy through 5 years, and advise parents about the importance of reading aloud. As a result of this evidence-based intervention, parents learn new ways to stimulate their children’s literacy development, have more books in their home, and read to their children more. Parents are supported as their children’s first and most important teachers, and children are given a foundation for success.

Reach Out and Read Delivers Results

The first five years of life offer a critical window for learning, with rapid brain development that does not occur at any other time. Many children, especially from low-income families, are not read to from birth. Children who hear fewer words during early childhood start school developmentally behind their peers and may never catch up.

Our program is a proven intervention, supported by 16 independent, published research studies. During the preschool years, children served by Reach Out and Read score three to six months ahead of their non-Reach Out and Read peers on vocabulary tests, preparing them to start school on target. Research shows that children who start school on track are more likely to reach their full educational, social, and life potential.