Read to Grow is a statewide nonprofit organization that builds early literacy for Connecticut’s children. The organization was founded in 1998 by a diverse group of individuals who recognized that a child’s literacy begins at birth. In 2000, Read to Grow incorporated as a nonprofit organization.

• Read to Grow encourages parents - a child’s first and most important teachers - to take an active role in their child’s literacy development and begin reading to their newborns right from birth. We also provide free children’s books to families and programs in need, and parental guidance on how to help children develop language and pre-literacy skills that form a strong foundation for later literacy and learning. In addition to our staff, we have a dedicated team of more than 100 volunteers that helps us deliver our program services and leverage every donated dollar.

Literacy begins at birth, long before the start of formal instruction in elementary school. By the time a child enters kindergarten, she or he already has been learning for 5 or 6 years. In fact, babies are born learning; parents are their first teachers and home is their first “school.”

• We are the only statewide nonprofit organization that connects with parents in the hospital setting and prepares them to take an active role in their child’s literacy development from day one. To help parents create language-rich homes in which children can develop critical early skills, we provide books to families and to the programs that interact with infants, toddlers, and school-age children and their parents.

• The first step to literacy is developing language skills. Strong language skills are among the best predictors of later reading and writing abilities. Reading aloud exposes babies to words and speech, and helps build good language skills early on.

Recent neuroscience research shows that birth to age three is a critical period for brain development and language acquisition. Child development studies show that children who are read to from an early age enter school better prepared to learn, regardless of socioeconomic background. Our goal is to help parents understand the critical connection between verbal stimulation, language development and future literacy. By reading aloud to children beginning at birth, parents can help their children develop the early literacy skills they will need to succeed in school and in life.