Ready to Read

For children to succeed in school, they need to be introduced to reading long before kindergarten, and the most important teachers of early literacy skills are parents. With this in mind, HLP, in collaboration with the Humboldt County Library, started a family literacy program that we call Ready to Read. This program is designed to encourage literacy in the whole family.

This type of program has proven to be very effective. According to research conducted by the National Center for Family Literacy, after one year of family literacy training, 66% of adults were either enrolled in higher or continuing education, had plans to enroll, or were employed. Also, after two years of family literacy training, no children had been held back from school, and three-fourths of participating children were rated by their teachers as average or above average on academic performance, support from parents, and self-confidence.

One parent or other caregiver in each participating family is enrolled in Basic Literacy and is working with a tutor, and there is a child in the family who is five years old or younger. The learning team receives special materials, easy-to-read information about the important steps a parent can take to help a child become a good and enthusiastic reader. The family receives free children's books to start their at-home library and participates in family literacy nights at the Eureka or Fortuna libraries.