Silicon Valley One - Summer 2008 - (Page 7) Raising A Reader brings big tomes to small hands By the Book L aunched in 1999 as a partnership between the San Mateo County Library and the Peninsula Community Foundation, Raising A Reader® promotes “book cuddling” between preschool children from low-income families and their parents, many of whom do not speak or read English well. “Research shows that language development needs to occur during the first few years of life,” says Carol Gray, founder and former executive director of Raising A Reader (www.raisingareader.org). Only one of every four children entering kindergarten in San Mateo County knew all the letters of the alphabet and actively engaged with books, according to a 2002 report produced by the Peninsula Partnership for Children, Youth and Families. How to change this? “Read a book daily with a child,” Gray says. But, she adds, “How do you do that when parents are afraid of books?” Raising A Reader’s solution: Red tote bags with chubby handles and thick zippers, jammed with carefully chosen multicultural picture books. “We wanted them to get excited about the bag, to run home and say, ‘Daddy, Daddy, read to me.’ ” Gray says. The focus is less on teaching reading skills and more on helping children—and their parents—grow comfortable around books. In 2000, Raising A Reader was piloted in 12 preschools and childcare centers. In 2001, it went national. A supporting organization of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, it now has 157 affiliates in 33 states and serves more than 120,000 children yearly. Cost: roughly $100 per student. A Stanford University study coming out later this year shows great gains for students and families, and the organization has won three Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Awards. “Our goal is to double the impact over the next three years,” Gray says. And, no doubt, to get more of those red tote bags in homes nationwide. —Tamar Snyder one Jupiter imageS Valley Highs Report shows challenges and chances to help iving in Silicon Valley is expensive. Has been for years. But a new report shows just what those high prices are costing the local economy, both in terms of talent lost and family life strained. The annual Silicon Valley Index noted that L families living in Silicon Valley need a minimum of nearly $80,000 a year to support themselves. However, the average annual income is approximately 10 percent lower ($73,300), and the average non-high tech worker is paid even less than that. The 2008 report (www.siliconvalleycf.org/ONE/21c), produced by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and Silicon Valley Community Foundation, also noted that the cost of living is on the rise—47 percent higher than the national norm. “The research is a wake-up call to our community that we must work across sectors to address the intertwined challenges facing our region, especially for families with the fewest resources,” says Emmett D. Carson, CEO and president of the community foundation, which partnered on the report for the first time this year. The implications go beyond the region, though, says Russell Hancock, president of Joint Venture, the public-private partnership group that initiated the index in 1995. “Usually what happens in Silicon Valley will start to happen in the rest of the country.” —Tamar Snyder one www.siliconvalleycf.org innovation through philanthropy one 7 http://www.raisingareader.org http://www.siliconvalleycf.org/ONE/21c
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