“Read On Arizona” was established in 2013 with a 10-year plan to get every third grader in the state to read at grade level by the year 2023.
How much progress has the state made?
Arizona Week Friday looks at literacy in Southern Arizona.
It starts in the first years of a child’s life, when the cells in the brain are constantly making new connections.
“The connections that are not stimulated repeatedly, they wither away or they’re lost,” pediatrician Andrew Arthur said. “The ones that are used repeatedly, they become reinforced.”
Arthur is head of pediatrics at Tucson's El Rio Community Health Center which is part of Reach Out and Read, an initiative that gives free books to children up to 5 years old.
Pediatricians give children the books during their office visits and checkups and encourage parents to read with their families.
“Every time I read to her she learns more,” said mom Estrella, whose three children get books through the program.
Literacy efforts are also directed at adults in Pima County. Literacy Connects is a collaboration among five local nonprofit organizations that provide services in schools, at libraries and for adults.
“We have adults who come through our doors all the time who are high school graduates, but they can barely read,” said Betty Stauffer, executive director of Literacy Connects.
On the program
- Betty Stauffer, executive director of Literacy Connects
- Edie Lantz Leppert, program director for basic literacy at Literacy Connects
- Laura Kerr, Infusion Project, a collaboration between the Sunnyside Unified School District and Literacy Connects
- Guest Host Nancy Montoya visits the Infusion Project at Los Niños Elementary
This video features the song "Read a Book To Me" written and performed by Judy Pancoast
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