Reach Out and Read Co

early literacy

Meet our Director of Programs, Jessie Chase

Jessie is a passionate educator and nonprofit professional with nine years of experience in education and literacy. Her motivation to ensure that all kids have a literacy foundation has been at the forefront of her work. She understands the difference a book can make and the power that comes from connecting with literature. These passions […]

Local Spotlight: Joni Adelman, Mineral County Public Health

I work as the Mineral County Public Health Nurse for the Silver Thread Public Health District as well as a Family Nurse Practitioner for the Creede Family Practice. Living and working in Creede, Colorado for the last nine years has allowed me many opportunities to fill and serve the needs of our community. I provide […]

2019 Winner, Magdalena Aguayo Literacy Champion Award | John Hickenlooper

Governor John Hickenlooper has been an exceptional advocate for the Reach Out and Read Colorado program. His dedication to the mission of Reach Out and Read Colorado as Mayor of Denver and Governor of Colorado and his promotion of early literacy has been an incredibly powerful catalyst for our statewide impact. Governor Hickenlooper has sent […]

Reach Out and Read Colorado Parent Story: Hanna Nichols

As an advocate working in the field of early childhood health and development, I had a lot of tools at my disposal when I became a parent. I recall returning from the hospital in May of 2016, a few days after giving birth to my beautiful daughter, Nora, and immediately sitting down and opening a […]

Reach Out and Read Colorado Volunteer Story: Gwen Black

Reach Out and Read Colorado has been on my radar screen since late 2016, when I began looking for a nonpolitical organization to which I might make holiday gift donations for my family. Nothing seemed more appealing than furthering the cause of pairing young children with something to read. I remember hoping each Christmas for […]

A Note from Reach Out and Read National CEO, Brian Gallagher

It is an honor to be in touch with each of you, from the Reach Out and Read National Center, in Boston, Massachusetts, the birthplace of Reach Out and Read. I want to start with a note of appreciation and gratitude for Meredith Hintze’s leadership to Reach Out and Read Colorado over the past decade. […]

From the Desk of Meredith Hintze | 2018 Winter Newsletter

Reading has always been a priority in my life. My mom and grandmother read to me frequently starting from birth, and it became a staple in my childhood. I can remember sitting up in my childhood bed, listening to my mom read aloud to my sister in her bedroom down the hallway, clutching my book, […]

The Importance of Early Literacy | Feature by Perry Jowsey

I wasn’t a natural bookworm as a kid. I struggled with a short attention span, and would have rather been playing baseball or Pac Man but it was important to my mom that I grow up reading. She made it a priority to read to me and with me since I can remember, and it […]

The New Parent Empowerment Initiative (NPEI)

Our New Parent Empowerment Initiative (NPEI) is launching on April 1, 2018. For the first time ever, Reach Out and Read Colorado is extending our reach to expectant mothers. This project is centered on the premise that parents may have more capacity to receive early literacy messages during pregnancy (versus the baby’s first six months). […]

Colorado Gives Day 2017

 Meet Eliana! Eliana loves snakes, gemstones, and non-fiction. Eliana shares her favorite books, her love of geology, and why reading aloud is important for kiddos in a one-minute interview with Reach Out and Read Colorado that is sure to put a smile on your face and cheer in your heart. Watch Eliana’s interview HERE! Eliana is one of […]

LIVE! Colorado Community Health Check Up: Early Literacy Edition with Dr. Larry Wolk & Dr. Simon Hambidge

[ NOTE: sound cuts in at 19 seconds] On Wednesday, August 30th Reach Out and Read Colorado hosted our first Colorado Community Health Check Up: Early Literacy Edition LIVE! with Dr. Larry Wolk & Dr. Simon Hambidge. Dr. Wolk and Dr. Hambidge discussed early literacy in a health care setting, population health, prescribing books to […]

Reach Out and Read Colorado: Twenty Years

20 years ago, Dr. Steve Vogler had the idea to promote early literacy in an exam room and reached out to a local librarian (Ann Logan!) to collaborate. Ann Logan and Steve Vogler implemented Reach Out and Read Colorado’s innovative mission in two Metro Denver clinics. Today, Reach Out and Read Colorado partners with more […]

COMMUNITY 360 | HEALTH CARE CLINIC PERSPECTIVES

In this Special Edition Blog Feature, we share perspectives from Reach Out and Read Colorado community members who work in/with our partner clinics prescribing reading to Colorado children and their families. PERSPECTIVE: SITE COORDINATOR Pat McHone, Lincoln County Public Health @ Hugo, Colorado I enjoy when kids come into our office and they see all […]

Prowers County Recognized as Reach Out and Read Colorado Book-End County

Prowers County is the most recent Colorado County to be recognized as a Reach Out and Read Colorado Book-End County! To be recognized with this honor, 100% of children’s health care providers in the community must partner with Reach Out and Read Colorado to empower parents to read aloud with children starting from birth. Books […]

Otero County Clinics Recognized for Service to Community

Centennial Family Health in Ordway and Rocky Ford Family Health Center in Rocky Ford were recently honored by Reach Out and Read Colorado for 10 years of partnership and dedication to their community. The two health care clinics, collectively prescribed 200 Reach Out and Read Colorado books to Otero County families in 2016, empowering parents […]

Dr. Kent Gaylord of Telluride Medical Center Wins Magdalena Aguayo Literacy Champion Award

Dr. Kent Gaylord, and the mountain community of Telluride in San Miguel County, was awarded the 2017 Magdalena Aguayo Literacy Champion Award at the Reach Out and Read Colorado Statewide Conference hosted in Aurora, Colorado. Dr. Gaylord is a Colorado native and has been practicing family medicine in Telluride, Colorado for 21 years. When Telluride […]

200 health care professionals come together for the Reach Out and Read Colorado Statewide Conference

Denver, Colorado (April 10, 2017) – Reach Out and Read Colorado, one of Colorado’s leading early literacy organizations, kicked off its biannual Statewide Conference today in Aurora, presented by Children’s Hospital Colorado. The conference is a celebratory gathering of more than 200 advocates and health care professionals from throughout Colorado. At the event, community partners […]

I Don’t Put Books in My Mouth Anymore: 50,000 Check-Up Stickers & Counting

In the Fall of 2015, Reach Out and Read Colorado partnered with One Thousand Design to create a set of custom check-up stickers. The stickers are for children after their wellness check-ups and intended to empower families and extend beneficial early literacy messages beyond the exam room into the community. The act of receiving a sticker […]

Parent Engagament Practices

In a new Issue Brief and supplemental video, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in partnership with Penn State University remind us that parent engagement practices improve outcomes for preschool children. The Issue Brief highlights four specific strategies for success including programs that promote positive parenting and those that promote home learning activities and effective teaching […]

Prescription: Read | RMHP Issue Brief

Meredith Hintze, Reach Out and Read Colorado Executive Director, was featured in Rocky Mountain Health Plans February 2017, Issue Brief. Prescription: Read By supporting early literacy, pediatric practices improve health and well-being of individuals and communities The most effective way to improve a child’s reading ability is to improve access to the written word. But preschoolers […]

Simon Hambidge Elected Chair of Reach Out and Read Colorado Board

I was first exposed to Reach Out and Read as a pediatric resident at the Westside Pediatric clinic in the mid-90s. As I was in training, I assumed that all pediatric care involved early language and literacy promotion by health care providers! I didn’t realize that Westside was the first clinic in Colorado and one […]

2017 Statewide Conference

Register today for the 2017 Reach Out and Read Colorado statewide conference for site coordinators, providers and partners. The conference will be held on Monday, April 10 in Aurora, Colorado at Children’s Hospital Colorado (13123 E. 16th Street, Aurora, Colorado 80045). As a thank you for all you do for Reach Out and Read Colorado, […]

Eric Carle Treasure Discovered at Local Book Drive

Thus far in 2016, Reach Out and Read Colorado has collected over 114,000 gently used books for our 300+ clinics throughout the state. These books have been donated by over 115 individual donors, ranging from schools to local businesses to individuals. These greatly loved, gently used books help create a literacy-rich environment in a clinic’s […]

The New Parent Initiative

2017 will bring a new opportunity to invest in innovation designed to reduce parent-child barriers in early education. More specifically, Reach Out and Read Colorado will unveil The New Parent Empowerment Initiative to focus on reaching first-time parents or parents who are new to the program, in order to maximize the benefits of early literacy […]

A Lifetime of Learning Begins Today

A high-quality preschool experience is your child’s first step on the academic path to future classroom and career success. Denver Preschool Program (DPP) was created to help all Denver parents understand and access preschool through information and tuition support— regardless of income or neighborhood. That is why your doctor partners with Reach Out and Read Colorado to […]

Goddard Schools Donate Books By The Thousands for Reach Out & Read Colorado

Goddard Schools located throughout the Denver area including Castle Rock partnered with Reach Out & Read Colorado to collect over 18,500 new and gently used books for underprivileged children in the area. The book drive is part of the schools’ initiative to promote literacy and teach the children the importance of giving back to the […]

Launch into Learning

  We would like to extend a huge thank you to the Molina Foundation for donating over 26,000 books to Reach Out and Read clinics across Colorado! The Molina Foundation, a national nonprofit based in California, distributed these books as part of their Launch into Learning campaign, which was designed to provide educational resources to […]

Statewide Spotlight: Northeast Colorado Health Department

Reach Out and Read Colorado Begins in the Clinic Waiting Room According to Kandice Kramer, Reach Out and Read Colorado Site Coordinator for the Northeast Colorado Health Department, she has noticed a significant change since redecorating their waiting room to provide a literacy- rich environment. Kramer has, “observed more families reading with their children in […]

REACH OUT AND READ COLORADO NAMES MEREDITH HINTZE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Denver, Colorado (June 14, 2016) – The Board of Directors of Reach Out and Read Colorado announced that Meredith Hintze has been named Executive Director of Reach Out and Read Colorado, effective June 8, 2016. Announcing this decision, Dori Kaplan, Chair of the Board, stated, “Over the last 7 years, Ms. Hintze has demonstrated her […]

Statewide Spotlight: Walsh Medical Clinic

Our friends at Walsh Medical Clinic have done an incredible job creating an amazing literacy-rich waiting room and continuing to promote early literacy in their community. Walsh Medical Clinic has been a Reach Out and Read Colorado partner since June 2011 and serves Colorado families in the Southeastern corner of the state. The town of […]

An Eagle Scout’s Story

Guest Feature by Peter Montano I am Peter Montano, a Boy Scout from Littleton, Colorado. I’m going to be a senior this year at Columbine High School. At every point in a Scout’s scouting career he must decide if he will pursue becoming an Eagle Scout. I have made the decision to achieve my Eagle […]