Tomorrow morning, Councilmember Charles Allen will join DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and DC Public Library Executive Director Richard Reyes-Gavilan to announce the official launch of the city’s Books From Birth early childhood literacy program.
Councilmember Charles Allen introduced the Books From Birth initiative last year as part of the city’s efforts to address literacy rates in the city.
In a press release today, Allen explained, “The Books From Birth program will mail a book to each child in the District every month from birth through age five, while also working to connect families with the full range of DC Public Library resources and educational information, including adult literacy assistance and DCPL’s Sing, Talk, & Read early literacy program. Families may sign up online by visiting http://dclibrary.org/booksfrombirth”
The program is free and is operated in conjunction with DCPL’s STAR (Sing, Talk, and Read) campaign, which encourages parents to take an active role in their child’s educational development by singing, talking, and reading with them daily. The DC Public Library and DC Public Schools even teamed up to create a list of suggested books for kids from pre-k-6th grade. You can see the full list, broken down by age group, here.
Want to attend the launch tomorrow? Be at the Children’s National Medical Center’s Seacrest Atrium, 111 Michigan Avenue NE, by 11:30am.