Initiative:
Reach Out and Read

The Jim and Jessica Doyle Partnership
Promoting Healthy Kids and Early Learning in Wisconsin

Reach Out and Read Wisconsin is a Coalition of the national nonprofit organization Reach Out and Read that prepares America’s youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together. Reach Out and Read Wisconsin is an initiative of Children’s Health Alliance of Wisconsin. The Coalition is a partnership with American Family Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.

Reading is a fundamental building block for early learning. Doctors, nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals incorporate Reach Out and Read’s evidence-based model into regular pediatric checkups, by advising parents about the importance of reading aloud and giving developmentally-appropriate books to children.

Pediatricians are the ideal partner for Reach Out and Read as 96 percent of all children younger than age 6 visit the doctor once a year. The program begins at the 6-month checkup and continues through age 5, with a special emphasis on children growing up in low-income communities. Families served by Reach Out and Read programs read together more often, and their children enter kindergarten with larger vocabularies and stronger language skills, better prepared to achieve their potential.


Reach Out and Read resources