April 6, 2009 (Charlotte, NC) – Beginning Tuesday, April 7, 2009, area hospitals will begin distributing books to families as part of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County’s “Born Reader” early literacy initiative. This effort to encourage parents to read to their children starting at birth is made possible in part by a grant from The Leon Levine Foundation/Sandra and Leon Levine received in December, 2008.

Nursing staff at Carolinas Medical Center and Presbyterian Hospital will distribute 5,500 literacy packages in 2009 to families when the mother is discharged from the hospital. Each package will contain a copy of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin, Jr., and illustrated by Eric Carle in either English or Spanish, a Born Reader library card, and an “I Read to My Child” pledge for the families to sign. These packages will encourage families not only to read the book provided, but begin using the many free resources of the Library, including not only books but other educational materials, story times for children, homework help, and literacy resources available online at www.plcmc.org.

“As nurses, we are also educators, so by being able to give parents a new book, we are able to educate about the importance of reading,” said Amy Fisher, a registered nurse at CMC-Main.

Amy Kukla, Family Literacy Coordinator at PLCMC, said, “When we distribute these and other books to families in Mecklenburg County, our greatest hope is that parents and caregivers will discover the joy of reading to their children. We anticipate that this joy will spread from the home to the library and eventually to school.”

Previously, the “Born Reader” program distributed 7,000 literacy packages to newborn families until funding ran out. The Leon Levine Foundation’s gift of $25,000 a year for four years will help PLCMC resume and expand this important program. According to emergent literacy national statistics, approximately 39 percent of families read to their children, and many middle school students in the county are reading below grade level. In tough economic times, the need for education is even greater as more families are pushed toward financial crisis and barely able to provide food and shelter, let alone books, to their children. One-third of students today drop out of school, and juvenile justice research show that youth who are not well-educated may become dependent on society as homeless, unemployed, or Department of Corrections residents.