Make Way for Books

At Make Way for Books, we realize the power of books and stories to foster children’s early literacy and language skills as well as to affirm children’s identities, build their potential to imagine new possibilities, and empower children to be narrators of their own stories.  

Founded in Tucson in 1998, Make Way for Books is an early literacy nonprofit organization with more than 24 years of experience helping children become thriving readers and learners. We work with thousands of families and educators in our community to ensure that young children (ages birth to 5) have the early literacy and learning experiences they need to start school ready to read and succeed. Our programs build on the latest science, a wide body of research from early literacy experts, as well as our own history of over two decades of programming and co-design with families and educators.

The need in our community

The literacy and language skills children develop in the first five years of life set a foundation for all future learning. Right now, less than 1 out of 4 young children in our community have access to high-quality early education before kindergarten and one in three children lives in poverty. Children from low-income homes typically start school up to two years behind in language and vocabulary skills. When children start school behind, they often struggle to catch up. Children reading below grade level in third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school in the future. Make Way for Books meets children and families where they are with free, bilingual, early literacy programming and high-quality books to ensure young children have the early literacy and learning experiences they need to thrive.

A two-generation approach

Higher levels of caregiver engagement in the first five years of life ensure stronger emergent literacy and language skills in children, as well as positive social-emotional development. Make Way for Books meets the diverse needs of children, families, and educators in our community through a two-generation approach where young children and their caregivers learn simultaneously. We provide two main strategies to meet the diverse needs of young children:

Through The Story Project, our professional development model, we transform under-resourced early education sites into literacy and language-rich environments for children. Our highly-experienced Early Literacy Specialists provide ongoing professional development workshops and coaching for hundreds of educators to ensure they have skills, strategies, and resources to foster children’s literacy skills. We provide high-quality books and literacy materials for classrooms to ensure children have regular access to books and educators have tools to support their learning. Further, we provide thousands of books for children’s homes. “Thanks to Make Way for Books, we are given books and an abundance of support and guidance. Make Way for Books’ support and guidance this year increased the time my students engaged with books and also increased their love of reading,” shared an educator. “The presence of the program caused me to put more focus on literacy in general.”

Our Family Education and Literacy model impacts young children and families who lack access to high-quality early education before kindergarten. We meet families where they are through our innovative two-generation model where children and families learn together and both gain skills. Young children are immersed in books and literacy activities that foster their development of early literacy, language, and social-emotional skills as well as positive approaches to learning they need to thrive in school and beyond. With guidance and support from our highly-experienced Family Literacy Specialists, parents/caregivers gain skills, tools, and confidence to support their children’s early development. Families are engaged throughout the week, learning via live learning groups with our Family Literacy Specialists and other families, core curriculum videos, the Make Way for Books App, and a digital Family Learning Space. Families are provided with free high-quality, bilingual books to build their home libraries. “For families like mine, where preschool is not in the budget, this experience has meant so much,” said a participating parent. “We loved everything about the program - the experience of seeing your child focus on a project and share with other kids, being able to have this community with other families, watching these videos and learning together, and having access to these amazing books. We were absolutely amazed.” 

Creating Impact

Make Way for Books strategies demonstrate a proven history of high impact, including 99% of children developing early literacy and language skills, 99% of parents gaining skills, knowledge, and confidence to support their children’s early development, and 98% of educators gaining skills and strategies to better support children in their care. According to Terri Clark, Arizona State Literacy Director, “When I think of the literacy landscape of Arizona, there are few early literacy organizations that have made a footprint on the state like Make Way for Books. They have a track record for improving literacy outcomes; and they have developed and implemented strategies that are data-driven, strength-based, and culturally relevant to our unique communities here in Arizona.”

Make Way for Books programming is made possible by our generous community. You can help support our programming, and get books into the hands of young children, by making a gift to Make Way for Books here: https://makewayforbooks.org/donate/

LINKS

Make Way for Books: https://makewayforbooks.org/

Story School: https://www.mystoryschool.org/

Blog: https://makewayforbooks.org/blog/

Make Way for Books App: https://www.makewayforbooksapp.org/