Cindy Gonzalez
OMAHA — A national early literacy program that has announced plans to at least triple its reach in Nebraska — and to serve 10 million children across the U.S. by 2030 — has a personal Husker connection.
The nonprofit, called Reach Out and Read, uses a model that works through pediatricians and routine well-child visits to get books into the hands of preschoolers. The idea is to better prepare youngsters for school while at the same time building healthier bonds by involving parents.
Leading the effort and the 35-year-old organization is Omaha-born Marty Martinez, who has lived in Boston the past 25 years and most recently served as that city’s chief of Health and Human Services.
Martinez, who helped push Boston through COVID-19’s social and economic challenges, said that as a public health expert and dad of a 6-year-old, he recognizes the impact school readiness and healthy relationships have on kids.
He said science shows that a child’s brain is about 80% adult size by the time they are 3 years old. Engaging a child with a book, reading aloud, describing images and interacting helps “spark the brain” and prepare the child for lifelong learning, he said.
“You’ve got to integrate books and language at the earliest stage possible,” said Martinez.
Unique endorsement
Reach Out and Read is the only national pediatric literacy model endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, its leadership says, and has “unparalleled access” to families and children through the near-universal reach of pediatric well-child visits and partnerships with tens of thousands of doctors.
Martinez, who took the CEO reins of Reach Out and Read in 2022, described its model as simple: “We integrate children’s books and we train the doctor.”
In Nebraska, the program started at OneWorld Community Health Centers in 2000 and has since expanded to 35 sites. This fiscal year, nearly 39,000 children were served in the state during about 77,000 well-child visits.
Nearly 53,000 books were distributed to those Nebraska families.
Under the expansion plan, the Nebraska program is merging with the larger Iowa program to become the new Reach Out and Read Midwest affiliate. The goal is to reach more than 360,000 children under the age of 5 across both states by 2030.
This past year, Nebraska and Iowa served about 120,000 kids through Reach Out and Read, a spokeswoman for the organization said.
The emphasis for the new Midwest affiliate is on children in low-income households and children of color.
Already the organization offers books in 28 different languages.
Parents exposed to the program are more likely to read with their children daily, according to the program’s research. And those children demonstrate improvements in language development. The nonprofit says books are beneficial even for families that do not read.
Funding comes from a variety of sources — Martinez said the organization is in the public budget of 26 cities and states across the country.
In Nebraska, donors include Buffett Early Childhood Fund, Elevance, Janet Kahler, Lozier Foundation, Nomi Health, Better World Books and Nebraska Children and Families Foundation/Nebraska Growing Readers Initiative.
Urban and rural stretch
While the bulk of Nebraska sites are in the urban centers of Omaha and Lincoln, Martinez said the goal is to reach more into rural areas as well. More staff is to be hired.
“The program paves the way for all children, regardless of background, to develop foundational literacy skills and strengthen the essential relationships needed for a successful future,” said Kristin Christensen, the newly hired Midwest program manager.
Martinez went to South Omaha’s Spring Lake Elementary School before graduating from Ralston High School, Nebraska Wesleyan University and Tufts University in Massachusetts, where he obtained a master’s degree in urban and social policy.
Having many siblings and cousins still in Nebraska, Martinez, 47, and his husband and son visit often.
Reach Out and Read has been thriving in some of the biggest clinics and places in the country, Martinez said, and he would like to see more impact in his home state.
“We’re really excited to move it forward,” he said. “There is so much room to grow.”