Intergenerational Literacy

About the Program

Category: Libraries (Best in Category)

Year: 2011

Research shows that young children who have not been read to while growing up, begin their schooling significantly behind their peers who have been read to in terms of reading levels, and tend to struggle with comprehension throughout their academic careers, often times never able to fully catch up. Intergenerational Literacy is a component of an adult literacy program, READ/Orange County’s (READ/OC) Families-For-Literacy Program, which addresses this need with resources and activities for families with at least one child under age five. The Program partners with OC Public Libraries to provide several monthly family reading times where the entire family reads, plays, and learns together. It demonstrates the importance of early learning, pre-reading, and school readiness skills by offering parent workshops, staff training, and providing early learning and family literacy resources. Community partners include Head Start Centers, Family Resource Centers, the Orange County Public Library, and the University of California at Irvine’s (UC Irvine) Jumpstart Corps. In 2007, READ/OC, through Intergenerational Literacy, initiated a partnership with OC Public Libraries to assist families with children under age five in becoming more aware of early childhood learning and school readiness resources available at local libraries. This effort continues as an integral component of library and literacy services, demonstrates the importance of early literacy skills, provides pre-reading, school-readiness and parent resources, and reinforces the concept of lifelong learning.