Respect for the employee as a person and for their skills and abilities rates higher. I haven't been so moved by one of our programs. Partnership Launches Regional Take Home Book Bag Program Imagine every preschooler on the Peninsula and in Silicon Valley falling in love with books, and arriving at kindergarten ready to learn. This is the vision of the Peninsula Community Foundation, San Mateo County Library, Peninsula Partnership for Children, Youth, and Families and the Center for Venture Philanthropy as they launch the Raising A Reader Book Bag Program in 23 cities in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. From a successful spring pilot program with 500 families in Pacifica, Redwood City and San Mateo, the Raising A Reader Book Bag Program is expanding to serve 6,100 families.
Preschoolers carry home bright-red canvas bags filled with quality children s books.
Each bag contains three books, two written in English and one bilingual or wordless picture book. At the end of each week, the children turn their books in for a new supply. Child care center staff are trained to facilitate the program. The goal of the Book Bag Program is to get families in the habit of reading, storytelling, and interacting with each other around books, explained Bernadette Glumac, Raising A Reader Director. All families can meet this goal, regardless of the degree of adult literacy in the home.