Reach Out and Read Wisconsin is a valued Partner in Achieve Brown County’s Collective Impact Partnership, and their early literacy efforts align with key systems-change work happening across our community. As they look to expand their evidence based program across medical centers in Brown County, they are taking a data-informed approach to support more families during the earliest, most critical years of child development.
Why Reach Out and Read matters
The first three years of a child’s life are foundational. Reach Out and Read is a two-generation intervention that promotes healthy brain development through early literacy, equipping parents and caregivers with the tools to support learning at home. At participating clinics, families receive new, developmentally appropriate books during regular medical visits, along with encouragement and guidance from trusted healthcare providers. This model builds relationships, shifts mental models, and embeds literacy into systems families already interact with—like healthcare.
A data-informed approach to expansion
Reach Out and Read Wisconsin has identified Brown County as a priority for program expansion based on several indicators: high birth rates, high Medicaid enrollment, low literacy rates, and elevated ACEs/risk factors. Currently, eight clinics in Brown County offers the program. Based on the impact seen there and strong alignment with local systems-change efforts, Reach Out and Read is now exploring opportunities to expand the program to additional clinic locations across the county.
How this work fits within Achieve Brown County’s framework
As a Partner in the Achieve Brown County Collective Impact Partnership, Reach Out and Read Wisconsin exemplifies how programs can align with the Six Conditions of Systems Change. Their work affects policies (through standard clinical practices), relationships and connections (between healthcare providers and families), mental models (how caregivers view literacy and child development), and resource flows (providing books and support directly to families during medical visits).
By embedding their model within existing healthcare infrastructure, Reach Out and Read is helping to build a seamless, community-wide web of support from birth through third grade—a key priority area for Achieve Brown County and the many partners working to ensure young people across the county are reading at grade level by third grade.
About Reach Out and Read Wisconsin
With 308 participating sites statewide, Reach Out and Read Wisconsin reaches more than 148,000 children and families each year. The program is backed by research and trusted by providers as a meaningful way to promote literacy and strengthen early brain development.
Learn more about their work at: https://reachoutandread.org/affiliate/wisconsin/
