Philanthropist Mackenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, donated $8 million dollars to a national nonprofit called Reach Out and Read. More than half a million dollars of that then went to local affiliates including Arizona.
The state affiliate will receive $50,000 and put it toward the launch of a monthly donor program.
"The hope is to help sustain the program and especially clinics in Arizona that cannot afford to buy the books themselves," says Dr. Gretchen Hull, medical director for the Reach Out and Read's Arizona affiliate.
About 160 medical clinics across Arizona are Reach Out and Read sites. Every time a child under 5 visits for a wellness check, they receive a book.
Hull says it promotes early literacy, early relational health and has been proven to increase reading rates.
“Many of my patients will get quite a few books just in one year because they’re coming so frequently in that first year of life. And I know that for many of these children, those are the only books they have," Hull said.
She says there’s a “high need for early literacy resources” in Arizona, as only about 41% of third graders scored proficient or highly proficient in English Language Arts in recent years.
More than 80,000 Arizona kids were served in fiscal 2024.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The story has been updated to correct how much Mackenzie Scott donated to Reach Out and Read.
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