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- EIN 58-2489181
- info@ferstreaders.org
- (706) 343-0177
- PO Box 1327 x Madison GA 30650 USA
- www.ferstreaders.org
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Nonprofit Overview
Causes: Education, Gift Distribution, Human Services, Literacy, Preschools, Remedial Reading & Encouragement
Mission: Ferst Readers provides books for local communities to prepare preschool children for reading and learning success. Ferst Readers strives to improve early school success for every child regardless of income, race, religion or gender with the philosophy that any child who cannot read is at-risk.
Results: Every month, more than 43,000 children and their families receive quality, age-appropriate books and literacy resources mailed to them at home. Ferst Readers helps create a language-rich, home environment to support critical brain development in the earliest years of a child's life and to help the child develop skills for success in school, and in life. Founded in 1999, Ferst Readers has mailed more than FIVE MILLION books/resources to children, birth to five.
Target demographics: We serve children, birth to five, to develop the skills they need to be successful learners when they start school.
Direct beneficiaries per year: Thousands of children birth to five in over 100 communities.
Geographic areas served: Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Montana, South Carolina, Virginia - and growing!
Programs: The single most significant factor influencing a child’s early educational success is an introduction to books and being read to at home prior to beginning school, yet 61% of low income families do not have even one age-appropriate book for their child in the home. This lack of language/literacy exposure at an early age is the one of the key reasons children enter kindergarten without basic early literacy skills and school readiness. In fact, an array of consequences including obesity, academic failure, substance abuse, teen pregnancy and juvenile delinquency have been linked to a child's literacy level and correlated with inadequate early exposure to books. Founded in 1999, Ferst Readers addresses the critical issue of children from low-income communities entering kindergarten without basic early literacy skills and school readiness. Our recipe for encouraging early literacy development is to ensure that children have age-appropriate books in their home and that parents have access to useful resources to support them as their child’s first teacher.