About Reach Out and Read Minnesota

Reach Out and Read (ROR) got a foothold in Minnesota in 1997 when 3 clinics joined the ranks. There were 6 clinics in 2002; 9 in 2003; 15 in 2004; 31 in 2005; 33 in 2006; 37 in 2007.

Currently 60 ROR-affiliated clinics in Minnesota count nearly 50,000 children that participate in the program. ROR reaches 11% of all Minnesota children (in the target ROR age range of 6 months to 5 years), 23% of all low-income children in the state.

Reach Out and Read has evolved into a national model for early childhood literacy and is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The Minnesota Academy of Pediatrics Foundation serves as the fiscal sponsor of ROR-Minnesota.

Coalition Announcements

In October 2009, volunteers from Travelers in downtown St. Paul will staff our Big Book Sort, ROR-MN's annual effort to organize nearly 10,000 books into individual shipments for distribution to clinics throughout the state.

Travelers' atrium will morph into ROR Book Central for book inventory and order packing and then for several days afterwards their Receiving Dock personnel will help clinics pick up their boxes of books.

In August 2009, four Borders Bookstores sponsored the Twin Cities metro area's 3rd Annual ROR Book Drive. Borders' customers donated thousands of new children’s books to support sites statewide.

Thanks to Borders and their generous customers we are well on our way to meeting our goal of supplying every ROR clinic with a minimum of 25% of the books they need this year.

Kudos to store staff who encouraged customers to support ROR-MN at Borders locations in St. Paul, Minnetonka, Maple Grove and Roseville.

We are delighted to acknowledge a generous grant from the Rotary Club of Minneapolis to purchase books for new and existing clinics.

Support from the Reach Out and Read National Center, the American Indian/Alaskan Native Initiative of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a generous individual will enable ROR-MN to supply 100% of the books needed by Ojibwe tribal clinics in northern Minnesota that have been recruited to begin implementing Reach Out and Read. Congratulations to the White Earth Reservation Clinic, the first site approved as part of this new expansion.

Advisory Board Members

Laurel Wills, MD
Coalition Medical Director
Hennepin County Medical Center

Sloan d'Autremont, MD
Advisory Board Chair
Hennepin Faculty Associates Pediatrics

Gerald Gilchrist, MD
Advisory Board Member
retired, Mayo Clinic

Charles Oberg, MD, MPH
Advisory Board Member
Associate Professor, University of Minnesota
School of Medicine & School of Public Health

Kathie Cerra, PhD
Advisory Board Member
Reading Specialist

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