National Center Updates New Program Coordinator Manual Available Online The Reach Out and Read National Center is pleased to announce that a revised and updated version of the Program Coordinator Manual is now available for use online. To access the new manual, click here. The manual should contain everything a Program Coordinator needs, from information on reporting, book ordering, and fundraising, to training information and more. You may notice that the Program Coordinator Manual is exclusively online. You can access all of the information in the manual by viewing in on myROR.org. While Program Coordinators are welcome to print copies of the manual, we highly encourage viewing it online. In addition to easy access to each of the sections (simply click on the section of choice in the Table of Contents), the manual contains links to valuable materials, such as fundraising templates, communication materials, and progress reports. All of these items are updated regularly, and the manual links directly the most up-to-date version of these items. If you have any questions or comments about the new Program Coordinator Manual, please contact Abigail Dalton, National Programs Coordinator, at abigail.dalton@reachoutandread.org. Reach Out and Read Announces New Mission Statement Over the last two years, Reach Out and Read has worked together on a pro-bono basis with the brand strategy firm Prophet to develop a new brand positioning for our organization. The purpose of this partnership was to capture and explain what Reach Out and Read is and does in language that's more appealing to sponsors, government agencies, and the general public. This new positioning, "Preparing children to succeed in school," is already being incorporated into many of our materials as well as the national website. One of the first major changes we have made was to revise Reach Out and Read's mission statement, supporting statement, and tagline. This was a long process that involved Prophet, Members of the Board of Directors, and our national leadership team, and it was approved after the National Board of Directors meeting last week. We are proud to announce that Reach Out and Read's new mission statement is: Reach Out and Read prepares America's youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together. Please begin using this new mission statement immediately. This replaces our old mission statement: Reach Out and Read makes literacy promotion a standard part of pediatric primary care, so that children grow up with books and a love of reading. Reach Out and Read's new mission statement reinforces our new brand positioning, makes clear that the primary beneficiaries of our program are children, front-loads the most important information, and is bold, easy to understand, and attractive to potential donors. It also is a fantastic starting point for your elevator speech or any conversation about Reach Out and Read, because it prompts all the right questions, e.g. "How does Reach Out and Read prepare children to succeed in school?" "Why are you using doctors as your delivery system?" Our supporting statement (currently the paragraph below our mission statement on the one-pager) has been revised to read: Doctors, nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals incorporate Reach Out and Read's evidence-based model into regular pediatric checkups, by advising parents about the importance of reading aloud and giving developmentally-appropriate books to children. The program begins at the 6-month checkup and continues through age 5, with a special emphasis on children growing up in low-income communities. Families served by Reach Out and Read read together more often, and their children enter kindergarten with larger vocabularies and stronger language skills, better prepared to achieve their potential. We also revised our tagline (currently Making Books Part of a Healthy Childhood) to: "Reading is doctor-recommended." If you have any questions, please contact Matt Ferraguto. Reach Out and Read to Host Special Interest Group (SIG) and Reception at Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Meeting in Vancouver The Literacy Development Programs in Primary Care Special Interest Group will meet at the 2010 Pediatric Academic Societies' Annual Meeting (PAS) from 2:45-4:45 pm May 1 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The keynote speaker will be Professor Linda Siegel, PhD of the University of British Columbia Faculty of Education, whose presentation will focus on identification of children at risk for school failure. Additional topics for presentation and discussion will include recent and ongoing research, and Reach Out and Read's Quality Improvement and Leyendo Juntos initiatives. Please come if you will be at PAS, and make sire that this invitation is extended to any pediatric providers at your Program who might be attending the conference. That same evening, following the SIG, the Reach Out and Read National Center will host and informal reception from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, conveniently located across the street from the Vancouver Convention Center at 900 Canada Place Way, Vancouver BC, Canada, V6C 3L5. All PAS Annual Meeting attendees are invited to attend. Please come and join Reach Out and Read National Medical Director, Perri Klass, MD, Barbara Ducharme, Director of Training and Quality, Matt Ferraguto, Director of Communications, and Reach Out and Read friends and champions, for food, drink, and conversations. For more information about the SIG or Reception, please contact Abby Dalton. ROR to host Literacy Development Program Special Interest Group (SIG) at 2010 Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Annual Meeting In this time of reduced travel budgets and other financial constraints, Reach Out and Read will once again not host a national conference in 2010. However, ROR will organize and host the Literacy Development Special Interest Group (SIG) at the 2010 Pediatric Academic Societies' Annual Meeting (PAS) to be held May 1 - 4 in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Keynote speaker at the SIG will be Linda Siegel, Ph.D., member of the University of British Columbia Faculty of Education in Vancouver, whose presentation will focus on identification of children at risk for school failure. Additional topics for presentation and discussion will include current research, provider best practices, and links to health literacy initiatives. All PAS Annual Meeting attendees are invited to attend. Reach Out and Read Announces New CME Training The Reach Out and Read National Center is pleased to announce that the new CME-accredited training is available online. The training is available to both providers and other Site contacts for training, although only providers will be eligible for CME credit. To access this training, please click here. This link will open a PDF. Please be sure to read through the entire training. At the end of the training you will find instructions for logging your training, either with CME credit, or without it. Please note that the old BU CME course is no longer available online. This new training has replaced it. Please note that this is an interim version of the CME training that will be available this summer. While all of the content will be the same, the version to come will be more technologically fluid. We encourage everyone to take this new training, so please spread the word at your Reach Out and Read Program. If you have any questions, please contact Abigail Dalton, National Programs Coordinator, at abigail.dalton@reachoutandread.org.   Return