Since 1999, Raising A Reader has helped families of children aged 0-8 to develop, practice, and maintain home-based literacy routines critical for school success. Through a network of more than 2,500 community partners (school systems, libraries, community agencies, and others) across 33 states and Washington, D.C., they have helped more than one million families build and sustain reading routines in their homes, with special attention to those at highest risk for educational failure.  Through Raising A Readers various programs, parents receive training in how to develop the habit of sharing books with their children, high-quality books are rotated into the home on a weekly basis for families to practice regular book sharing, and families are connected to the local library in order to sustain book-borrowing and book-sharing practices.

In addition, each local chapter of Raising A Reader can be quite active in their respective communities, as staff members from the California branches will be attending Long Beach Comic Con on September 27 and 28, 2014, while members of the Tampa, FL, branch will be hosting a Raising A Reader Institute from September 29-30 for those interested in learning more about the available programs and approaches to early childhood education and literacy. 

For those interested in lending support to Raising A Reader (for which there are a variety of ways to give back), readers may visit the organization's "Get Involved" page on their official website.

If you have a volunteer opportunity or an important cause that could use the assistance of a few geeks, please email the details to barbra (at) fanboycomics.net.