NeighborImpact giving books to Head Start kids

NeighborImpact is helping to promote reading by handing out 2,500 books to children of Head Start. The books are made available by Toys for Tots, which is distributing 89,000 books across the region.

“The goal is pretty simple,” says Kim Snow, Associate Director of Education and Quality with Head Start. “We want to get more books in the hands of families and help increase literacy so kids perform better in school.”

NeighborImpact’s Head Start program helps families by connecting them with a variety of resources. The pre-school program offers pre-kindergarten education, health and dental care, family support, and nutritional meals. Head Start aims to increase school readiness and provide children and families with the skills and resources they need be successful.

“There are families out there that can’t afford books. We’d really like to see more kids learn about science and math so we want to provide as many books as we can,” explained Snow.

To make sure books end up directly in the hands of children, Head Start teacher advocates will be visiting families at their homes this spring. Over 430 children are served by Head Start in 23 classrooms in Deschutes and Crook counties.