Ferst Readers was founded in 1999 by Robin Ferst whose goal was to address the growing problem of children, many from low-income communities, entering kindergarten without basic early literacy skills and school readiness - a preventable problem that has far-reaching impacts throughout students’ lives. The recipe for early school success is simple: start school with strong literacy skills.
Robin was inspired to start the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy (Ferst Readers) after listening to a Georgia plant executive discuss the difficulties of finding employees who could read at the required level for hiring.
Ferst Readers’ recipe for encouraging early literacy development ensures that children have developmentally appropriate books in their homes and provide parents and guardians with resources supporting them as their child's first teacher.
Children in the Ferst Readers literacy program receive a bookstore-quality, age-specific book and resources mailed to them at home every month until their fifth birthday. This access to printed learning tools helps create a language-rich environment in the home.
Visit the Ferst Readers website for more details.
Every dollar donated is used to ensure children enrolled in the Ferst Readers program receive their age-specific, bookstore-quality book mailed to their home. Each book comes with a parent's newsletter containing reading guides and activities to make reading fun.