Making Books Part of a Healthy Childhood
Reach Out and Read Kansas City Get Involved: Reach Out and Read Kansas City Support Us: Reach Out and Read Kansas City
Become a Volunteer: Reach Out and Read Kansas City Become a Volunteer
Newsletter: Reach Out and Read Kansas City

Reading is the cornerstone of a healthy life. In fact, there is no stronger single indicator of school success and good health than the ability to read.

Our Mission: Reach Out and Read® Kansas City makes literacy promotion a standard part of pediatric care so that children grow up with books and enter school ready to read.

Reach Out and Read® Kansas City is a not-for-profit program through the Kansas University Endowment Association at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Our History: Read Out and Read® Kansas City, formerly KC READS, began in 1997 as a collaboration between pediatricians at Children's Mercy Hospital and KU Pediatrics at KU Medical Center. Since then it has grown to a coalition of 39 clinic sites in greater Kansas City, with an emphasis on serving our community's most vulnerable children. ROR-KC is affiliated with two national literacy programs: Reach Out and Read®(ROR) and Reading Is Fundamental® (RIF).

Program Components:

  • Doctors and nurse practitioners are trained to give advice to parents about appropriate books and reading activities that support their child's healthy development.
  • Children get to take home a free, new, developmentally appropriate book at every check-up from birth to five years.
  • Trained volunteers read aloud to children in waiting rooms, modeling for parents how to share books and tell stories, and engage families in waiting room activities surrounding books and reading.