BATON ROUGE, La. — Today, leaders from Woman’s Hospital, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, and Book Harvest proudly announced the Books from Birth early literacy initiative. This program is designed to empower families by providing newborns and their parents with a starter home library kit to help foster a lifelong love of reading as early as possible.
“This is a unique opportunity to partner with Book Harvest and BRAF to advance literacy in our community and make a meaningful impact beyond the walls of our hospital,” said Rene Ragas, CEO of Woman’s Hospital. “We want every family we serve to have the support they need to raise healthy, thriving children. By providing this free resource, we are equipping families with tools that can positively impact their children’s future.”
The Books from Birth starter library kit includes 10 new board books, babywear, and additional resources to help parents introduce early language and reading routines. The initiative aims to build a strong foundation for literacy, supporting families as they nurture their children’s development through reading.
“Children are, quite literally, the future of our community. Books from Birth and the partnership with Woman’s Hospital are an exciting addition to the outstanding network of literacy resources already available to families, joining efforts like Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to help children begin building foundations of learning from day one. By supporting caregivers in those earliest moments, we are making a long-term investment in the future of every child and, in turn, the future of our entire community” Chris Meyer, president and CEO of BRAF said.
“We are elated to expand our programming to Louisiana through this partnership with Women’s and BRAF. The success we have seen with the implementation of Books from Birth in North Carolina and Oregon gives us full confidence that this will change the trajectory of children’s futures in a meaningful way across the Capital Area,” said Jeff Quinn, Chief Operating Officer at Book Harvest.
Books from Birth is a core component of Book Harvest's bookharvest.org/early-literacy-continuum-of-care. Research shows that books in the home are the single biggest predictor of a child’s reading proficiency and long-term success in school, and regular reading from birth improves infant language scores by as early as nine months of age. The program will first be launched within the Hospital’s Newborn and Infant Intensive Care Unit (NICU), which serves approximately 1,300 families each year.
More details about the program can be found at bookharvest.org/books-from-birth
