Since October of 2023, Nebraska Growing Readers has been providing free books to the state's children and families to foster shared reading habits and promote literacy for all of Nebraska's children.
A Good First Year
Although work began in late 2023, Nebraska Growing Readers completed its first full year in 2024. It was an exciting year, in which the program grew across the state and established multiple initiatives for promoting literacy. During that time, NGR accomplished:
- Registering 1,053 providers to receive free books that can be offered to families.
- Enrolling 3,138 incoming kindergarteners to receive up to 100 free books in the mail.
- Distributing 879,462 free books to Nebraska's children and families.
- Piloting 3 Community Book Gardens where free books are provided on public bookstands.
- Translating 54 books into 6 different languages.
- Producing 35 books written about Nebraska-related topics by 19 local authors.
- Offering several writers workshops to help Nebraskans produce book content.
We have been pleased to partner with local communities to build the program and want to thank the people and groups we've worked with. In 2025, we are seeking funding to continue building the program so we can continue to promote literacy in the state.
Evaluation Results
A joint effort by Nebraska Children's research team and the Munroe Meyers Institute to evaluate the impact of NGR's first year efforts produced the following results:
- Access to books increased within participating early childcare centers.
- Daily reading time with children increased among participating families and in early childcare settings.
- Having greater access to books meant higher frequency of reading within early childcare settings and among participating families.
- Among Sixpence Home Visitation Families, children with more books at home were more likely to meet benchmarks for early language and literacy skills.
