United Way Provides Books for Child First Families

Overall, research shows that access to books correlates with a child's success in school, work, and life.

That's why United Way of Coastal Fairfield County recently donated 292 books to Child First in Bridgeport.

The goal is to give families the tools to promote development of early language and pre-reading skills, so that children enter kindergarten ready to learn

Experts note that early literacy begins well before children enter school. It begins from infancy when children hear and play with sounds, develop vocabulary, gain awareness of books and print, and understand stories. And books have an added benefit: they are a gateway to positive shared experiences between caregivers and children that promote healthy emotional development.

To supply the books, United Way partnered with Read To Grow, a Connecticut non-profit that promotes language building and literacy for children beginning at birth.