United Way Expands United2Read Program

WHITE PLAINS, NY (March 11, 2021) United Way of Westchester and Putnam (UWWP) has expanded its United2Read program to include online access to additional literacy resources. Individuals can sign-up to access activity sheets or receive additional books and literacy kits on a rotating basis. These resources supplement the current distributions of literacy kits from the United2Read program.

Guardians and caregivers can sign-up for these new, additional resources at www.uwwp.org/U2R. 

UWWP supports initiatives that help each member of our community thrive. Our strategy focuses on helping children and their families break the trend of intergenerational poverty by supporting childhood literacy growth. 

Studies indicate that the key to a child’s long-term success is to help kids prepare to start school and ensure that they read on grade level by the end of third grade. Children reading on grade level are more likely to escape the inheritance of poverty.  

Only 37% of children are reading at or above grade level by the end of third grade.

UWWP reassessed the book distribution aspect of United2Read and decided to have a higher level of impact by serving specific communities of children with a more frequent distribution of reading kits than to disperse the books to a greater population less often. UWWP collected and distributed over 33,000 books across the region to thousands of children, from birth to age five, since 2016.