An Interview With Earl Martin Phalen, CEO, Reach Out and Read

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s investment in Reach Out and Read, and the children our program serves, will significantly impact the education systems in these three states. Currently, Michigan, Mississippi and New Mexico rank 34th, 48th and 49th in the country in fourth-grade reading rates, with more than 70 percent of children in each state failing to read proficiently. The grant from W.K. Kellogg Foundation serves as a special initiative that will use Reach Out and Read’s research-proven model to target children in these states and equip them with the tools and skills they’ll need to enter school ready to read and succeed.