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

FS: Do you foresee any big changes in the way you reach potential donors and other supporters in the near future?
EP: [Facebook CEO] Mark Zuckerberg recently agreed to donate $100 million to improve Newark, N.J., schools, and this gift will indeed make a significant difference in Newark’s school district and many of New Jersey’s children. What Reach Out and Read needs is this type of large-scale investment. With $100 million, Reach Out and Read could serve 10 million children and ensure that they arrive at school on grade level prepared to excel, obliterating the need for many of the remedial programs that exist in schools today. What we need is an investor who wants to change the future of education in the United States.