Early childhood care and education providers have a tremendous impact on children's language and literacy development. As a concerned adult working with young children in Multnomah County, you have a wonderful opportunity to shape the future of the children's lives you touch. To support your efforts, we offer several programs.
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The Childcare Book Delivery for childcare centers & family childcare homes
To ensure that children in childcare have access to great books, we loan buckets of picture books to full-day childcare centers and family childcare homes. Every 10-12 weeks we exchange the bucket with a whole new bunch of books. Library staff bring news about library programs and training opportunities for teachers and childcare directors, too. Contact Martha Lillie at 503.988.5542 or library.bookdelivery@multco.us.
Early literacy classes for childcare & education providers
Early childhood care and education providers have opportunities every month to take classes designed to help them plan fun early literacy activities daily for their children. Topics include children’s language development, six early literacy skills, working with children learning English as a second language, and partnering with parents. Additional professional development classes on topics of interest to caregivers are offered intermittently, usually at neighborhood libraries. Some classes are given in Spanish, Russian and Vietnamese. Contact Natasha Forrester Campbell by phone at 971.278.4506 or by email.
Every Child A Reader
Every Child A Reader incorporates the American Library Association's Every Child Ready to Read 2 initiative, which is designed to encourage parents to help their children get ready to read by doing five simple practices- reading, talking, singing, writing and playing every day. Working with special community partners, such as the Nurse-Family Partnership, Head Start, Oregon Child Development Coalition, Multnomah Early Childhood Program and others, we share fun, interactive reading techniques with teachers and offer education and encouragement to parents to include these simple actions in their daily activities. This program is funded by The Library Foundation and accessible to eligible partners by invitation only. Contact Lucy Iraola at 503-988-4482 or Carla Davis at 503-988-7850.
Program innovations for the Every Child Initiative are made possible, in part, by gifts to The Library Foundation, a local nonprofit dedicated to the library's leadership, innovation and reach through private support.
