Alicia Levi, President & CEO, Reading Is Fundamental

This month, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) is honored to once again partner with Macy’s to bring books and literacy resources to children nationwide. For 18 years, Macy’s has been a committed advocate for children’s literacy, working with RIF since 2003 to ensure that MILLIONS of children nationwide have the opportunity to read, learn, and grow. Throughout the month of July, shoppers can round up their purchases when they shop in store and online! Every penny donated supports children who are most in need.

RIF is excited to share about its newest online resource center. Our own Erin Bailey, RIF’s Director of Content and Programs, shares about this exciting new set of resources that we hope families, educators and students will find useful and impactful! Read more and then start exploring the center today: RIF.ORG/SUSTAINABLE-FUTURES

Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) is proud to share this guest post from literacy champion and longtime friend of RIF, Joe Swope, Manager of Media Relations and Special Projects, of UGI Utilities. This year as we mark 30 years of partnership supporting the children and families of Pennsylvania, we are excited for you to hear from Joe who has been involved in managing the RIF partnership for many years, volunteering at book distributions, reading to children, and leading the UGI team to drive literacy impact through their dedicated employee volunteers.

RIF is excited to share about its newest online resource center. Our own Erin Bailey, RIF’s Director of Content, shares about this exciting new set of resources that we hope families, educators and students will find useful and impactful! Read more and then start exploring the center today: RIF.ORG/REI

Through our Rally to Read 100 initiative, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) has brought together its partners and committed literacy leaders to unite around our nation’s children and support their reading engagement.

Thanksgiving is a time of gratitude and reflection. As I prepare to gather around the Thanksgiving table with my family, I feel especially grateful for this time spent with loved ones and for the opportunity to pause and reflect upon the year.

Literacy is an essential part of life. And, being digitally literate is now just as important as mastering basic skills. Learn how parents and educators can play a significant role in rethinking and shaping how students learn literacy skills in the digital age in this guest blog post by blogger and part-time teacher for ESL students Janey Russell.

Representation is a powerful tool for children to dream big about what’s possible for their future. Books with authentic representation of identities offer an opportunity to offset societal prejudices, marginalization and historical disenfranchisement through the power of story. As community connectors, PTAs have the power to ensure students have access to these books and other inclusive literacy resources.

Today we’re sharing a post from our friends in literacy who used a multifaceted approach to understand the need in their community and delivered a meaningful program to support young readers and engage parents so they were ready for Kindergarten. This back-to-school season, we’re pleased to share about their model and you can learn more about RIF’s own reading engagement campaign that just launched along with return to school: Rally to Read 100! Learn more today at RallytoRead.org.

September is here! School is in full swing and we could not be more thrilled to kick off the new school year with a new call to action around reading. This is a unique year for all of us and RIF thought it was the perfect opportunity to launch a new initiative, Rally to Read 100. Today we’re kicking off a six-month series of reading fun as we unite behind educators and families to engage students in reading and inspire young minds with the magic of books.

RIF and Macy’s celebrate an 18-year partnership and more than 14 million books and literacy resources distributed to children across the nation. Read more about our impactful partnership and how you can join this year’s Macy’s Gives Campaign in RIF’s newest blog post by Alicia Levi, RIF President & CEO.

Teachers and parents, this month’s RIF blog is written by comic strip and graphic novel writer (and magician!), Brian Anderson. You may know him from his long-standing comic strip Dog eat Doug. Brian shares his passion for magic and the importance of reading – whether to become a great magician or a strong reader. It is a great read to share with the child(ren) in your life to get them inspired, to open a book and to uncover the magic in reading.

It is with deep sadness that we mourn the loss of this giant of children’s literacy and strong supporter of RIF, Dick Robinson. Please take a few minutes to read these kind words from RIF President & CEO, Alicia Levi, as she reflects on the legacy Dick Robinson leaves behind.

Summer is the perfect time for children to relax, read, and get swept away to places near and far. Together, we can combat the summer reading slide and keep our nation’s children reading and thriving. RIF offers a variety of resources and activities to engage young readers all summer long.

At Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), we are committed to using the power of books for positive impact and change. As part of our Race, Equity and Inclusion (REI) initiative, RIF is dedicated to empowering children and putting diverse books into their hands and homes. As we kick off Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, we are excited to bring you this blog post from our friends at Diverse BookFinder. They offer tools and resources to create collections in which all children can see themselves -- and each other -- reflected in the picture books they read. As our nation struggles with ongoing acts of violence and racism, RIF believes it’s important to think about how we represent diversity and inclusion in children’s books and we are pleased to share this blog post from Diverse BookFinder who help educators, parents, and volunteers expand the type of diverse books we share with our children.

RIF's Marketing and Partnerships Manager, Ashlina Chin, shares how she uses children's books to navigate trauma and battle anti-Asian discrimination.