Marty Martinez
Leading the campaign to get diverse books to kids
MELISSA WHITLER | Contributing Writer
editor@dallasvoice.com
Marty Martinez, CEO of Reach Out and Read and a member of the LGBTQ community, is leading the campaign to get diverse books out to kids. Reach Out and Read is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that aims to foster childhood development by encouraging parents to read aloud to their young children and incorporate diverse books.
The organization partners with clinicians to integrate books into pediatric care and promote family reading. And for Giving Tuesday 2023 earlier this week, they started an initiative to raise $40,000 to give 4,000 children nationwide new books. For every $10 donated, a copy of the book Jabari Tries will be given to a family in need.
While Reach Out and Read has been helping families for the past 35 years, Marty Martinez became CEO only two years ago. He comes from a public health background, focusing on improving lives at the level of community. The importance of diverse books hits close to home for Martinez, since his son is a Black kid growing up with two dads.
“I believe that we create the representation we want to see,” Martinez said.
He said his household is one full of books, and he and his husband take turns reading to their son every day before bed. Martinez sees it both as a learning opportunity and as a time to bond and connect over a story. And these books have an impact beyond bedtime.
Jabari Tries is a book that Martinez’s son really loves and relates to when doing hard things. He associates that story with being brave, and when he’s trying to work up the courage to do something difficult, he’ll say “I’ll be brave like Jabari,” Martinez recalls. And there’s another layer of relation, as Martinez’s son also identifies with Jabari because he’s Black. “It’s really important we have diverse representation, so when I’m reading with my son he can say “that character looks like me.”
This representation goes beyond just the household. Recently Martinez and his husband purchased books about kids having two dads and sent them to their son’s kindergarten class. The teacher was more than eager and very thankful for the books. “Kids see what matters, and I want to make sure that in the books in school my son sees the stories of his own life,” Martinez said. And this vision has carried over to Reach Out and Read, as 70% of the kids they serve are people of color. Martinez wants to make sure families like his own have access to books that reflect the diversity of their communities.
In only three decades Reach Out and Read has expanded from serving the population of Boston, to reaching almost 20% of children under five nationwide. Last year alone they were able to distribute over eight million books to families. And family reading time is not only a great bonding moment, it actually improves the health of children. They are one of the only early literacy programs with peer reviewed research and the only national pediatric literacy model endorsed by the America Academy of Pediatrics. A recent study found that parents and caregivers who participated in the program were significantly more likely to read to their kids than those who did not.
For families looking to get involved in the program, Reach Out and Read has over 6,000 clinics with 36,000 clinicians involved and are currently expanding their reach in Texas. Information can be found on their website, and they encourage folks to talk to their current pediatricians and have them get involved. For those looking to support the cause, one of the easiest ways is to donate both online and locally. And Martinez encourages people, especially in this political climate, to make efforts to create access to diverse books for children through local libraries, schools, and in their communities.
To donate to Reach Out and Read or find more information, go to https://give.reachoutandread.org/campaign/giving-tuesday-2023/c538648.
