Neighborhood School Readiness Collaborative Project


Thanks to a generous grant from the Helios Education Foundation and funding from other community foundations, in 2015 Make Way for Books launched the Neighborhood School Readiness Collaborative through a project focused at and around 12 Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) elementary schools.

The comprehensive Make Way for Books Story Project was provided to every childcare center and preschool around the TUSD elementary school. We reached families in the neighborhood who do not have access to preschool or childcare through our Family Education and Literacy strategies at apartment complexes and other community locations in each neighborhood. In addition, Make Way for Books provided a connection to the elementary schools children will attend in the future by providing Family Education and Literacy programming. During the school day, parents and other caregivers with children, birth to five, who are not in preschool met at the school for early literacy programming each week. Finally, transition components were provided at schools and community resource centers. Through transition components including Make Way for Kindergarten, children and families were introduced to the school environment and staff and learned what to expect in kindergarten

Over the first three years of launching the model, we impacted 14,211 young children, more than 8,000 families, and nearly 400 educators through the Neighborhood School Readiness Project.

Based on the great success of this project, Make Way for Books’ strategies have been expanded to serve children, families, and educators in communities in southern Arizona and in the Phoenix area through collaboration with Tucson Unified School District as well as Flowing Wells Unified School District, Sunnyside Unified School District, Avondale Elementary School District. Soon the model will be implemented in Chandler Unified School District as well.

The impact of this work is seen in the words of participating families, educators, and principals. Learn more about their experiences here: https://youtu.be/wq5TGNMes6w