Carol Hampton Rasco
An Interview with RIF president and CEO by Mary Brigid Barrett
When you were a kid, were you a "bookworm"? Where does your passion for kids, reading, and books come from?
I was indeed a "bookworm" in my childhood. I was never the child in my family seen as an athlete, and I always wanted to be reading a book. This was encouraged by my parents, as well as my grandparents, who lived on the same block as our family in a small, southern town of 2000 people. The first 8-10 years of my life my hometown didn't have a swimming pool, and because of the heat and humidity outside, the library was my favorite place in the summers. Many days, sometimes daily, I walked there to check out books to be reading....and yes, I was an "under the cover, read with the flashlight" kid too!
What was the first book you ever bought with your own money to read for pleasure?
I don't remember the first book I bought with my own money. We didn't have a bookstore in my hometown so the library was a primary source. My parents and grandparents always gave us books each birthday and Christmas. Very likely my first books with my own money were books bought through a school ordering system.
What where your favorite books as a kid?
Some of my fondest memories about books as a young child include: The Little Engine That Could, Heidi, Little Women, Little House on the Prairie, and a series of books about Girl Scouts. There was a period when I devoured the "orange biographies" which were biographies of outstanding adults but solely about their childhood/youth, as I remember it. I was delighted after mentioning them in a speech sometime during the last four years to have a librarian show me this series in its current state!
What books did you love to read to your children? Were there books that your kids loved that you were not fond of reading?
I loved reading to my children and don't really remember a single favorite. And I don't really remember a dislike of any particular book. I did wish at one time I had stock in THE BABYSITTERS' CLUB series!
Why did you decide to dedicate your professional life to education, children, and reading?
In college I gravitated toward psychology and wanted to enter the field of counseling with children. A wise advisor encouraged me to go into elementary education saying that if I really wanted to work with children and families I needed to be in a school to have the experience of teaching and working with the families and other providers. What wonderful advice! With the birth of my first child, Hampton, who is cerebral palsied and moderately retarded, I felt even stronger in my desire to continue to work with children and families.
What is RIF? What does RIF do? How do kids and parents benefit from RIF's activities?
Founded in 1966, Reading Is FUNdamental (RIF) develops and delivers children's and family literacy programs that help prepare young children for reading and motivate school-age children to read regularly. In 2001, through a national grassroots network of more than 400,000
community volunteers, RIF programs provided 15 million new, free books and other essential literacy resources to more than 5 million children. This year, RIF is celebrating its 35th anniversary and the milestone of placing more than 200 million books in the hands and homes of children who need them most.
RIF serves children and families in every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. off-shore territories in programs that operate in schools, libraries, community centers, child-care centers, Head Start and Even Start Centers, hospitals, migrant worker camps, homeless shelters, and detention centers. Today, thanks to public-private partnerships, including Verizon, RIF is the nation's largest children's and family literacy organization.
Do you have a website? How can interested parties contact RIF if they do not have access to the Internet?
We encourage people to consult our website, www.rif.org, and also to be aware The Reading Planet is a great site for parents and children to enjoy literacy activities together. We also have a toll-free number and encourage interested individuals to use it: 1.877.RIF. READ.
RIF promotes getting reading materials into people's homes. Does RIF promote public libraries as a source of that material? If so, how?
Absolutely, RIF does promote libraries. We have some of our programs based in libraries, and we encourage community groups sponsoring RIF programs to include the pubic library on the local RIF committee. Also, in a new project we are distributing classroom libraries to classrooms in need across the country. We know that in addition to books of their own, books in schools, libraries, and other sites are a critical component for communities to provide in order to have a language rich environment for children.
Many daycare providers and some pre-school school staffs, especially those that service lower income families, are not trained to help young children develop language skills. Often, they have little or no knowledge of children's books. What do you think can be done to help day care providers
and pre-school staffs improve their literacy skills to help their young charges get ready to read?
Reading Is Fundamental has a program called "Care to Read" that trains child care providers to utilize books in their care settings whether a home care setting or center-based. We also have a program that involves the parents of those children helping those parents learn about language activities. I encourage child care providers and parents interested in learning more to visit our website or give RIF a call.
As the new president and CEO of Reading is Fundamental, what direction would you like to take RIF in the future?
I want to build on RIF's strong history in creating advocates for children's and family literacy; we will continue to look at richer programming methods and tools for assisting the parents and children in the pre-school years; and we will work hard to seek out best practices for assisting parents and children most at risk of poor reading skills.
What do you think is the best way to encourage kids to become enthusiastic lifelong readers?
Set an example by being a reader; have reading materials available in the home and other places the children frequent.
As a parent, do you have any literacy advice for today's young parents?
Talk and sing and read to your children...over and over and over! Establish books as a great gift to receive. Continue to read books with your children and discuss what you read even as the children grow older into junior high and high school.
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