Madison Reading Project

About Us

Mission
Our mission is to deliver high-quality, literacy learning, reinforcement programs to underserved children, by engaging them in differentiated literacy activities designed to create not only a love of learning, but build and reinforce age-appropriate skills needed to develop the young reader.

History
In 2013, Madison Reading Project was started by founder and Executive Director, Rowan Childs. On a search for reading resources, Childs discovered the alarming statistics associated with literacy rates and book ownership of families experiencing poverty. With a $1,000 seed donation, we served our first 30 children at the Salvation Army of Dane County's after school program.

Over time, we've grown to serve hundreds of families, schools and community organizations by providing free books, and offering fun and engaging literacy programs to children and educators. In October 2019, we gave away our 100,000th book!

Service Area
While we focus our efforts in Dane County, we also provide books across the state of Wisconsin, as well as collaborating with various international agencies.