Focus On Reading
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High school. College. Career. Success. Every child deserves these things, and we believe every child can have them. That’s why we’re on track to give $1 billion for education by the end of 2015.
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In 2001, we launched our Target Early Childhood Reading Grants program as part of our store giving. Because reading proficiently by the end of third-grade is a significant milestone on the path to graduation, these grants support reading programs for preschool through third-grade students.
Target School Library Makeovers
Since 2007, Target has transformed school libraries nationwide into inspiring places for kids to read, learn and grow. In 2011, we made over 42 libraries at in-need schools across the country, for a total of 118 makeovers completed since the program’s inception. These libraries underwent a tremendous transformation—featuring 2,000 new books; larger spaces with new carpet, furniture and technology; and seven new books for each student to take home and call their own. Watch the video to the right and see our Target School Library Makeovers in action.
View our goal to make over libraries in more schools than ever.
Volunteerism
Through programs like Target School Library Makeovers and Reading Buddies—which connected 250 Target volunteer readers with elementary school students throughout the Twin Cities—our team members are making a real difference.
Book Donations
For school kids, winter break usually brings chill-out time with the family. But days out of school can also mean days away from learning. To counter the downside of downtime, Target gave each of the more than 6,000 Minneapolis and St. Paul kindergarteners two books to read during their winter break.
The book donation in our corporate hometown is just one way we’re helping more children read proficiently by the end of third grade. So far, through Target School Library Makeovers and our Books for Schools Award programs, we’ve donated 1.7 million books to the Title 1 schools most in need nationwide.
“One way to impact the gap in reading proficiency is to make sure that children of low-income families have access to high-quality, age-appropriate books. There is a strong correlation between children having books at home and their motivations to read.”1
Read Across America
Each year, Target joins the National Education Association in celebrating Read Across America with free events to encourage young readers. In 2011, we hosted our most exciting festivities yet. In New York City, Target unveiled a 26-foot-tall installation of 25,000 Dr. Seuss classics, which were then donated to New York City schools. Special guests included Mark Ruffalo, Uma Thurman, Common, the Deedle Deedle Dees and, of course, our very own Bullseye the Dog. We also invited kids and parents to join us at all Target stores around the country for Dr. Seuss Storytime, where they received goodie bags and listened to team members read Dr. Seuss favorites. Watch the video above to see how we kicked off Read Across America in 2011.
Read for the Record
In 2011, Target again partnered with Jumpstart to support their Read for the Record event, a world-record-breaking campaign that brings children and adults together to read the same book, on the same day, in homes, schools and communities all over the world.
Target partnered with one Minneapolis and one St. Paul elementary school, giving every student at those schools three to five books to take home and call their own. Last fall, more than 55 Target volunteers bundled and distributed 650 books. Team members then read Llama, Llama, Red Pajama to more than 500 eager students in the participating schools.
PTO Family Reading Nights
Target partners with PTO Today Inc., a leading resource for school-parent group leaders at K-8 schools nationwide, to offer free Family Reading Night Kits to schools across the country.
From 2005 to 2011, Target-sponsored PTO Family Reading Nights supported more than 32,500 Family Reading Night events, reaching more than 3.5 million children and parents. In the 2010-2011 school year alone, this program supported more than 5,000 events, allowing more than 560,000 children and parents to participate.
1 Children’s Access to Print Material and Education-Related outcomes: Findings from a Meta-Analytic Review; Lindsay PhD, Jim; Learning Point Associates, June 2010