Literacy

Nemours BrightStart Program for Early Literacy Success (NBS!)

The Nemours BrightStart Program for Early Literacy Success (NBS!) is a program dedicated to the prevention of reading failure in young children. They developed a unique and highly effective instructional curriculum to assist in closing the reading readiness achievement gap for struggling, young learners, before they enter elementary school.

This literacy program will work with local hospitals to provide new moms with a “Loving Start.” Mothers will be provided with their infant’s first book, “Cuddle” by Elizabeth Verdick and Marjorie Lisovskis to support their journey to building language development and relationships from birth. The book contains a personalized message and launched with Medical Center Trinity and Bayfront Spring Hill in the Spring of 2021. In 2022, Advent Health in Zephryhills and Wesley Chapel have joined our mission to provide new Mom’s a “Loving Start.”

Connecting our community through literacy with friends, The Early Learning Coalition of Pasco and Hernando Counties is partnering with local community heroes to promote literacy and allow for children to form connections with their community. Through this program children will get to hear from and meet community members and learn about their community roles. Our Literacy Youtube channel is filled with Community Partners that want to share the gift of literacy. Also included, are “Building Literacy through Play” activities parents can do with their children. If you are interested in becoming a literacy friend, please feel free to reach out to the lead of our Early Literacy Initiatives, Sherri Sabadishin at s.sabadishin@elcph.org