Kinder Ready Clinics
Early Literacy Programs and Services
Little Libraries
Early childhood literacy is one of the main predictors for success once children start school. Born from the value that all children should have access to books and opportunities to read, Little Libraries was formed in fall 2018 to offer a free supply of books to children in local clinic waiting rooms.
Offering books from birth through high school, Little Libraries delivers nearly 4,000 books each year to partnering clinics in San Mateo County and Santa Clara, including: Ravenswood/Mayview Family Health Center, Fair Oaks Health Center, Daly City Youth Health Center, Gardner Packard Children’s Health, Coastside Clinic, Gastroenterology Clinic, Pediatric Emergency Department, Stanford Children's Health Specialty Services (Sunnyvale, Capitola and Monterey), Pediatric Cardiology.
In-person Donations
You can donate gently used or new books (board books, picture books, bilingual books) for readers betwen the ages of 0 to 5 at the Center of Academic Medicine (453 Quarry Rd. Palo Alto 94304)! Label boxes "For Emily Trieu at OCHE" and leave them with the concierge.
Since 2018, we distributed over 19,000 books to our partner clinics
Testimonials
I'll go and I'll look and then there's like one kid like reading to a bunch of kids, all sitting at the bookshelf… you can't make this stuff up. It's so exactly what we want to be doing…
I've walked by and there's been a moment like that where either like a mom is reading to a bunch of kids, or an older kid is reading to a bunch of little kids, and nobody's on their cell phone, and everybody's... just being present in the waiting room.
-MD at one of our Little Libraries sites
Story Times
Across the mid-peninsula, there is a growing educational achievement gap along racial, ethnic and socioeconomic lines. Much of this disparity is rooted in differences in early education - children from the poorest families hear 30 million fewer words by the time they are 4 years old compared to their higher income peers.
Our program recruits volunteers from the undergraduate community at Stanford. Using the Little Libraries at our partner clinics, volunteers host Story Time readings to patients while they wait for their visit. Their responsibilities include:
- Reading culturally- and age-appropriate books to children.
- Modeling book-sharing techniques for parents.
- Distributing educational materials that detail best practices and the importance of literacy at home
Testimonials
One child was whispering with two other children: "Are you sure we can take the books?". I overheard and said "Yes, please do!" The child's eyes lit up and he spent a long time in a hyper-focused discussion with his siblings about what books to take. He loved the dragon slayer series. His siblings fawned over The Fault in Our Stars and wanted to share the book together since there was only one copy.
A little boy gave his mom her phone back and came running back to me, and we read 2 books together!
-Storytimes Volunteers
Pediatric Literacy Launchers Coalition
Pediatric Literacy Launchers was created in 2024 under the Office of Child Health Equity to bridge the gap in school readiness by implementing a system-wide early literacy intervention across diverse pediatric medical settings. Comprised of Stanford faculty and staff across 10 divisions, the coalition aims to create literary-rich environments for patients and ensure access to resources and messaging to promote early literacy.
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Talk, Read, Sing
Talk, Read, Sing is part of the national Too Small To Fail campaign founded in 2013. This public awareness and action campaign aims to promote early brain and language development, empowering parents with the tools to confidently talk, read, and sing with their young children. By empowering parents to be their child’s first teacher, the program promotes knowledge about the importance of brain development in the critical 0-3 year period. To learn more about the campaign click here.
Our Talk, Read, Sing bundles are geared to three specific age groups: newborns, 9-month-olds, and 18-month-olds. Bundles are equipped with a bilingual book, a T-shirt promoting early childhood learning, and a parent tip sheet available in both English and Spanish. Delivering more than 2,000 bundles each year to families at the Well Baby Nursery at LPCH and at Ravenswood Family Health Center, Fair Oaks Clinic, Gardner Packard Clinic, and the Mayview Community Health Center, we hope to improve early childhood education and school preparedness one bundle at a time.
Testimonials from MDs at Safety Net Clinics
They are appreciative of the gift. Some of them tell me about how the older siblings are going to read to the baby and what they already have prepared at home to raise the baby and kind of their understanding of how important [school readiness] is.
“Talk Read Sing is something that is really special for the families. They feel really appreciated and they look forward to it. And now we're to the point where they've heard that other patients got it and they want it too. So it's been really great.
Waiting Room Murals
Fair Oaks Health Center, Redwood City
For many low-income children, a pediatrician is the only professional they interact with before they start kindergarten. This fact inspired Jecca Steinberg, a second-year Stanford medical student and Schweitzer Fellow, to think about how that interaction could improve these children's school readiness, which often lags behind that of their peers.
In an innovative collaborative effort, the pediatrics waiting room of Fair Oaks Health Center in Redwood City was turned into a learning center.
Fair Oaks Clinic: Before
In 2015, Jecca Steinberg, Dr. Neel Patel, artist Lauren Toomer, clinical staff and the Redwood City community set out to design and paint a mural to enhance the school readiness experience of patients in the waiting room.
Fair Oaks Clinic: In progress
Stanford artist Lauren Toomer volunteered her time and energy to create the mural, eliciting community feedback to ensure the end product was "community inspired."
Fair Oaks: After
To compliment the mural, Fair Oaks contributed the funds to add 3 school readiness learning panels and colorful children's chairs.
Mayview Clinic, Mountain View
In 2017, Eleni Ramphos worked with artist Sean Howe to create a second mural in Mayview Clinic (Mountain View). Now, parents read with their children as they wait for appointments and siblings teach each other with the games integrated into the Spanish and English mural elements. The refurbishment restores dignity to the space; families say they now feel appreciated by the clinic.
Santa Clara Valley Bascom Pediatric Clinic
The mural at Valley Medical Center’s Bascom Clinic was completed in February 2019 by artist Renae McCollum, who has her teaching credential in Art and will receive her Masters in Art Education from SJSU in 2019. She volunteered 7 days of her time to complete this 10ft X 22ft indoor mural, allowing families of the safety net clinic to promote their children’s early learning of numbers, letters, and words while engaging with a fun under-the-sea theme.
Publications
What Do Clinical Environments Say to Our Patients? A Replicable Model for Creative Advocacy | AJPH | Vol. 108 Issue 11
American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) from the American Public Health Association (APHA)
SJSU Artist Adds Color to Pediatric Clinic and Promotes Learning | SJSU NewsCenter
Renae McCollum started with a sketch for her mural project at Valley Health Center Bascom, a primary care clinic of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center: Hospitals and Clinics.