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Reach Out and Read®

Reach Out and Read® gives young children a foundation for success by incorporating books and reading into their pediatric care and encouraging families to read aloud together. Reach Out and Read® doctors and nurse practitioners have the greatest access to families with children in the early years when it counts — more than 91 percent of children under the age of six attend routine pediatric visits at least once a year.

The Reach Out and Read® program is evidence-based and supported by independent, published research studies showing that the children they serve:

  • are read to more often by their parents
  • have improved language skills
  • have a greater love of reading

At more than ten routine health checkups from infancy through five years, Reach Out and Read® trained providers:

  • talk with parents about how important it is to read aloud and engage with their young children
  • demonstrate how best to look at books and talk about the stories with their infants, toddlers, and preschoolers
  • encourage parents to cuddle up and read together at home and build routines around books
  • give a new book to the child to take home and keep

At the end of the program, every child has a home library, each given with the acknowledgment to parents that they are their child’s first and most important teacher.

Thanks to the generosity of the Manatee Community Foundation, Community Foundation of Sarasota County, and The Patterson Foundation, physicians in Manatee and Sarasota have joined this national network of more than 42 affiliates that serve in over 6,400 medical sites in all 50 states.

Participating Clinics in Manatee County

Edgar H. Price Jr. Family and Children Healthcare Center

12271 U.S. Highway 301 N
Parish, FL 34219

Lawton Chiles Health Center


1515 26th Avenue East
Bradenton, FL 34208

Manatee Elementary School Based Health Center Pediatrics

1609 Manatee Avenue East
Bradenton, Florida 34208

Manatee Pediatrics

712 39th Street
West Bradenton, FL 34205

South Manatee Pediatrics

6326 15th St. East
Bradenton, FL 34243

Whole Child Pediatrics

6040 53rd Avenue E., Suite B
Bradenton, FL 34203

Participating Clinics in Sarasota County

Capote Pediatrics

6995 Professional Pkwy E
Sarasota, FL 34240

CenterPlace Health

6950 Outreach Way
North Port, FL 34287

CenterPlace Health

2200 Ringling Boulevard
Sarasota, FL 34237

CenterPlace Health

1750 17th Street, Building E
Sarasota, FL 34234

North Tuttle Pediatrics

220 North Tuttle Avenue
Sarasota, FL 34237

Participating Clinics in DeSoto County

Arcadia Pediatrics

250 N Brevard, Avenue #2
Arcadia, FL 34226