Our Story, Staff, Partners, Sponsors, Board of Directors

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to present you with the 2006-2007 annual report of MAKE WAY FOR BOOKS. With the help of many people, we have been able to realize notable accomplishments detailed in the following pages.

You may not know that MAKE WAY FOR BOOKS is the only independent non-profit organization in southern Arizona dedicated to promoting early literacy through a comprehensive continuum of programs and services. Our focus on families of young children ages birth through five has reached nearly 6,000 individuals this past year.

As we continue to grow and serve a greater number of children, we have outgrown the space we currently occupy that has been so generously donated to us for the last six years. We will be relocating to a temporary location in the very near future while we look for a permanent home. Any unrestricted donation you are able to contribute will greatly help in moving MAKE WAY FOR BOOKS to an exciting new level.

As I look forward to our ten-year anniversary in 2008, I know that our programs will continue to grow and improve. All that we have achieved has been made possible through the outstanding work of staff, dedication of volunteers, guidance of board members, and generosity of our donors. Together we are making it possible for more and more children to reach kindergarten with the necessary skills to be successful.

With gratitude,

Mary Jan Bancroft, Ph.D.
Executive Director

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Our Story

MAKE WAY FOR BOOKS started in 1998, when Dr. Mary Jan Bancroft established the first picture book libraries at Pio Decimo Center. She was the original storytime volunteer, reading to three classes on a weekly basis.

To date, MAKE WAY FOR BOOKS has placed libraries at over 90 preschools and child care centers in Tucson. Many of these feed into elementary schools where children score significantly below average on standardized tests. MAKE WAY FOR BOOKS is making a difference in the lives of young children and their parents, by exposing them to the pleasures of reading before they enter school. We believe a child who has never been read to, has never held a book or turned the pages, is unprepared for school.

For her commitment to children and early literacy, Dr. Bancroft was awarded the Service Award in the Adult category by Governor Janet Napolitano in April, 2005. She was listed as an "Everyday Hero" in the 2002 tribute book of the Women's Foundation of Southern Arizona. In 2001, the International Reading Association and the Tucson Reading Council honored her for "Exemplary Service in the Promotion of Literacy." Also in 2001, Dr. Bancroft was nominated for the YMCA "Woman on the Move" award.

Meeting A Need: The U.S. Department of Education reports that more than 40 million adults in this country are functionally illiterate. In recent surveys, the state of Arizona placed among the last in students dropping out of high school. Children living in educationally and economically disadvantaged homes often enter school two or more years behind their peers and are two to three times more likely to drop out of school. Without books or other reading materials in the home and a parent who reads to serve as a role model, many children grow up with severe literacy deficiencies.

MAKE WAY FOR BOOKS targets preschools in limited resource areas that feed into elementary schools where students score significantly below average on standardized reading tests. We provide programs from birth to age five that help to ensure that children arrive in first grade with the necessary early literacy skills to be successful.

Children need to be encouraged at an early age to develop positive attitudes toward books and reading. These attitudes usually result in voluntary readers. Considerable empirical evidence indicates that voluntary reading correlates with success in school. According to Jim Trelease, a well-known advocate for reading aloud to children, "major research in the last twenty-five years confirms that regardless of sex, race, nationality, or socioeconomic background, students who read the most, read the best, achieve the most, and stay in school the longest."

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Our Staff

Mary Jan shares Read to Your Bunny by Rosemary Wells.

Liz, Diane and Sarah prepare goodie bags for Story Town 2006.

Sponsors

The generosity of individuals, Corporations and Foundations is essential. Countless individuals have supported MAKE WAY FOR BOOKS. These generous gifts are an essential and important source of funding that impacts all of our programs. For a list of individual supporters, please contact our office to receive a copy of our annual report.

FOUNDATIONS & CORPORATIONS

Alpha Xi Delta
Altrusa International
Arizona Women's Partnership
Child & Family Resources
City of Tucson Community Development Division
Community Foundation for Southern Arizona
Eliot Spalding Foundation
Evelyn Jay Fund
Harry & Marjorie Stewart Foundation
Kiita Foundation (Armstrong)
PICOR Charitable Foundation
Side by Side Foundation
Target
The Roth Family Foundation
The Standard
United Way Campaign
United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona
United Way Valley of the Sun
Wings Like Eagles Foundation
Wreckettes

Thank you!

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Our Partners

Child & Family Resources, Inc.
First Focus on Kids
Friends of the Pima County Library
Healthy Families
The Parent Connection
Pima County Health Department
Pima County Public Library
Reach Out and Read, Southern Arizona
Reading is Fundamental
Reforma
Tucson Area Literacy Coalition
Volunteer Center of Southern Arizona

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Board of Directors

Steve Brong, M.B.A. President
Gina Macaluso, M.L.S. Vice-President
Donie Gignac, M.L.S. Secretary
Jennifer J. Stewart, M.B.A. Treasurer
Paul D. Bancroft, Esq. Director
Adam Castro, C.P.A. Director
Steven McGarrigle Director
Fanaye Taye Director

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