About Us
Reading Is FUNdamental (RIF) Pittsburgh’s mission is to provide children with the resources, motivation, and opportunities to develop a life-long love of reading. For the past 29 years, RIF Pittsburgh has worked to develop the most economically disadvantaged children in our community into life-long, independent readers by building the foundations of literacy through book ownership, motivation, and positive reading experiences.
Research shows that children from families with incomes below the poverty line face significant obstacles in achieving literacy. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that nearly two-thirds of low-income American families do not own a single book for their children. By focusing our efforts on the schools, community centers, and after-school programs serving our city’s most economically disadvantaged children, we strive to make literacy an achievable goal for all children.
Through our core programs, RIF Pittsburgh helps children and families build home libraries, motivates children to discover the fun of reading, and provides opportunities for families to read together. In the last year alone, we gave over 60,000 brand new, age-appropriate books to more than 20,000 of Pittsburgh’s most economically disadvantaged children. Our goal is to create environments that enrich and promote changed literacy behaviors in the children and families that we serve.