Problem

Words on Wheels, Inc. will initially focus on serving the Lake County area in the communities of:

  • Waukegan
  • North Chicago
  • Zion

Future expansion is expected in more Lake County areas soon.

**Sources: United Way of Lake County, America’s Edge, Rand Corporation and the National Institute for Early Education Research.

Solution
The Vision:
  • Directly impact the culture in at risk families
  • By increasing the early childhood literacy skills in lower income infants and toddlers, the long term effect could be a decrease in crime, violence, abuse, and other lingering issues in our society.
  • Provide a program to screen and train volunteers on infant, toddler and childhood literacy skills. Our focus is infants and toddlers.
  • Coordinate visits to local child care centers, transitional housing facilities, Head Start centers, and other locations with low to moderate incomes and underserved children.
  • Bring books, stories, songs and interactive play to inspire a lifelong love for reading and language.
  • Give the children in the lower income areas the same attention and opportunities as the children in the more privileged areas.
What We Do:

Words on Wheels, Inc. bring the volunteers to infants and toddlers at:

●Local child care centers

●Transitional living facilities

●Head Start centers

●Family Child Care

The volunteers bring the words to the kids.

We work to inspire a lifelong love for reading and language using:

  • stories
  • books
  • songs
  • interactive play

Our curriculum has been developed by an early childhood professionals with over 30 years experience in the field. Significant research has been made in infant and toddler brain development with proven ways to produce early literacy skills. Research in infant and toddler brain development has proven that 85% of development occurs before the age of 5.

The Outcome:

By doing our part to increase childhood literacy, our hope is to directly impact the future of our society. The challenges from the for at risk families come from difficulty in being successful in school and depleted resources..

It’s our goal that with our efforts and the efforts of a number of other organizations working towards the same goal, we will be able to overcome these obstacles. We envision a future where this vicious cycle is stopped. It’s a future where we can give all children the same opportunity to succeed.

 

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