Some habits are essential when raising children and among the most important are to talk, read and sing, every day together.

Everybody Ready is a Michigan nonprofit that focuses on the importance of providing these essential activities in households.


In the beginning

In April of 2001, with the support of the Colina Foundation, Everybody Read was formed to increase public and private sector awareness and to support quality services, activities and programs for families with children aged 0-5 in Wayne County.

The Talk, Read, Sing campaign partners with trusted messengers from community organizations, businesses and early childhood education and care providers to highlight the importance of these activities.

“Parents are already doing so much and with information and support, parents realize that they are powerful and will talk, read and sing with their children even more,” said Kathleen Alessandro, executive director of Everybody Ready.


Critical timing

“Children’s brains are built through talking, reading, singing, and of course love,” she added. “Parents are a child’s first and most important teachers – strong language skills are the basis for all future learning.”

She points out the following facts:
• The brain develops more rapidly in the first few years of life than at any other time.
• Babies need words.
• Positive environments and interactions with loving adults help babies' brains reach their potential.
• Back-and-forth "communication" between babies and adults, called "serve and return" builds brains and hearts.
• Small and meaningful actions – such as talking, reading and singing to young children – support early learning and development and strengthen the parent-child bond.
• Sharing books and reading aloud to young children is a habit that is essential in developing reading skills in children.
• Singing with babies is a great way to connect with them, have them hear new words and manage their feelings.
• Early literacy/language skills are the foundation for all future learning.


Community and Collaboration

In 2006, Everybody Ready was designated by Wayne RESA as the fiscal, administrative and program entity for the State of Michigan’s Great Start Initiative in Detroit/Wayne County. Laketa Thompson serves as director of the Great Start Collaborative.

According to Thompson, more than 50 community leaders meet quarterly to enhance and maintain a comprehensive, high-quality Early Childhood system in Wayne County. Additionally, Everybody Ready built a partnership with 700 early childhood professionals and community leaders on the local, state and national level. Locally, the organization works with Hope Starts Here, Brilliant Detroit, the Brightmoor Quality Initiative, The Guidance Center, local libraries and Western Wayne Health Clinics, to name a few.

Families of young children are often overwhelmed and confused by too much mediocre information and complex, inequitable access to helpful resources.

Everybody Ready focuses on connecting families with children aged 0-8 to places where families connect, like laundromats, barbershops, houses of worship, libraries, community organizations, pediatric clinics, WIC offices, child care providers, GSRP, Head Start, Early On and more.

“The best practical early childhood resources were identified by listening to families,” Thompson said.