CONTACT:
Rebecca Salner, Media Relations Officer
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
650.450.5525 or rsalner@siliconvalleycf.org

RAISING A READER SELECTS NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

SAN MATEO, Calif. – Raising A Reader, the innovative early literacy program that serves children in Silicon Valley and around the nation, has selected Gabrielle E. Miller, Ed.D., a vice president at Reading Is Fundamental, as executive director.

"Gabrielle Miller is a dynamic, innovative educator, and she has the skills and expertise to provide the strategic leadership that will enhance Raising A Reader’s position as a leading national advocate for early literacy," said Rick Jones, chair of the Raising A Reader board.

Miller is vice president for education/literacy programs at Reading Is Fundamental, the nation's largest children and families' literacy organization, where she is responsible for overseeing literacy and educational programs reaching 4.5 million children and their families. She held a number of roles at the Kennedy Krieger Institute including assistant vice president for educational programs and simultaneously served as assistant professor in the Department of Special Education at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. She began her career as a teacher for Queen Anne's County Public Schools in Maryland. After graduating from the University of Delaware, she received her doctorate and master's from Johns Hopkins.

Raising A Reader fosters healthy brain development, parent-child bonding and early literacy skills by engaging parents in a routine of daily "book cuddling" with their children from birth to age five. A three-time recipient of Fast Company Magazine's annual "Social Capitalist Award," the Raising A Reader program can be scaled to meet diverse community needs and is readily adaptable to a variety of settings – from preschool classrooms and family childcare homes, to home-visiting programs and adult literacy classes. Since 1999, the program has expanded from a San Mateo County Library System pilot program serving 24 classrooms into a national program with 12 independent evaluations that prove its success. Today, its affiliates serve children and families in more than 175 communities across 33 states.

Raising A Reader is a 501(c)(3) supporting organization of Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

"We are excited that Raising A Reader has recruited Gabrielle Miller, whose talent and passion for literacy will help build on the program’s success and take it to new heights," said Emmett D. Carson, Ph.D., CEO and president of the community foundation.

About Raising A Reader
The Raising A Reader mission is to foster healthy brain development, parent-child bonding and early literacy skills critical for school success by engaging parents in a routine of daily "book cuddling" with their children from birth to age five. Headquartered at Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Raising A Reader is operated through a diverse national network of community affiliates. These affiliates reach out to low income families through preschools, home visiting programs, adult education centers, family childcare homes—any place where parents and children routinely gather. Learn more at www.raisingareader.org.

About Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Silicon Valley Community Foundation is a catalyst and leader for innovative solutions to our region's most challenging problems. Serving all of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, the community foundation has more than $1.9 billion in assets under management and 1,500 philanthropic funds. The community foundation provides grants through donor advised and corporate funds in addition to its own Community Endowment Fund. In addition, the community foundation serves as a regional center for philanthropy, providing donors simple and effective ways to give locally and around the world. Silicon Valley Community Foundation launched in January 2007 following the landmark merger of Community Foundation Silicon Valley and Peninsula Community Foundation and is now one of the largest community foundations in the nation. Find out more at www.siliconvalleycf.org.