Room to Read partners with local communities throughout the developing world to provide quality educational opportunities by establishing libraries, creating local language children's literature, constructing schools, and providing education to girls. We seek to intervene early in the lives of children in the belief that education empowers people to improve socioeconomic conditions for their families, communities, countries and future generations. Through the opportunities that only education can provide, we strive to break the cycle of poverty, one child at a time.

The Young Readers Program is a partnership between the State Library of Victoria, the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and the Municipal Association of Victoria. Part of the A$2.1 million Victorian Government initiative to encourage Victorian families and care givers to read to their children, this program brings together Maternal & Child Health Nurses, early childhood workers and Victorian childrens public librarians to promote the pleasure of reading with children. Program objectives The Young Readers Program will: * promote the importance of reading to young children * provide professional development for Victorian Maternal & Child Health Nurses, children’s librarians, early childhood professionals and childcare staff * promote family involvement in young children’s literacy development through reading together * promote the involvement of community support in helping families and care givers value literacy and reading for pleasure * increase access to books for families and care givers with young children * improve literacy outcomes in Victorian children * support Australian children’s literature.