Our Mission

• MAG POWER! Unleashing the Power of Magazines
• Program Objectives
• Getting Reading Materials into the Home
• Why Magazines are so Powerful
• Sponsors, Literacy Agents and Program Eligibility

MAG POWER! Unleashing the Power of Magazines  [back to top]

Think back to the magazines that you enjoyed reading as a child, and you will see why the Magazine Publishers Family Literacy Project has been so enthusiastically received by teachers, librarians, and other community leaders concerned about the reading skills and self-esteem of our children - and especially by kids! The Project aspires to marshal the resolve and the resources necessary to tap the awesome potential of magazines as a powerful literacy resource. Complementing other vital reading materials, such as books and newspapers, few treasures brighten a child's eyes, smile, and intellect like a magazine. Working with schools, libraries, shelters, and other community literacy programs, and with the magazine publishing industry, magazine consumers and other sponsors, our goal is to build the reading skills and self-esteem of our nation's young people and at-risk families by arranging free children's and other magazines for kids and families who could not otherwise easily afford them.

Program Objectives  [back to top]

The Magazine Publishers' Family Literacy Project has set out to accomplish the following objectives:

1. broadly promote magazines as a powerful literacy resource;
2. partner with magazine publishers, corporate and community sponsors, and consumers to pay for subscriptions for needy children and families;
3. engage "literacy agents" - schools, libraries and other community organizations - to follow-up with children and families to help build reading skills and self-esteem;
4. work with magazine publishers and editors, as well as other media and partners to spotlight and to celebrate magazine-based literacy programs and to design special promotions and new approaches for engaging the American public in the social challenge of illiteracy among youth-at-risk and families;
5. forge partnerships with national, state, regional and grassroots organizations and government agencies dedicated to improving reading skills, especially of kids and families.

Getting Reading Materials into the Home  [back to top]

Studies show that children at or near the poverty line are much less likely to have reading materials at home. By arranging for magazines, the program puts valuable reading materials into homes on a regular schedule. When a child's name is printed on the label, along with the added confidence associated with learning to read, the Project helps to build that child's self-esteem. Children and families are linked to the Project via "Literacy Agents" - schools, libraries, shelters, and other community-based programs dedicated to building the reading skills of participants. Literacy agents devise their own reading program specifications and evaluation criteria, and monitor program effectiveness against those targets. Literacy agents report on their progress, providing valuable lessons and models that can be replicated in other communities.

Why Magazines are so Powerful  [back to top]

Magazines offer readers important advantages. In today's fast-paced world, literacy agents can very effectively reach children with magazines. Magazines - colorful, topical, adventurous, and fun - catch, then hold a child's attention, encourage him or her to want to read, and inspire a long-term positive impact on reading skills.

Children, faced with explosive physical, mental and social growth, exhibit an impatient curiosity about the world around them. Information whizzes by in bits and bytes. Attention spans are fleeting. Magazines are especially capable of keeping up with this pace and reaching into a child's world.

Magazines inform and entertain at the same time. They are topical, timely and informative. They are vibrant, colorful and fast-paced. Magazines offer the tremendous potential of engaging young people in the process of developing the reading comprehension necessary to keep pace with their ever-changing world.

Sponsors, Literacy Agents and Program Eligibility  [back to top]

"Literacy Agents" are schools and other non-profit 501(c)(3) educational and charitable organizations that request and utilize the magazines to support children and families enrolled in vital reading programs. Literacy agents help children and families get the most out of their magazines in terms of reading skills and enjoyment, ensure accountability, and provide feedback useful for program evaluation and improvement.

A program that seeks support is registered here by a Literacy Agent or financial sponsor. A questionnaire is completed to determine eligibility for program participation. Depending on the type of program, Federal guidelines for free and reduced price lunches may be used to target the most needy children.

The following types of Literacy Agents are the primary focus of our efforts:

1. Shelters: homeless family and domestic violence shelters;
2. Mentoring programs: were magazines can help foster bonds around common interests
3. Hunger relief and anti-poverty Programs: Illiteracy tightens the grip of poverty. Breaking the cycle of illiteracy one child at a time, and one caring parent at a time can help to give families a fighting chance at self-reliance so they can build full and productive lives;
4. Job training programs: to help homeless and at-risk teens and adults build self-esteem and skills for employment
5. Schools & Libraries: serving homeless and at-risk children and families; reading groups within classrooms; teachers, assistants, parents or community volunteers;
6. Family Literacy Initiatives: magazines are provided to programs to serve children whose parents are also enrolled in literacy programs so parent and child can improve reading skills together, helping to break the cycle of illiteracy;
7. Community Organizations: literacy programs, after-school programs and recreation centers, home visiting programs, etc.;
8. ESL Programs: English as a Second Language programs sponsored by schools, libraries and other community organizations.
9. Foster Family Support Programs: abused and neglected children suffer well beyond the mistreatment itself due to a lack of family stability, dislocation, and moves from home to home and often from school to school. Magazines are provided to programs that serve children staying with supportive foster or alternative care providers to help bring a sense of ownership and continuity to their lives;
10. Disaster Relief: Families who are the victims of home or forest fires, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters can lose all their possessions and face dislocation and uncertainty. Access to magazines gives a child something to call their own and helps rebuild a sense of order and continuity.