What’s Happening

Come and have fun with ELP at the Orange County Fair this summer!

The Childrens and Families Commission of Orange County is hosting a wonderful literacy rich themed booth inside the Orange County Fair Exhibit Promenade building near the bumper cars. Volunteers at the booth will be reading to children, modeling good reading habits for parents, and distributing free new and gently used books to children throughout the fair. ELP will be at the Children and Families  Commission booth on the following dates: July 16th, 21st, 22nd, 31st, August 1st, 5th, 6th, 8th, 11th, 13th, and 15th. 

                                                                   Reading time fun at the Orange County Fair 2009

Why Early Literacy

Reading early to your child is critical to supporting the development of reading skills, which is an important indicator of later school success. While many literacy programs focus on school-age children, researchers agree that children are more likely to become good readers if they start school having been exposed to a wide variety of literary experiences and have knowledge of books and stories.

The Children and Families Commission of Orange County supports an ever-growing number of programs and organizations that are dedicated to making sure children are healthy and ready to learn when they enter school.

That is why the Commission has launched the countywide Early Literacy Program (ELP) to bring critical literacy resources to families with children ages 0 to 5 years of age. ELP supports literacy programs reaching children throughout the county by supplying books, best practices, readers and literacy resources.

So read on to learn more about our programs and services, and how you can make a difference in the life of a young child.


Read Early. Read Aloud.