J&Y Law Supports Reading Is Fundamental and Childhood Literacy Across Los Angeles

Key Takeaways 

• J&Y Law recently joined more than 60 representatives from school districts and nonprofit organizations at a Reading Is Fundamental event in Los Angeles. 

• Reading Is Fundamental of Southern California has worked for more than 50 years to help underserved children build home libraries and develop a love of reading. 

• The organization reaches more than 40,000 children each year and works with schools, Head Start programs, and community organizations throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties. 

• Our firm shared copies of Different Is Still Us, the children’s book Jason Javaheri and I wrote together, with educators and community organizations attending the event. 

• We plan to continue working with local schools and literacy organizations to support reading programs and community events throughout Southern California. 

Author and literacy advocate Pat Mora coined the phrase “book joy” to describe the pleasure children and families find in reading together. 

For many children, that experience begins with having a book of their own. It can become the story sitting beside their bed, the one they ask a parent to read again or the book they begin recognizing before they can read every word themselves. 

That idea was at the center of a recent Reading Is Fundamental event in Los Angeles, where more than 60 representatives from school districts, early education programs, and nonprofit organizations came together to discuss literacy and access to books. 

Our firm attended the event and handed out copies of Different Is Still Us, the children’s book Jason Javaheri and I wrote together. Additional copies were raffled during the program, giving us an opportunity to introduce the book to educators and organizations serving families throughout Southern California. 

What Does Reading Is Fundamental of Southern California Do? 

Reading Is Fundamental of Southern California, commonly known as RIFSoCal, promotes literacy by providing children with new books they can keep and use to build libraries at home. 

The Southern California program began in 1972 and works with economically disadvantaged schools, Head Start programs and community organizations throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties. 

Today, RIFSoCal reaches more than 40,000 children each year and has distributed more than 5.3 million books. 

Choice is also an important part of the program. 

Children are encouraged to select books that interest them, creating a more personal connection with reading and giving them something they are excited to bring home. 

RIFSoCal’s Motivational Reading Program serves children from pre-K through eighth grade at schools with high concentrations of students from low-income families. Its programs also reach children outside traditional school settings, including those with special needs and other populations that may have less access to books. 

The impact continues after the distribution event ends. 

A book can become part of a bedtime routine with a parent, grandparent or sibling. Children can return to the same story until the characters and pictures become familiar, building comfort with reading long before they can understand every word on the page. 

That is the kind of bookjoy organizations like RIFSoCal work to create. 

Los Angeles Organizations Are Bringing Literacy Into the Home 

One of the most encouraging parts of the event was seeing how many organizations throughout Los Angeles are working toward the same goal from different directions. 

Ready, Set, Read! was among the organizations that spoke during the program. 

The Los Angeles nonprofit focuses on children from birth through age 5 and helps families make reading aloud a regular part of life at home. 

Through its partnership with LAUSD’s Early Childhood Education Division, Ready, Set, Read! reaches more than 10,000 infants and young children and their families at 91 early education centers throughout greater Los Angeles. 

Its programs provide new bilingual books for home libraries while also training educators and offering family workshops focused on early literacy. 

That family involvement can extend the impact of every book. 

Parents learn ways to read with their children, talk about stories and make books part of their daily routines. Those interactions can help children associate reading with time spent together and encourage them to keep reaching for another book. 

The event brought together organizations working at different stages of that process, from early childhood education to school-based literacy programs and community outreach. 

Seeing that work in one room made the size of the effort, and the opportunity to support it, much clearer. 

Why We Created Different Is Still Us 

Jason and I wrote Different Is Still Us because we wanted to tell a story that could help families talk about change. 

For Jason, part of that idea came from his own experiences growing up. It also developed through years of conversations we have had with families whose lives changed after a serious injury. 

An accident can affect an entire household. 

A parent may walk differently, look different or need help doing things they once handled on their own. A child may recognize those changes immediately without fully understanding what happened or what life will look like afterward. 

We wanted to create something families could read together during those conversations. 

“This project came from a really personal place for me,” Jason said. “Some of it came from my own experiences growing up, and some came from talking to so many families over the years who were learning how to live with a new normal after someone they love was seriously injured. Kids notice those changes, and sometimes a book gives a family an easier way to talk about them together.” 

That connection made sharing the book with RIFSoCal and the organizations at the event especially meaningful for both of us. 

“We’re so happy to do whatever we can to support our community and childhood literacy,” Jason said. “Knowing that one of these books could become a child’s first book, or a story a family reads together again and again, means a lot to us. Thank you to Reading Is Fundamental and all of the educators and organizations doing this work every day. What an amazing group of people.” 

Continuing Our Work With Schools and Literacy Organizations 

The event also opened the door to new opportunities for Different Is Still Us to reach families throughout Southern California. 

We shared sample copies with attendees, and several representatives expressed interest in having Jason and me participate in future readings and community events. 

Those conversations are already continuing. 

The organizations represented at the event also serve many of the same Los Angeles communities our firm works with every day. Supporting their literacy programs gives us another opportunity to invest in those communities and build relationships with families outside the legal work we do. 

Sometimes that involvement means showing up for a reading. Sometimes it means donating books or helping an organization put more of them into children’s homes. 

We are grateful to Reading Is Fundamental for bringing so many educators, nonprofit leaders and community organizations together and for giving Different Is Still Us the opportunity to reach more families. 

If you work with a school, library, nonprofit organization or community program and would like to request free copies of Different Is Still Us for the children and families you serve, contact our team today. We would be happy to learn more about your organization and explore ways we can support your literacy efforts.