United Way of Central Maryland, Wellpoint Maryland Celebrate Read Across America Month with Baltimore Scholars

South Baltimore students at Curtis Bay Elementary School received new books and encouragement to keep reading during a literacy celebration held in honor of Read Across America Month on March 9. The initiative followed Read Across America Day, recognized each year on March 2.

Parents reading to children everyday help build essential language skills, sparks imagination, and develops emotional intelligence. It also improves the child’s cognitive development, their vocabulary, and helps them process the world around them, according to the Child Mind Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to children’s mental health and development.

By giving students books to take home, the month-long campaign helps foster a love of reading and helps close literacy gaps within Baltimore schools. In the 2024–25 school year, 31.2 percent of Baltimore City students tested proficient in reading on the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program, a 3.5 percent increase from the 2023-2024 school year, surpassing the state’s 2.4 percent gain.

The event itself, organized by United Way of Central Maryland in partnership with Wellpoint Maryland, brought volunteers and community leaders together to read with students and distribute books that children could take home.