{"id":181,"date":"2024-06-26T19:42:50","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T19:42:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.newworldsreading.com\/?page_id=181"},"modified":"2026-09-09T19:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T19:41:17","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.newworldsreading.com\/en\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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About Us<\/h1><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The New Worlds Reading Initiative is Florida's free home literacy program for eligible VPK - 5th graders.<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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New Worlds Reading <\/strong>was signed into law in June 2021 as a program to help Florida's striving readers strengthen their literacy skills, build reading confidence, and foster a lifelong love of reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each month during the school year, eligible children receive a free book tailored to their interests with resources and activities for caregivers and children to use together. Books and materials are available in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, and braille.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be eligible, kids must be VPK - 5th graders who are not yet meeting grade level expectations in reading in Florida VPK programs, public schools, and charter schools. You can view more on eligibility here<\/span><\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The UF Lastinger Center for Learning<\/strong> is the state-appointed administrator for New Worlds Reading.<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The UF Lastinger Center for Learning researches, develops, and scales educational innovations for adults and children that put all learners on trajectories for lifelong success. With a portfolio of professional learning programs in early childhood, literacy and mathematics, and as administrator of two state-wide initiatives, New Worlds Reading and the Florida Tutoring Advantage, the Lastinger Center is focused on helping teachers teach and students learn. To learn more about the Lastinger Center, please visit the UF Lastinger Center website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Meet Our Mascot<\/strong><\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Brooks the Bobcat<\/strong><\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n

New Worlds Reading Ambassador<\/strong><\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Meet New Worlds Reading's paw-some pal, Brooks! This bobcat is always on the prowl for his next favorite book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Born and raised in Florida, Brooks enjoys cooking, playing soccer, and singing car karaoke. His favorite foods are grilled cheese and strawberries!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Scholastic<\/h2><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The UF Lastinger Center has partnered with Scholastic<\/strong><\/a>, the global children\u2019s publishing, education and media company, to help procure and distribute high-quality books, in addition to providing operational, technical, and promotional support for the program.
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UF \/ IFAS Extension<\/h2><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Books & Cooks<\/span><\/strong><\/a> is a 12-week literacy and nutrition program created in partnership with UF\/IFAS Extension<\/span><\/a><\/strong>. New Worlds Reading families in select Florida counties engage in educational sessions that highlight different children\u2019s books, cooking demonstrations and reading activities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Florida Department of Education<\/h2><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Books are selected in collaboration with the Florida Department of Education's Just Read, Florida!<\/span><\/a><\/strong> office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Kibeam Learning<\/h2><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The research team at the UF Lastinger Center for Learning is partnering with Kibeam Learning to pilot the Kibeam Wand\u2122<\/span><\/strong><\/a> with a subset of New Worlds Reading participants. This study will inform program development that amplifies reading engagement and accelerates reading performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Join our team!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re always seeking talented professionals to work with us.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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View open positions <\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About Us The New Worlds Reading Initiative is Florida's free home literacy program for eligible VPK - 5th graders. New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-181","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"trp-custom-language-flag":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Alyssa Pearson","author_link":"https:\/\/www.newworldsreading.com\/en\/author\/alyssapearson\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"About Us The New Worlds Reading Initiative is Florida's free home literacy program for eligible VPK - 5th graders. New […]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newworldsreading.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newworldsreading.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newworldsreading.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newworldsreading.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newworldsreading.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.newworldsreading.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11241,"href":"https:\/\/www.newworldsreading.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181\/revisions\/11241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newworldsreading.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}