Covenant Community Care

In 2015, Rx for Reading Detroit began a valued partnership with Covenant Community Care, a federally qualified health clinic that provides care regardless of patients’ ability to pay. Each year Covenant provides health, dental, and behavioral care to over 18,000 people in Metro Detroit through their seven clinics as well as their home care and homeless outreach programs.

In two years Rx for Reading has provided over 3,500 books to the patients and families at the Covenant Michigan Avenue Health Clinic, another 1,350 books to the Covenant Michigan Avenue Dental Clinic, and 550 books to the Covenant Clinic on Moross. With the help of our generous donors we are able to include new Spanish and bilingual books in every delivery to Covenant clinics in Southwest Detroit.

Dr. Mary Hakim and the other healthcare providers at Covenant know how important reading and access to books is for children’s long-term health and educational outcomes:

“Literacy promotion is critical to pediatric care. Many families living in poverty do not have the funds to purchase books for their home. The Rx for Reading program enables families to have this resource. Providers and clinics can also influence parents’ views on literacy by emphasizing the importance of reading aloud with their children. This helps with language development and literacy, promotes bonding within families, and helps forge a love for reading.”

Dr. Mary Hakim, M.D., Covenant Community Care

Thank you to the families and staff of Covenant Community Care. We are proud to partner with you!

We are proud of our partnership with Covenant Community Care! Their Michigan Avenue clinic serves many Spanish speaking families, so RX for Reading established a Clinic Library with English, Spanish, and bilingual options for children as well as English and Spanish educational materials for parents.

Many thanks to Covenant pediatrician Betsy Cherian, MD and Clinic Manager Claudine Mamo, RN and to University of Detroit Mercy undergraduates Casey Rhines and Nic Combs for setting up the library.

Special thanks to En Nuestra Lengua Literacy and Culture Project for their generous donation of Spanish and bilingual books! En Nuestra Lengua is a no-cost Saturday Spanish-language academic program that brings together the local community, Spanish-speaking children, their families and veteran educators—all working as a team to counteract the significant Hispanic academic achievement gap. The families in En Nuestra Lengua donated hundreds of books to RX for Reading which allowed us to build our RX for Reading Covenant Library.

Rx for Reading Detroit

Raising Readers, One Book at a Time

Nuestros Ninos: RX for Reading at Covenant Community Care