With funding by First 5 Santa Cruz County, the Pájaro Valley Unified School District operates Raising a Reader (RAR) countywide, distributing book bags to children’s homes in partnership with local early care and education providers.  Raising A Reader fosters healthy brain development, supports parent-child bonding, and motivates families to read aloud with their children which helps develop the early literacy skills that are critical for school success. The program provides a way for children and their parents or caregivers to participate in a weekly rotating book bag program through early care and education settings. Raising A Reader began operation in Watsonville during the last quarter of the 2005-06 fiscal year, and has served almost 28,000 children since then.