Underresourced communities often have limited access to print and materials to promote children's early literacy development. Recognizing that the neighborhood is a unit of social change, organizations that engage families in early reading and learning with their children, therefore, have increasingly become part of the community landscape. Recently, efforts to promote early literacy have found families in a less conventional place: the local laundromat. The authors report on a study of six laundromats in low‐income communities, three of which were transformed to include literacy‐related play centers and three of which remained business as usual. Results indicated dramatic increases in literacy‐related activity among young children as compared with control sites, demonstrating the potential of these sites to enhance children's opportunity to learn.

Recognizing the academic benefits of access to print for young children, book distribution programs abound in the United States. Designed to promote book ownership for low-income families, programs have unique delivery systems, leading to a largely fragmented policy. This article describes an urban city’s effort to build a coordinated book distribution program. Phase 1 examines the extent of book distributions, integrating data from 74 organizations and their branches (297). Using geographic information systems, we determined the spatialized patterns of scarcity and/or opportunity and the alignment between the intended and actual audience. In Phase 2, we conducted nine focus groups from neighborhoods receiving these book distributions. Results highlight the complexities of a well-intentioned policy and how multiple methods might inform policymaking in the future.