Housed on the grounds of the California Hospital Medical Center, the Hope Street Family Center (HSFC) provides a continuum of onsite educational, medical, and developmental services for children and families from birth through adulthood. During the critical developmental period from birth to age 3, families at HSFC can obtain prenatal care, health care, Early Head Start, and child care. Preschool-age children participate in HSFC's Child Development Center and can enroll in a family literacy program with their parents.

Providers of primary services ensure that information and outreach on primary services are widely accessible, including information about the kinds of services available and their locations, hours of operation, and costs. They provide information and services in forms that are sensitive to issues of culture, language, and education, and in settings that families trust.

Providers of primary services systematically identify the barriers that prevent families from using services and work to remove them. Barriers include: lack of knowledge about what exists or how to find services and supports that match a family's interests and needs; lack of transportation; the cost of obtaining services; concerns about safety; and some families' sense of exclusion.

	The Reading Trail program of ReadBoston promotes family involvement in children's literacy development by establishing home lending libraries in day care centers. Children are encouraged to read, have a family member read with them, visit the library, and use individual "trail guides" to keep a record of books read. As children reach benchmarks along the Trail, they can take books home and get other incentives. Reading Trail sites receive books from established libraries, and they train care providers on ways to integrate family reading activities into their curriculum. www.cityofboston.gov/bra/ReadBoston/JCSRB.asp