About VoorleesExpress Den Haag

The VoorleesExpress The Hague

The VoorleesExpress is a national project in which volunteers read to children between two and eight years old with a language delay in families' homes. This usually arises because they use Dutch as a second language or because their parents do not speak Dutch at all. With the VoorleesExpress, a volunteer comes to a family's home once a week for six months (twenty weeks) to read interactively, play language games and talk together. We also give parents a role in this.
The main goal of the VoorleesExpress is to stimulate the language development of children. We also offer parents tools to enrich the language environment at home. The volunteers of the VoorleesExpress significantly and early reduce the language delay of children between two and eight years old. Children become enthusiastic about reading (language) and books. After the VoorleesExpress, parents take responsibility for their child's language development and develop themselves.
In addition to interactive reading, all volunteers who come to families' homes are trained to pick up signals of family needs that lie beneath the surface, such as hidden poverty, neglect, financial problems or health problems. Depending on the signal they receive, we can refer families to, for example, an application to a Social Fund, or a referral to easily accessible assistance in the neighborhood such as the Parenting Support Center.

VoorleesExpresss The Hague started in 2010 with 11 families in the Center district, but we now read to 200 families citywide every year. Our team consists of 3 permanent employees in addition to more than 200 volunteers. Every year we have 4 starting times, namely in September, November, February and May.