In 2013, we began brainstorming about how we could help close the 30-million word gap for children of low-income families in our community. We knew that high school graduates make $10K or more annually than students who drop out, and that an increase in the graduation rate of just one percent would bring 10,000 new grads into North Carolina's workforce. We learned that children who aren't reading well by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school. Children who start out behind their peers in reading readiness tend to stay behind, and that gap widens over time.We looked in our own backyard to see how well our children were reading, and were distressed by what we found: the majority of students attending elementary schools in Salisbury were not reading proficient by the end of third grade in 2015, according to the NC Department of Public Instruction.To build a framework for Appleseed we dug into the root causes of those dismal scores. We asked ourselves, "How can we create meaningful learning enrichment tools for under-served children, and how can we demonstrate their effectiveness?"Children from affluent families have ready access to technology and toys to help them learn as soon as they leave the womb, but children in low-socioeconomic status families often begin reading readiness in pre-K and kindergarten. This disparity puts them at greater risk for failure than their more affluent peers. And so, the Appleseed Project methodology became clear: we would provide at-risk children with on-demand access to the same types of intuitive, fun and effective learning tools as their privileged peers.The Appleseed Project kicked off in May 2016, and the results have been immediate, measurable and rewarding. We surveyed participating parents and guardians in June 2016, and their feedback noted improvements in their children's learning skills.