Emergent literacy refers to preschool children’s acquisition of fundamental skills that are vital to the development of reading and writing, including phonological awareness, knowledge of letters and digits, print concepts, and vocabulary in oral language. Speech-language pathologists (SLP’s) promote emergent literacy through phonological play (e.g., rhyming games), print visuals (e.g., images of alphabets and numbers), interactive story reading to familiarize children with books, play-based narratives, and counseling of parents on provision of enriched pre-literacy environments. Although these skills are essential for kindergarten readiness, approximately 45% of school-aged students in Massachusetts score significantly below expected benchmarks at least once between kindergarten and third grade. Some known risk factors include disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, insecure housing, low parental education, and limited access to early education, each of which can contribute to inadequate pre-literacy exposure. These statistics indicate the crucial need for mobilization of state resources to increase emergent literacy among preschool children of Massachusetts. To discover current emergent literacy initiatives, we interviewed local literacy experts and consulted published information from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, among other state agencies. We focused upon potential solutions provided by university-based SLP departments through outreach to state-sponsored settings such as the Massachusetts Head Start Association. Finally, we reviewed the growing literature on successful university-based endeavors connecting SLP students with emergent literacy projects in surrounding community sites such as temporary housing and educational programs for incarcerated mothers. Of special interest is the recent incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into activities that foster reading progress.