Literacy Advocate Ola Whitney Has Her Organization Put Down Roots in Newark

Originally posted on NJ Urban News

For Ola Whitney, there is no reading between the lines. Literacy is the key.

“We are more than just a tutoring organization,“ Whitney, who was named one of the top 100 influencers in EdTech for 2023-2024, said in a recent interview with New Jersey Urban News.

Whitney, the leader at the helm of Reading Partners, a national literacy organization, wants to expand the non-profit into New Jersey with a specific purpose.

Reading Partners is a 501(c)(3) headquartered in Oakland, California, with literacy tutoring programs in 11 areas across the United States. Newark became the 12th in 2025.

If a community group, school, or family needs help in supporting a child or adult family member with reading, the organization offers tools in the fundamentals of literacy, which include phonics, decoding sounds, and comprehension.

Before she became a mother of a student who struggled with reading herself, Whitney knew she was called to aid children.

“It takes a special kind of person to be a teacher,” said Whitney, adding she knew deep down that she wanted to attack education in a different way.

When her middle son was in kindergarten, he struggled with letters and their sounds. Whitney and her husband quickly devised a plan.

They each took turns sitting in his classroom to observe what was going on with him in school. They consulted with school personnel to discuss possible evaluations. They sat with him and got their son tutoring.

“I learned valuable lessons,” Whitney surmised. “Humans, whether they are children, babies, or adults, when we cannot do something, we either lack will, skill, or both.”

For Whitney’s son, she learned that he just wasn’t interested in reading, and needed people to believe in him. She said families are facing the same challenges today.

“People want the best for their kids. The only difference is resources.” Whitney said. She believes personally in one of the core values of Reading Partners. “Every child, despite their zip code, should have the support they need to become strong and confident readers,” she stated.

“The organization serves many brown and black families. We recognize the intersection between literacy and justice,” added Whitney.

“My family is from Nigeria,” she explained. “My parents always taught us that charity begins at home. As an adult, I believe in paying things forward.”

Whitney served at the nearly 30-year-old organization as an executive from 2013 to 2016. After a hiatus, she returned as CEO in 2020.

Over her career, Whitney has worked in several nonprofit and for-profit education positions and served in several fellowships around education.

The Reading Partners model is to engage families with direct tutoring, based on a script, for at least one hour weekly. They also offer workshops for families on how they too can support reading in their homes, and partner with businesses for literacy related events.

“People talk about the problem [in literacy] exhaustively. Then they get stuck there,” Whitney commented.

She touts the organization’s proven method of engaging students and families around literacy with real success.

According to the website, 87% of Reading Partners students met or exceeded their literacy growth goals.

Whitney believes in the causes of organizations that provide literary tools like books but stands by the one-on-one engagement of students and families that make a real difference in literacy rates.

Through funding from GreenLight Fund, Reading Partners has launched in Newark, adding to its network in California, Texas, Colorado, Washington State, New York, and other areas.

The program is presently searching for its Newark Executive Director, but in the meantime, Whitney is on the ground in the state’s most populous city, meeting with stakeholders and learning how Reading Partners can make a real impact on literacy in the city.

Whitney’s goals for Reading Partners in Newark are precise.

“Our goal is to impact over 9000 people in Newark over the next 4 years. We want to tutor over 4500 children. We want to provide workshops to over 3700 families. We want to mobilize over 1000 volunteers.” The organization uses community volunteers as tutors.

Whitney depends on “connectors” in Newark to make the program successful.

She is meeting with literacy coalition groups, like local schools and organizations such as the Boys & Girls Club, who can help and can direct the nonprofit to engage families.