GreenLight Fund Greater Newark Announces Reading Partners as Second Investment to Address Literacy Gaps in Newark, Recruitment for Tutors Underway
June 11, 2025
Originally posted on Insider NJ
As reading proficiency remains stagnant in Newark, GreenLight Fund Greater Newark and Reading Partners aim to improve outcomes for 4,500 students with innovative, research-backed curriculum.
Newark, NJ – Nonprofit funder GreenLight Fund Greater Newark and national nonprofit Reading Partners today announced that Reading Partners is now recruiting tutors to help improve early-literacy outcomes in Newark. Recent test results show that reading proficiency remains stagnant in Newark, and Reading Partners has been mobilizing communities across the nation for more than 25 years to provide students with the proven, individualized reading support they need to read at grade level by fourth grade.
“GreenLight Fund Greater Newark is supporting Reading Partners’ proven program model because we are committed to addressing Newark’s literacy crisis,” said GreenLight Fund Greater Newark Executive Director Tish Johnson-Jones, JD. “It is imperative for all of us to step in and support our next generation of leaders by becoming a literacy tutor through Reading Partners today. By signing up to become a tutor, you and someone you know can help strengthen the literacy skills necessary to prepare our youth for lifelong success.”
Last year, GreenLight Fund Greater Newark invested $600,000 to bring Reading Partners’ evidence-based program model to Greater Newark. GreenLight Fund Greater Newark’s investment in the Reading Partners program was informed by a year-long selection process conducted in partnership with the local Selection Advisory Council (SAC), a diverse group of talented residents, leaders and experts from various fields. Through the process, GreenLight Fund Greater Newark identified literacy as a critical need in the community and a root cause of other inequities. After searching the country, the SAC selected Reading Partners based on its collaborative approach that prioritizes evidence-based methods and transparent student progress monitoring, demonstrated through real-world impact.
The need to address literacy gaps in Newark is urgent. According to the 2024 New Jersey State Learning Assessments (NJSLA) exam, only 23% of third grade students in Newark are reading at grade level, compared to the statewide average of 44%. Third grade is a pivotal year for reading proficiency, where students make the critical transition from learning to read to reading to learn.
“Reading Partners is excited to start recruiting tutors in Newark to help improve literacy rates and outcomes for our youth,” said Adeola Whitney, CEO, Reading Partners. “Reading is a civil right, and we look forward to working with dedicated community members who are interested in using our step-by-step curriculum to provide high-quality instruction to Newark students in order to help close the literacy opportunity gap. ”
Led by Dr. Naima Ricks, who was recently hired as managing director of partnerships and growth for Newark, Reading Partners will help recruit paid and volunteer tutors who will deliver personalized literacy instruction (in-person and online) to an estimated 4,500 students and facilitate family literacy workshops for 3,700 families over the next 4 years. The goal is that over 80% of students engaged will reach their annual literacy growth goals.
In addition, Reading Partners will collaborate with schools and community organizations in Newark to empower them to implement our evidence-based program within their communities to support student learning. Since the partnership was announced last fall, Reading Partners has been providing family engagement resources and working closely with local partners to launch tutoring services and workshops for students starting this summer. Community members interested in becoming Reading Partners tutors are encouraged to get involved here.
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About GreenLight Fund Greater Newark
Started in Boston in 2004, GreenLight Fund is a national philanthropic nonprofit with a local focus that partners with communities to create opportunities for inclusive prosperity. The organization, in each of its sites, facilitates a community-driven process that matches local needs of individuals and families not met by existing programs, to organizations with track records of success elsewhere. Working with communities, GreenLight identifies, invites in and launches proven organizations, providing collaborative support so they can quickly take root and deliver measurable social impact. GreenLight Greater Newark was launched in 2022. Founding investors in GreenLight Greater Newark include Horizon Foundation of New Jersey, MCJ Amelior Foundation, Prudential Foundation, among others. Additional GreenLight sites include Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area and the Twin Cities. More information at https://greenlightfund.org/sites/greater-newark/.
About Reading Partners
For 25 years, Reading Partners has helped empower students to succeed in school and beyond by engaging community volunteers to provide proven, one-on-one literacy tutoring. Since its founding, the national nonprofit organization has mobilized over 85,000 community volunteers to provide nearly 3 million individualized literacy tutoring sessions to more than 80,000 elementary school students in over 550 under-resourced schools across ten states and the District of Columbia. Visit readingpartners.org to learn more about Reading Partners’ program impact and how the organization is using its online tutoring platform, licensing and training partnerships and other program innovations to positively impact more students. Connect with Reading Partners on Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and Instagram. Reading Partners is a proud AmeriCorps service partner and has been endorsed by The New York Times and featured on The TODAY Show and GMA.
