April 16, 2018
Top 5 Reasons Reading Partners Volunteers Make NYC a Better Place
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jennifer Harwood
Executive Director, Reading Partners New York City
646.606.2431 | jennifer.harwood@
READING PARTNERS VOLUNTEERS STRENGTHEN NEW YORK CITY IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS — HERE ARE THE TOP 5
New York, NY — April 16, 2018
For over four decades, National Volunteer Week has given nonprofits an opportunity to recognize the invaluable support of volunteers that help fuel their work. In celebration of National Volunteer Week in 2018 (April 15-21), Reading Partners New York City created a list highlighting the top five ways its volunteers make the community stronger and better.
Top 5 Reasons Reading Partners Volunteers Make New York City a Better Place
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Volunteers drive student impact – Volunteers are working one-on-one with over 1,000 students this year in NYC to help deliver meaningful results for kids (last year, 89% of Reading Partners’ Kindergarten through second-grade students in NYC mastered key foundational reading skills needed to read at grade level).
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By promoting educational equity, volunteers strengthen the broader community – Everyone benefits in the long run when student literacy achievement is bolstered. Students who don’t read proficiently by fourth grade are four times more likely to drop out of school. It’s estimated that every student who walks out of the classroom without a diploma costs our society $260,000 in lost earnings, taxes, and productivity.
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Volunteers serve as a resource multiplier – Because Reading Partners engages so many community volunteers in their work, the program is more affordable for schools to implement than other literacy interventions. For every dollar invested in reading partners, the program delivers more than $2 in resources to students.
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Volunteers support strong public schools – Thanks to the involvement of nearly 1,200 community tutors in NYC, 99% of teachers report Reading Partners is valuable to their school and 100% of principals report improved school-wide reading progress.
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Volunteers help bring joy to learning – Students feed off of the energy and excitement of Reading Partners’ volunteer tutors. In NYC, 96% of volunteers are satisfied with their tutoring experience and that enthusiasm helps students develop a lifelong love of reading that is key to success in school and beyond.
“We absolutely love our Reading Partners volunteers here in New York,” said Jen Harwood, executive director of Reading Partners New York. “In fact, we will be honoring our amazing volunteers at our fifth annual benefit at City Winery on May 16. Their contributions to our students and communities are both selfless and immeasurable.”
Reading Partners is a national nonprofit that collaborates with community volunteers and local public schools in NYC and in 13 other regions across the country to equip students with the foundational skills they need to be able to read at grade level by fourth grade.
In an effort to strengthen the literacy skills of as many students as possible, Reading Partners NYC is constantly looking for more local volunteers to commit just an hour a week to work individually with children who struggle with reading. To become a volunteer with Reading Partners, please visit readingpartners.org/volunteer today.
Reading Partners volunteers work one-on-one with students. (Photo credit: Reading Partners)
About Reading Partners
Reading Partners empowers students to succeed in reading and in life by engaging community volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring. Since its founding, the national nonprofit organization has provided proven, individualized literacy tutoring to nearly 45,000 elementary school students in under-resourced schools across ten states and the District of Columbia. Visit readingpartners.org to learn more about our program impact, or connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
