May 3, 2018

Volunteers Make North Texas a Better Place - Mayors to Help Celebrate Books & Breakfast Event

For Immediate Release

Contact:

Lisa Bracken

Executive Director, Reading Partners North Texas

(214) 390-2909  | Lisa.Bracken@readingpartners.org

TOP 5 WAYS READING PARTNERS VOLUNTEERS STRENGTHEN NORTH TEXAS

The mayors and superintendents of Dallas and Fort Worth to help Reading Partners celebrate its inaugural Books & Breakfast event on May 4

Dallas, TX — April 19, 2018

Reading Partners is a national nonprofit that collaborates with community volunteers and local public schools in North Texas 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 North Texas recruits local volunteers to commit just an hour a week to work individually with young students who struggle with reading.

“Our community volunteers serve as a lifeline to not only our program but the schools,” said Lisa Bracken, Executive Director, Reading Partners North Texas. “Our amazing and diverse volunteers are supporting students to become lifelong readers and bring vibrancy to the school community. Just a couple of weekends ago, one engaged volunteer created an entire literacy event for the campus he serves.”

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 North Texas created a list highlighting the top five ways its volunteers make the community stronger and better.

Top 5 Reasons Reading Partners Volunteers Make North Texas a Better Place

1. Volunteers drive student impact – Volunteers are working one-on-one with 650 students this year in North Texas to help deliver meaningful results for kids (last year, 87% of Reading Partners’ Kindergarten through second-grade students in North Texas mastered key foundational reading skills needed to read at grade level).

2. 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.

3. Volunteers support strong public schools – Thanks to the involvement of over 800 community tutors in North Texas, 96% of teachers report Reading Partners is valuable to their school and 92% of principals report improved school-wide reading progress. In fact, Mr. Jackson, Principal of Sudie L. Williams Elementary School in Dallas recently commented, “Reading Partners serves as the artery to the community. People want to help, and [Reading Partners is] the most successful at working between a child and tutor. It does make a difference and it takes a village. The need is too great to do it alone.”

4. Volunteers help bring joy to learning – Students feed off of the energy and excitement of Reading Partners’ volunteer tutors. In North Texas, 94% 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.

5. 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.

Inaugural Books & Breakfast Event to Feature Education Leaders from Dallas and Fort Worth

The recognition that Reading Partners helps strengthen schools and the broader community in North Texas is shared by Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, Dallas ISD Superintendent Dr. Hinojosa, and Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Dr. Scribner who will all take part in a powerhouse panel as part of the inaugural Reading Partners North Texas Books & Breakfast event. The event will be held at the George W. Bush Institute from 7:30 – 9:00 am on Friday, May 4 and will feature a “civic-minded” conversation moderated by Krys Boyd, host of the critically acclaimed KERA radio show, Think.

To learn more about Books & Breakfast, visit our event page or reach out to abby.mayer@readingpartners.org. 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. Visitreadingpartners.org to learn more about our program impact, or connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.