Important update about Reading Partners Silicon Valley

Reading Partners was founded in Menlo Park in 1999 by three community leaders committed to improving equitable access to high-dosage literacy support for children. Since then, our organization has expanded to 12 metro regions across the country where we have partnered with more than 550 under-resourced public schools and more than 85,000 community tutors to provide nearly 3 million individualized literacy tutoring sessions to over 80,000 elementary school students.

Additionally, we have started to develop program licensing and training partnerships with other nonprofits and organizations that are able to implement a version of our program with students they already serve. We’ve barely scratched the surface on these program extension possibilities and we’re excited about the opportunity we have to support student literacy both directly and indirectly in the years to come.

None of this would have been possible without our trailblazing founders and the amazing Silicon Valley community that helped a seed of an idea blossom into a best-in-class, national nonprofit that has been helping students build their reading skills and confidence for over 25 years. That fact makes it particularly tough to announce that, after careful consideration and discussion, Reading Partners’ national leadership team and the executive committee of our board of directors have made the incredibly difficult decision to cease direct service work in our Reading Partners Silicon Valley region. While we will not be able to serve students in Silicon Valley this year as originally planned, we will explore with our school partners other potential program models, including a partnership model, with hopes of being able to serve students in a different capacity this year.

This transition is in no way a reflection on the leadership, staff, or AmeriCorps members in Silicon Valley who in the last few years have worked tirelessly to serve students in the region. The challenges are much deeper and have existed for some time now. Among them, the pandemic created fundraising, staffing and volunteer recruitment headwinds that have been difficult to overcome, and those dynamics have unfortunately made it infeasible to sustain our program locally.

Reading Partners wishes to thank the thousands of regional volunteer tutors, regional board members, donors, and school and community partners for championing this highly effective, evidenced-based program since its inception. You’ve helped make a meaningful and measurable difference for students in Silicon Valley for a quarter century.

I also want to thank the wonderful, mission-driven staff and AmeriCorps members who have helped Reading Partners make such a positive impact in Silicon Valley over the years. In the 2023-24 school year alone, Felicia Webb and her team recruited and trained 327 community volunteers who delivered over 8,000 one-on-one literacy tutoring sessions to nearly 300 students. Nearly eight in 10 of those K-4 students achieved their individualized reading growth goals and 91 percent of K-2 students developed mastery of key foundational reading skills needed to read at grade level.

We believe volunteerism is critically important to creating an equitable and vibrant community. Therefore, our team is committed to offering options for new and returning volunteers to continue their service to Reading Partners students in other areas of California or through alternative local programs. A member of our team will be in touch to help match volunteers with new and existing opportunities.

Reading Partners has been honored to serve students, schools, and the Silicon Valley community over the past 25 years. It has been a privilege to help build momentum and contribute to Silicon Valley’s community-wide movement to help children read on grade level by fourth grade. Thank you for your support of our mission to help ALL students develop the reading skills and confidence they will need to achieve their wildest dreams.

With gratitude,

Adeola Whitney
CEO, Reading Partners