Reading Partners Bay Area shares inspiring volunteerism stories during National Volunteer Week

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Mandy Motl, Special Projects Manager, Reading Partners San Francisco Bay Area
mandy.motl@readingpartners.org, 510-473-7751

DURING NATIONAL VOLUNTEER WEEK, A VOLUNTEER-LED LITERACY ORGANIZATION IS CELEBRATING THE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN THE BAY AREA FUELING ITS PROVEN IMPACT IN UNDER-RESOURCED COMMUNITIES

(Oakland, CA) April 11, 2016 — Reading Partners is a national nonprofit that collaborates with community volunteers and local public schools in the Bay Area to equip students with the foundational skills they need to be able to read at grade level by fourth grade. The proven early literacy organization has been providing volunteer-led, individualized reading support to students in under-resourced public elementary schools since 1999.

April is National Volunteer Month (and April 10-16 is National Volunteer Week), so Reading Partners is celebrating the tremendous dedication and impact of its thousands of volunteer tutors by sharing a sampling of the uplifting stories playing out every day in Reading Partners reading centers in the Bay Area and across its 14 regions.

Here are a few examples of the countless inspiring stories of high-impact volunteerism taking place in Reading Partners reading centers in the Bay Area:

1. 49 City of Oakland employees commit to making a difference in the lives of local students by volunteering with Reading Partners.

2. A long-time San Francisco resident has become one of Reading Partners’ most tenured tutors by participating in the program for the last 9 school years.

In the Bay Area, nearly half of all fourth graders are reading behind grade level. Reading is the foundation for all future learning. Without developing the reading skills needed to read on grade level, kids won’t have an equitable chance to succeed in school or in life. With the dedication of more than 14,000 volunteer tutors in the Bay Area and across the US, Reading Partners’ volunteers are helping more than 10,000 students make the all-important shift from learning to read to reading to learn.

“Reading Partners was the most rewarding form of community service I have ever done,” said Ma’ayan Epstein, a Reading Partners tutor in the Bay Area. “I think that I gained just as much from Reading Partners as I gave, because I learned how to relate to students, engage them in different ways, and overall learn to have fun with challenges. I have yet to find another community service opportunity as rewarding as Reading Partners.

Reading Partners San Francisco Bay Area is looking for volunteers to commit to at least an hour a week to work individually with children who struggle with reading at one of these 30 schools.

San Francisco Schools

Alvarado Elementary School, 625 Douglass St, San Francisco, CA 94114

Bessie Carmichael Elementary School, 375 7th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Bret Harte Elementary School, 1035 Gilman Ave, San Francisco, CA 94124

Cesar Chavez Elementary School, 825 Shotwell St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Cleveland Elementary School, 455 Athens St, San Francisco, CA 94112

Hillcrest Elementary School, 810 Silver Ave, San Francisco, CA 94134

Leonard Flynn Elementary School, 3125 Cesar Chavez St, San Francisco, CA 94110

Los Cerritos Elementary School, 210 W Orange Ave, South San Francisco, CA 94080

Monroe Elementary School, 260 Madrid St, San Francisco, CA 94112

Rosa Parks Elementary School,1501 O’Farrell St, San Francisco, CA 94115

Sanchez Elementary School, 325 Sanchez St, San Francisco, CA 94114

Sherman Elementary School,1651 Union St, San Francisco, CA 94123

Spruce Elementary School, 501 Spruce Ave, South San Francisco, CA 94080

Sunnyside Elementary School, 250 Forester St, San Francisco, CA 94112

Tenderloin Elementary School, 627 Turk St, San Francisco, CA 94109

East Bay Schools

Allendale Elementary School, 3670 Penniman Ave, Oakland, CA 94619

Aspire College Academy, 8030 Atherton St, Oakland, CA 94605

Berkley Maynard Academy, 6200 San Pablo Ave, Oakland, CA 94608

Brookfield Elementary School, 401 Jones Ave, Oakland, CA 94603

Caliber Beta Academy, 4301 Berk Ave, Richmond, CA 94804

Cox Academy School, 9860 Sunnyside St, Oakland, CA 94603

EnCompass Academy, 1025 81st Ave, Oakland, CA 94621

Futures Elementary School, 6701 International Blvd, Oakland, CA 94621

Hesperian Elementary School, 620 Drew St, San Lorenzo, CA 94580

Hillside Elementary School, 15980 Marcella St, San Leandro, CA 94578

Lazear Charter Academy, 824 29th Ave, Oakland, CA 94601

Learning Without Limits, 2035 40th Ave, Oakland, CA 94601

Riverside Elementary School, 1300 Amador St, San Pablo, CA 94806

Sankofa Academy, 581 61st St, Oakland, CA 94609

Think College Now Elementary School, 2825 International Blvd, Oakland, CA 94601

To learn more, please email volunteerSF@readingpartners.org or call 510.214.6944

About Reading Partners

Reading Partners empowers students to succeed in reading and in life by engaging community volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring. The national nonprofit organization will provide proven, individualized literacy tutoring to more than 10,000 elementary school students in under-resourced schools across ten states and the District of Columbia in 2016.  Visit staging.readingpartners.org, or connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, to learn more.