Reading Partners shares inspiring volunteerism stories during National Volunteer Week

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Laura Zachar, Executive Director, Reading Partners Los Angeles
Laura.Zachar@readingpartners.org, 505-264-8803

DURING NATIONAL VOLUNTEER MONTH, A VOLUNTEER-LED LITERACY ORGANIZATION IS CELEBRATING THE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA FUELING ITS PROVEN IMPACT IN UNDER-RESOURCED COMMUNITIES

(Los Angeles, CA) April 8, 2016 — Reading Partners is a national nonprofit that collaborates with community volunteers and local public schools in the Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles and across its 14 regions.

For example, Manhattan Beach Community Church has adopted FDR Elementary in Lawndale, where they not only provide dozens of volunteers, but support the school with donations and book drives.

In Los Angeles elementary schools, only 15 percent of fourth graders from low income families can read at grade level proficiently, putting them at significantly higher risk of dropping out of high school and continuing the cycle of poverty. 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 Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles is looking for volunteers to commit to at least an hour a week to work individually with children who struggle with reading at schools in Pasadena, Lawndale and Mid-City Los Angeles.

For a complete list of schools with Reading Partners reading centers please visit the partner school page on the website.

To learn more, please email volunteerLA@readingpartners.org or call 213-399-8599.

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.