Reading Partners shares inspiring volunteerism stories during National Volunteer Week

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Maris Goodstein, Executive Director, Reading Partners New York City
maris.goodstein@readingpartners.org, 646.606.2431

DURING NATIONAL VOLUNTEER MONTH, A VOLUNTEER-LED LITERACY ORGANIZATION IS CELEBRATING OVER 1,000 PEOPLE IN NEW YORK CITY FUELING ITS PROVEN IMPACT IN UNDER-RESOURCED COMMUNITIES

(New York, NY) April 8, 2016 — Reading Partners is a national nonprofit that collaborates with community volunteers and local public schools in New York City 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 incredible impact of its thousands of volunteer tutors by highlighting the tremendous dedication they show to students every day in Reading Partners reading centers in New York City and across its 14 regions.

“Volunteers are the heart of our organization,” said Maris Goodstein, Executive Director of Reading Partners New York City. “The 1400 volunteers that work with us in New York are changing lives every day. Our work would not be possible without them.”

79 percent of low-income fourth graders in New York are not reading at grade-level (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2015). 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 New York City 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 New York City is looking for volunteers to commit to at least an hour a week to work individually with children who struggle with reading at the following schools in New York City:

● Hyde Leadership Charter School (730 Bryant Ave., Bronx, NY)
● Metropolitan lighthouse charter school (180 West 165th Street, Bronx, NY)
● PS 48Q (108-29 155th Street, Jamaica Queens, NY)
● PS 40Q (10920 Union Hall Street, Jamaica Queens, NY)
● PS 33Q (91-37 222nd Street, Queens Village, NY)
● PS 108K (200 Linwood Street, Brooklyn, NY)

The list above represents the NYC schools most in need of Reading Partners tutors. 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 volunteerny@readingpartners.org or call 646.395.3831.

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.