Reading Partners tutors help elementary students in Seattle during Mentoring Month and throughout the year

For Immediate Release

Contact: Afi Tengue, Executive Director, Reading Partners Seattle
(206) 992-4484, afi.tengue@readingpartners.org

January is National Mentoring Month and 90 students in Seattle are in urgent need of a volunteer reading partner

(Seattle, WA) January 6, 2017 — January is National Mentoring Month, and Reading Partners is encouraging more community members to join its efforts to provide students in under-resourced schools with the tutoring and mentorship they need to become proficient readers by the fourth grade. A proven national nonprofit that mobilizes community volunteers to work one-on-one with struggling readers, Reading Partners aims to serve 200 students in Seattle in the 2016-17 school year. Currently, there are over 90 students at 4 local elementary schools waiting to be matched with tutors. Mentoring month is the perfect time to get involved.

Across Washington State, only one in four fourth graders from low-income families is reading at grade level. Reading is the foundation for all future learning and Reading Partners tutors provide the individualized literacy support and mentorship to help students make the all-important shift from learning to read to reading to learn.

“Literacy is a platform for all future learning. By utilizing community volunteers in partnership with a rigorous curriculum, we are bringing much needed capacity for high impact one-to-one tutoring support to schools that are under-resourced. Whether it be science, technology, engineering, math or band – this skillset propels students forward towards academic and career success.” – Afi Tengue, Executive Director

Reading Partners volunteers utilize an easy-to-follow, individualized lesson plan each week, specific to their students’ needs in order to meet them at their level and help build both literacy skills and confidence. Reading Partners Seattle has an immediate need for volunteer tutors who can commit at least an hour a week to work with students in the following schools:

Highline School District

• Beverly Park Elementary [1201 S. 104th Street, Seattle, WA 98168]

Seattle Public Schools

• Highland Park Elementary [1012 SW Trenton Street, Seattle, WA 98106]

• Madrona K-8 [1121 33rd Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122]

• Sanislo Elementary [1812 SW Myrtle Street, Seattle WA 98106]

To learn more, please email volunteerSEA@readingpartners.org or call (206) 992-4484.

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 11,000 elementary school students in under-resourced schools across ten states and the District of Columbia in the 2016-17 school year. Visit staging.readingpartners.org, or connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, to learn more.