TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Two local nonprofits hosted a community event on Saturday to celebrate the success they have made serving Tulsa students.

“We’re having a 10-year birthday bash with reading partners, and also City Year Tulsa. So, we are having a bunch of free cake, free events for the entire Tulsa Public School District,” said Jazmin Cooper, Student Success Coach with City Year Tulsa.

Nonprofits City Year Tulsa and Reading Partners hosted what they called a Birthday Bash on Saturday.

Cooper says that City Year Tulsa is a group that provides tutoring and after-school programming to help Tulsa students succeed in English Language Arts and Math.

She says that Reading Partners is another group that has helped Tulsa students.

“Reading Partners is just kind of like City Year, but they mainly focus on literacy programs, so they help kindergarten through fourth graders with their readings to help them be better students,” said Cooper.

Paul Davis, the Executive Director of City Year Tulsa, says organizations like City Year are critical.

“It’s critical that we partner with schools like Hale High School, and our other 12 partner schools to be able to really ensure that students stay on track to graduate,” said Davis.

He says that the students they work with graduate at a 37% higher rate than their peers.

According to Oklahoma School Report Cards, 57% of Tulsa Public Schools students were at a below-basic level in English Language Arts in the 2022-2023 school year.

NewsChannel 8 recently reported on a partnership between Tulsa Public Schools and the Oklahoma State Department of Education to bring reading levels to a basic and proficient level.

We asked Davis what City Year Tulsa is also doing to help in those efforts.

“We are right now adding additional after-school tutoring and making sure that we’re providing as much support to students during class time,” said Davis.