The Official Newsletter of Read to a Child |
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Meeting the Moment
with our virtual Read Aloud Mentoring Program
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Since our successful launch of the virtual Read Aloud Mentoring Program, Read to a Child has continued to expand our reach. We aim to grow our virtual programming to reach even more students by next school year.
This month, we are making plans to celebrate the end of a successful school year with virtual year-end celebration activities, digital certificates, and virtual ceremonies for our fourth-graders graduating out of the Read Aloud Mentoring Program. In some regions, volunteers and program coordinators are even sending students letters of encouragement to end the school year on a positive note, and in others, volunteers are gifting students books to add to their home libraries!
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Greater Los Angeles is excited to celebrate their 4th grade RAMP graduates! |
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The Greater Los Angeles Region was excited to launch the first virtual Read Aloud Mentoring Program for Read to a Child in October 2020. It was extremely moving to see volunteers and students reunited with Program Coordinators. Capital Group volunteer, Andres, was reunited with his student, a fourth-grader that he has been reading to for 3 years now! The Greater Los Angeles Region looks forward to virtually celebrating Erick's graduation from the program with school staff, Andres, and the Read to a Child Program Coordinators!
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We are grateful to our school partners for their belief in our program and our volunteer reading mentors who continue to show up for their students week after week.
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Celebrate how far we have come with this moving video. |
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A Historic March Online Campaign Success |
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Thanks to over 540 incredible donors and sponsors, Read to a Child successfully raised over $138,000 during our 'Help Kids in Need Love to Read' Online Campaign. We are so grateful for the support of our entire Read to a Child community - including our caring volunteers, dedicated supporters and corporate partners, and our passionate staff and board members, who show exemplary leadership and serve as incredible advocates for Read to a Child.
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Didn't get the chance to support our Online Campaign? |
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Thank you to Our Incredible Visionary Sponsors
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Thank you to Our Incredible Champion Sponsor
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Thank you to Our Incredible Trailblazer Sponsors
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To celebrate our Online Campaign success, we invited our Read to a Child community to a special virtual event in collaboration with Travelers and The Kennedy Center. Read Aloud Mentoring Program students, staff, volunteers, and their families watched an exclusive virtual performance of a Mo Willem's classic and participated in a 'How to Doodle Like Mo Willems' workshop, hosted by a Kennedy Center Teaching Artist.
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RAMP student participating in 'How to Doodle Like Mo Willems' workshop |
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Family participants showing off their Mo Willems drawings |
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Proud 'doodle' artists after participating in the Mo Willems workshop |
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Greater Hartford Writes for Reading |
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Read to a Child recently partnered with Travelers employees on a new effort to connect with students in Greater Hartford partner schools. Greater Hartford's Write for Reading initiative allowed over 130 participants to pen letters of encouragement to students recently returning back to classrooms, giving them a new sense of motivation and an offer of stabilizing engagement after a very disruptive school year.
Many volunteers shared sentiments about how important reading was in their own childhood, discussed some of their favorite books, and included anecdotes about meaningful memories centered around books and reading. Read to a Child delivered over 450 letters to partner schools Betances, M.D. Fox, and S.A.N.D. and even included several dozen letters in Spanish for bilingual students.
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Read to a Child coupled the Write for Reading initiative with a community book drive, which brought in several thousand books to be donated to the students of Greater Hartford. At the same time that students received their words of encouragement, they also received multiple books to help build their home libraries!
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Celebrate Summer with the Remote Read Aloud Program |
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Back by popular demand - we are thrilled to re-launch our Remote Read Aloud Program this summer! This exciting initiative was designed to bring quality online read aloud experiences to students as they were learning from home during the pandemic.
With guest readers ranging from bestselling authors and music legends, to activists, television writers, and experts in the STEM field, we set a goal to empower the children in our programs and beyond through the magic of the read aloud experience, and inspire families to establish consistent read aloud practices in their daily lives with diverse and inclusive literature.
We can't wait to welcome a new set of guest readers to share their inspiring words with our Read to a Child community this summer! Who knows - maybe they will share their very favorite book in the whole wide world (a small clue for who we have in the works!)
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More details coming soon!
In the meantime check out our Remote Read Aloud Program library
for 6 curated read aloud videos with dynamic Q&A's!
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A Warm Read to a Child Welcome
to our Newest Staff and Board Members!
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Read to a Child is thrilled to engage Judy Tipton as our new Development Consultant for Metro Detroit. Judy is a Detroit native with many years of experience in business development and non-profit partnerships. Judy holds a bachelor's degree in Marketing and a MBA from University of Phoenix and is currently a Director of Corporate Relations at the United Way for Southeastern Michigan. Judy is passionate about Read to a Child because she understands the value of caring adult mentors, stating, "There were many people along my life journey that spent time, shared advice and direction that allowed me to experience success in my work and life." We are so proud to have Judy join in our efforts to expand Metro Detroit - welcome Judy!
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Our Greater Hartford Region is thrilled to welcome two new members to its board! Dr. Michael Walters has dedicated his life to education and joins the Greater Hartford Board as a seasoned educator in the Hartford Public School System and Professor at the University of Hartford, with a Doctorate in Education from New England College. In this new position, he hopes to move forward the important agendas of diversity, inclusion, and opportunity through education. Alexandra Lombardi joins the board with a broad perspective and connection to her community. She has proudly served the city's capital as its Deputy Corporation Counsel since 2016, managing the City of Hartford's in-house legal office. She has also participated in the Read Aloud Mentoring Program as a volunteer reader for five years! We are so proud to welcome Dr. Walters and Alexandra Lombardi to the Read to a Child Family.
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The Greater Los Angeles Regional Board has a new Advisor: Kelly Siobhan Laffey, Senior Counsel, Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP and Senior VP & Director of Business Affairs, Preccelerator. Kelly is passionate about making a difference in the lives of others, especially students. Read to a Child is grateful to have her join the Greater Los Angeles Region as an Advisor, and most appreciative of her efforts to raise funds for our March 2021 Online Campaign - helping Greater Los Angeles greatly exceed their fundraising goal!
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