Jessica Rhein

Read to a Child is a national mentoring and literacy nonprofit founded on the belief that every child deserves to be read to regularly by a caring adult. When adults read aloud to children, both parties enjoy a rewarding experience that greatly increases the child’s literacy skills and opportunity for success in the future. It’s a simple activity with a huge impact. Research proves that reading aloud to children is the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading and, thus, likelihood for success in school and life. Read to a Child currently partners with more than 100 corporations and institutions nationwide that provide 1,500 volunteers who read aloud to more than 1,100 at-risk students in greater Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles and Miami, as well as urban centers in Connecticut. Astoundingly, 80% of 4th graders from low-income families in the United States are not proficient in reading and 26% will not graduate from high school. To combat this literacy crisis, Read to a Child enlists volunteer reading mentors to visit urban elementary schools once a week and read aloud one-on-one to children during lunch. This time spent with a caring adult ignites a love of reading in struggling children, while providing students with the skills and confidence to reverse the cycle of illiteracy.