猫咪AV

For Immediate Release

Contact:

Michelle Torgerson

Senior Executive Director, 猫咪AV San Francisco Bay Area

510.830.3021 |聽michelle.torgerson@readingpartners.org

Oakland, CA 鈥� April 19, 2018

猫咪AV is a national nonprofit that collaborates with community volunteers and local public schools in Colorado and in 13 other regions across the country to equip students with the foundational skills they need to be able to read at grade level by fourth grade. In an effort to strengthen the literacy skills of as many students as possible, 猫咪AV San Francisco Bay Area recruits local volunteers to commit just an hour a week to work individually with young students who struggle with reading.

鈥淭he work that I am now doing, as a volunteer, is an extension of the work I did in my career as a police officer,鈥� said Leroy Lindo, volunteer tutor and retired Police Commissioner. 鈥溍ㄟ銩V has allowed me to stay connected with children who will become the adults of the future. Working as a volunteer tutor has allowed me the opportunity to see that having good reading skills now, will pay huge dividends in the future.鈥�

For over four decades, National Volunteer Week has given nonprofits an opportunity to recognize the invaluable support of volunteers that help fuel their work. In celebration of National Volunteer Week in 2018 (April 15-21), 猫咪AV San Francisco Bay Area created a list highlighting the top five聽ways聽our beloved volunteers, like Commissioner Lindo, make the community stronger and better.

罢辞辫听5聽Reasons 猫咪AV Volunteers Make the Bay Area a Better Place

1. Volunteers drive student impact –聽Volunteers are working one-on-one with 1,500 students this year in the Bay Area to help deliver meaningful results for kids (last year, 85% of 猫咪AV鈥� Kindergarten through second-grade students in the SF Bay Area mastered key foundational reading skills needed to read at grade level).

2. By promoting educational equity, volunteers strengthen the broader community –聽Everyone benefits in the long run when student literacy achievement is bolstered. Students who don鈥檛 read proficiently by fourth grade are four times more likely to drop out of school. It鈥檚 estimated that every student who walks out of the classroom without a diploma costs our society $260,000 in lost earnings, taxes, and productivity.

3. Volunteers serve as a resource multiplier –聽Because 猫咪AV engages so many community volunteers in their work, the program is more affordable for schools to implement than other literacy interventions. For every dollar invested in 猫咪AV, the program delivers more than $2 in resources to students.

4. Volunteers support strong public schools –聽Thanks to the involvement of 1,650 community tutors in the Bay Area, 99% of teachers report 猫咪AV is valuable to their school and 86% of principals report improved school-wide reading progress.

5. Volunteers help bring joy to learning –聽Students feed off of the energy and excitement of 猫咪AV鈥� volunteer tutors. In the Bay Area, 92% of volunteers are satisfied with their tutoring experience and that enthusiasm helps students develop a lifelong love of reading that is key to success in school and beyond.

A Novel Night Spring Benefit on Wednesday, May 9

On May 9, Bay Area 猫咪AV volunteer tutors and supporters will gather for an evening of books, cocktails, food, and friends at the annual spring benefit:聽. The evening will feature a keynote conversation with Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl. Kate and Miriam are the Bay Area educators and activists behind the New York Times best-selling books,听Rad Women Worldwide听补苍诲听Rad American Women A-Z, and the forthcoming聽Rad Girls Can.

To learn more about the A Novel Night, visit our聽聽or reach out to聽michelle.collier@readingpartners.org. To become a volunteer with 猫咪AV, please visit聽听迟辞诲补测.

猫咪AV volunteers work one-on-one with students. (Photo credit: 猫咪AV)

About 猫咪AV

猫咪AV empowers students to succeed in reading and in life by engaging community volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring. Since its founding, the national nonprofit organization has provided聽, individualized literacy tutoring to nearly 45,000 elementary school students in under-resourced schools across ten states and the District of Columbia. Visit聽to learn more about our聽, or connect with us on聽,听,, and聽.