Lucia Rutter

Read Ahead’s reading-based mentoring develops in students the social-emotional skills essential for academic and life-long success. Since 1991, Read Ahead (formerly Everybody Wins! NY) has matched volunteer mentors from premier corporate and community partners with New York City students at nearby public elementary schools for one-on-one reading-based mentoring. Research shows that mentoring has a wealth of benefits to children—especially those from high-need backgrounds—but unfortunately those students who may benefit most are also least likely to have a mentor in their lives. Read Ahead’s unique model leverages corporate resources and talent, and capitalizes on the power of a shared reading experience between a child and a caring adult. Through the over 17,000 lunchtime sessions held annually, our students develop confidence in their abilities, motivation to learn, and the skills needed to thrive in school and beyond. During the 2018-19 school year, we are partnering with 15 elementary schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens to reach 1,000+ students through our weekly reading-based mentoring program. In Read Ahead partner schools, nearly 70% of students are included in the New York City Department of Education’s (NYC DOE) “Poverty Count,” which means their families qualify for free or reduced price lunch and/or Human Resources Administration (HRA) benefits. We are proud of our strong track record of success, with 98% of the partner teachers in our most recent program year (2017-18) stating that they were likely or highly likely to recommend Read Ahead to a colleague.