Nonprofit funder GreenLight Fund Greater Newark today announced a $600,000 investment to help improve literacy by bringing Reading Partners’ successful program model to Greater Newark. Reading Partners is a national nonprofit that has been mobilizing communities across the nation for 25 years to provide students with the proven, individualized reading support they need to read at grade level by fourth grade.

“Data has shown us that Newark is experiencing a literacy crisis, and this was confirmed during our community conversations tour where we heard from hundreds of residents that this is a critical issue for us to address,” said GreenLight Fund Greater Newark Executive Director Tish Johnson-Jones, JD. “As a new school year starts and we mark National Literacy Month, GreenLight Fund Greater Newark is excited to announce that we will be bringing Reading Partners’ proven program model to Newark to help improve literacy. By recruiting and training community members to provide one-on-one literacy tutoring, we will help strengthen reading skills and set our young people up for lifelong success.”

The need to address literacy gaps in Newark is urgent. According to the 2023 New Jersey State Learning Assessments (NJSLA) exam, only 23% of students in Newark are reading at grade level. Third grade is a pivotal year for reading proficiency, and research shows that reading at grade level by third grade is essential for educational development and is indicative of later success in life. According to the 2023 NJLSA exam, the percentage of Newark third grade students reading on grade level remained stagnant at 19%, compared to the statewide average of 42%.

GreenLight Fund Greater Newark’s investment in the Reading Partners program was informed by a year-long selection process conducted in partnership with the local Selection Advisory Council (SAC), a diverse group of talented residents, leaders and experts from various fields. Through the process, GreenLight Fund Greater Newark identified literacy as a critical need in the community that is at the root cause of other inequities. After searching the country, the SAC selected Reading Partners based on their proven track record addressing this need.

“Newark is joining the many communities who have successfully mobilized tutors to help improve early literacy skills and support positive outcomes for our young people through individualized instruction,” said Adeola Whitney, CEO, Reading Partners. “Reading Partners has activated tens of thousands of supporters across the nation who believe, like we do, that reading is a civil right. Newark is not alone in this challenge of inequity in our education system, and we look forward to partnering with the Newark community to recruit tutors to help improve literacy rates and close the opportunity gap.”

Reading Partners will work with schools and community organizations in Newark to empower them to implement the evidence based program within their communities to support student learning. To do so, over the next four years, Reading Partners will help recruit paid and unpaid tutors who will deliver personalized literacy instruction (in-person and online) to an estimated 4,500 students and facilitate family literacy workshops for 3,700 families. The goal is that over 80% of students engaged will reach their annual literacy goals.

Since 1999, Reading Partners has delivered high-quality, one-on-one literacy tutoring to the communities they serve, conducting nearly 3 million individualized tutoring sessions, mobilizing over 85,000 community volunteers to serve as tutors, reaching 80,000 elementary school students and working with over 550 public schools. Reading Partners’ impact is clear: In the 2023-24 school year, 91% of K-2 Reading Partners students and 87% of all Reading Partners students met or exceeded their primary literacy growth goal.

“Reading well from an early age is instrumental to ensuring we all have the skills we need to succeed in school, employment and life,” said Mark Comesañas, Executive Director, My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Newark. “MBK Newark believes that all children should be reading at grade level by third grade because that is the time in which reading to learn – not just learning to read – becomes essential. Bringing Reading Partners to Newark will help us collectively continue to advance the research that shows interventions in key moment’s during a young person’s life can have the greatest impact and be predictive of later success.”

GreenLight Fund Greater Newark will be hosting a conversation with community members about early literacy later this month, offering engagement resources to families later this year, and will be sharing details about how community members can sign up to provide tutoring services next year.