The powerful and productive connection that our teens and readers forge inspires me – they’re incredible! Our teens are creative, caring and committed to making a difference. Our young readers are just discovering the world and its many wonders. Working together on reading, they each grow. Readers develop needed skills and advance their proficiency, measurably. The teens gain specific and valuable insights and life skills through their tutoring work. Given all the concerns of challenging times, these youth give me energy, every day. My work is all about ensuring we don’t inadvertently limit their potential and instead support them in every way we can to accomplish meaningful, impactful work, together.

Team Read believes that all kids deserve to be great readers, and that teens should have access to meaningful paid jobs. We serve 2nd-4th graders, focusing on high-poverty public schools. We employ 8th-12th graders from neighboring public middle and high schools to serve as reading coaches during the school year and summer. Through one-on-one tutoring pairs, young readers improve their reading skills and gain confidence and joy in reading, while teen coaches gain critical life and work skills. Our unique, cross-age reading tutoring program has dual impact - both sets of students to grow and generate exponential benefit for our schools and our communities.