Read Alliance COVID-19 Response Fund
Dear Supporters, Friends, and Family of Read Alliance,
Our commitment to remain connected to you holds true now, more than ever.
During this time of uncertainty and change, one thing remains clear: it is the power of connections that has built Read Alliance, and it is the power of connections that will sustain us through this crisis.
At the time Read Alliance programming abruptly ended with the closure of schools on March 13, 2020, we were employing 670 teen leaders across the 5 boroughs, and paying between $55,000 and $65,000 in teen wages each month.
We know the great majority of Teen Leaders live in low-income communities and are members of families who have been disproportionately impacted by lost wages during this crisis. Many teens tell us their Read Alliance income contributes to their household, helping purchase their own school supplies, groceries, and clothing during typical programming periods. Now, during this crisis, the teens’ wages are even more critical.
When the crisis hit, Read Alliance pivoted rapidly and immediately focused efforts on creating a Response Fund to help support Teen Leaders by paying them to participate in new, virtual learning opportunities while our typical programming is suspended.
For those who are able to contribute to our Response Fund, we invite your support at this time. Please click here.
The READ program staff has mobilized to tap into existing relationships with expert nonprofit partners, corporate partners, and city agencies to successfully implement a wide range of learning opportunities for our teens focusing on college and career readiness, essay writing, financial literacy, leadership development, civic engagement, and more.
READ teens have written blogs and essays about their experiences as tutors, as well as their experience living through this crisis. Excerpts can be found here.
The READ team is doing everything we can to provide as much compensation to our teens as possible, along with meaningful program content. We want to ensure their learning and personal development continues. Another important by-product of this programming is the teens’ consistent connection to one another, and to us...and ensuring their learning and personal development continues.
READ is also actively transitioning our effective program model to a virtual space; a model that has been effective in improving reading skills for thousands of children for 20 years, and is founded in the magic of in-person, one-on-one, near-peer pairings of trained teen leaders and lower elementary students from the same communities. You can learn more here.
Please also refer to our COVID-19 Resource Center which is regularly updated with resources and activities for children, teens, families, and educators. If you would like to contribute to our COVID-19 Response Fund, please click here.
We wish you peace and good health, and look forward to when we can see each other again!
In partnership,
Danielle
Executive Director