Reading partners

Reading Partners is a national nonprofit that mobilizes communities to provide students with the proven, individualized reading support they need to read at grade level by fourth grade.

We know that reading is the foundation for all future learning. The ability to read transforms lives and empowers children and communities to reach their full potential. Research shows that students who read at grade level by fourth grade have a greater opportunity to succeed in school and beyond.

That’s why we partner with under-resourced schools and engage volunteer reading partners to work one-on-one with students who struggle with reading. Our volunteers provide hour-long tutoring sessions to students— following a structured, evidence-based curriculum developed with an expert team of curriculum advisors.

North Charleston, SC — April 22, 2020

Reading Partners South Carolina is pleased to announce a challenge gift to support 1,000 young readers through their After the Bell campaign. Now through April 30, supporters have the opportunity to triple their donations, thanks to the generosity of Pam and Michael Wilson and the Reading Partners board. After the Bell provides struggling readers attending high poverty elementary schools in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester Counties with backpacks filled with diverse books and reading activities to help them maintain the reading gains they made before schools closed last month.

Pam Wilson, a longtime Reading Partners tutor, and her husband Michael, approached the literacy nonprofit to offer a challenge gift for the campaign. When After the Bell reaches its goal of $25,000, the couple will fund an additional two hundred backpacks – providing a total of 1,000 students with critical literacy materials at home. Each backpack donation of $125 will also be matched by the Reading Partners board, allowing donors to triple their impact on young readers.

This extended time away from the classroom has devastating impacts on students who are already the most vulnerable to falling behind. Reading Partners is committed to helping students who struggle with reading build a home library and ensure they do not slip backward. The organization is working alongside school administrators to distribute the backpacks in the event that schools do not reopen.

Visit readingpartners.org/south-carolina to donate online before April 30 and help 1,000 Lowcountry students get backpacks filled with books and essential literacy materials.

Thanks to a generous challenge gift from Pam and Michael Wilson, you can help Reading Partners distribute 1,000 reading backpacks to students at risk of falling behind.