South San Francisco, CA March 14, 2019
PREFACE: Reading Partners San Francisco Bay Area, an early literacy nonprofit dedicated to mobilizing community volunteers to provide 1:1 tutoring to students in under-resourced schools in the SF Bay Area is celebrating its 20th school year of support. On Wednesday, March 20, the nonprofit is hosting a benefit (Kristi Yamaguchi giving keynote) to raise awareness and funds to support children’s literacy in the community. The need is staggering– 65 percent of San Francisco’s 3rd-grade students in under-resourced schools are reading behind grade level, and in Oakland, this number jumps to 83 percent.
The region is in need of 385 more tutors to reach its goal of serving 1,550 students who are reading below grade level spanning kindergarten through fourth in 32 schools.
Reading Partners tutors and students (Photo credit: Reading Partners)
Further, please note that Spruce Elementary School in South San Francisco is a beneficiary of this program, so it does touch us locally. Read more about our local school’s success CLICK HERE
Nonprofit celebrates 20 years of engaging communities and empowering students
Reading Partners San Francisco Bay Area will host ‘A Novel Night’ on Wednesday, March 20 at the Julia Morgan Ballroom to celebrate the organization’s 20 year anniversary and raise critical awareness and funds to support children’s literacy in the community.
“The need is staggering– 65 percent of San Francisco’s 3rd-grade students in under-resourced schools are reading behind grade level, and in Oakland, this number jumps to 83 percent,” says Aarika Riddle, Reading Partners SF Bay Area Senior Executive Director. “Events like ‘A Novel Night’ help us harness the power of community and volunteerism to turn these numbers around, promote educational equity and work toward closing the achievement gap, all of which help create a brighter future for our youth and community.”
The benefit will bring community members together for an evening of literary fun with exclusive auction items, cocktails, and food. Highly anticipated auction items include a Warriors playoffs ticket package at Oracle Arena, a dinner for 10 with renowned local chef Cal Peternell of Chez Panisse, a Hawaiian getaway, an “instant cellar” of wine and more. Programming will feature appearances from a Reading Partners student, tutor, and principal in addition to a keynote conversation between Olympic Gold Medalist, children’s author and literacy champion, Kristi Yamaguchi and NBC Bay Area anchor Jessica Aguirre
This school year alone, Reading Partners SF Bay Area aims to serve 1,550 students who are reading below grade level spanning grades kindergarten through fourth in 32 under-resourced schools. More than 1,690 community volunteers are mobilized each week to provide one-on-one literacy tutoring support through Reading Partners effective, evidence-based curriculum. As a result, 81 percent of local students(and nearly 9 of 10 K-2 students) are mastering foundational literacy skills needed to read at grade level.
Tickets to A Novel Night are available to the public and can be purchased at https://readingpartners.org/
When: Wednesday, March 20, 2019 6:00PM-9:00PM
Times are approximate:
7:30pm Welcome from CEO Karine Apollon and Board Chair Dan Carroll
7:35pm Keynote on the literacy landscape: Kristi Yamaguchi/Jessica Aguirre
7:50pm SFBA Executive Director Aarika Riddle
7:55pm Tutor and student speech
8:00pm Principal Darren Kawaii
8:05pm Auction
8:15pm Student video
8:18pm Auction
8:28pm SFBA Executive Director Aarika Riddle
Tickets:
Individual tickets are $150 and group ticket packages range from $1,000-$15,000
Available for purchase at https://readingpartners.org/
Where:
The Julia Morgan Ballroom
465 California St, San Francisco, CA
Photo opps/visuals: Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi, live-auction, Reading Partners student speech, Reading Partners video of a student’s perspective, wine ring toss game, 20th anniversary visual/timeline.
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Spokespersons will be available for pre and post interviews at [7:00- 7:30pm or after 8:30pm]. Stations or outlets requesting individual interviews or on-site filming should contact Aarika Riddle in advance, aarika.riddle@readingpartners.
org, 650-644-9156
About Reading Partners
For 20 years, Reading Partners has empowered students to succeed in reading and in life by engaging community volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring. Since its founding, the national nonprofit organization has mobilized nearly 55,000 community volunteers to provide proven, individualized literacy tutoring to more than 50,000 elementary school students in under-resourced schools across ten states and the District of Columbia. Visit readingpartners.org to learn more about our program impact, or connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter