Read to a Child® receives “Above and Beyond” Community Partner Award from BNY Mellon

For Immediate Release

Read to a Child^® receives “Above and Beyond”
Community Partner Award from BNY Mellon

Mayor Marty Walsh, BNY Mellon employees and select non-profits receive BNY Mellon awards for outstanding service to greater Boston’s underserved communities

WELLESLEY, MA, November 2 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Read to a Child Inc., a national nonprofit that inspires adults to regularly read aloud to low-income elementary school students, announced today that it has received an Above and Beyond award from BNY Mellon for being an outstanding community partner.  With this award, presented to only two nonprofits in New England, Read to a Child was recognized for its work engaging BNY Mellon employees and for inspiring philanthropic support to improve literacy and self-confidence in children from underserved communities across the region.

At the event in the financial district, BNY Mellon New England executives also presented awards to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, select BNY Mellon employees, and nonprofit partners Cradles to Crayons, Lovin’ Spoonfuls, and Silver Lining Mentoring for their efforts in service to greater Boston.

BNY Mellon has partnered with Read to a Child since 2004 and has regularly provided grants, event support and employee volunteers to support the nonprofit’s mission.  In addition to having employees serve on the Read to a Child Boston advisory board and event host committees, 60 BNY Mellon employees across 4 regional locations currently volunteer with Read to a Child in low-income elementary schools.  Read to a Child’s mission is to increase children’s success in reading and in life by inspiring adults to read to them regularly.

“BNY Mellon is proud of our longstanding partnership with Read to a Child and extremely pleased to recognize an organization so deserving of our Above and Beyond award,” said Joannie Jaxtimer, Regional Executive, BNY Mellon.  “Their mission to improve literacy skills, self-confidence and a love of reading in underserved children resonates with our employees and dovetails with our philanthropic priorities. Not only do we strongly believe that supporting literacy in underserved populations is extremely important for the broader community, but our employees also benefit greatly from their time spent with the students.”

“BNY Mellon supports numerous charities through philanthropic efforts and employee engagement and should be applauded as a stellar example of corporate citizenship,” said Paul Lamoureux, CEO of Read to a Child. “We simply could not serve the large numbers of struggling students that we do without large scale corporate engagement and funding, and BNY Mellon New England and its caring employees have consistently stepped up to the plate to help children in at-risk communities.”

Read to a Child’s flagship lunchtime reading program pairs struggling, low-income elementary school children with adult reading mentors for weekly one-on-one read aloud sessions. Regular time spent with a caring adult instills a love of reading and improves both literacy skills and self-confidence in students. With programs in Greater Boston, Connecticut, Detroit, Los Angeles and Miami, Read to a Child serves more than 1,150 urban students and 1,400 volunteers from more than 100 corporations.  Assessments indicate that 93% of students improve in literacy and/or socio-emotional skills and 99% of volunteers would recommend the program. For more information visit www.readtoachild.org.

Read to a Child contact:  Amelie Ansari, Development and Communications Manager,
781-489-5910. amelie.ansari@readtoachild.org.