When an adult reads aloud to a child, both parties have a joyful, rewarding experience that instills a love of reading, improves literacy skills, and enhances a child’s well-being.

Read to a Child’s model is based on the premise that a love of reading is a driver of opportunity for children throughout their lifetime. A caring connection with a reading mentor helps to facilitate the attention, engagement, and confidence that all children need to thrive.

In measurable studies comparing children who participated in the Read Aloud Mentoring Program with those who didn’t, the numbers were overwhelmingly clear. In just the first year of participating in the Read Aloud Mentoring Program alone, nearly every child—98%—improved in the one of more of the following areas: vocabulary, listening comprehension, ability to articulate thoughts, self-confidence, enthusiasm for books, reading by choice, critical thinking, exposure to new ideas, people, and places, interest in reading instruction, and overall reading ability.

For a child who struggles with reading, the benefits are many. Improved reading skills have been proven to raise academics across the board. Even classroom behavior and focus improve.

For the volunteer, the benefit is knowing your small time commitment will have a considerable impact on the well-being of a child as well as the enjoyment of the rewarding experience of spending time with a child on a joyful activity.

For the participating organization, the benefit is the ability to contribute to your local communities in a meaningful and measurable way, to provide an opportunity for employee engagement that results in greater employee satisfaction and retention, and to align with a respected non-profit for positive, socially-minded promotional opportunities.

Please take a look at our list of locations. Is there a Read to a Child® program in a location near you? Great! Recommend our program to the appropriate leaders in your company and encourage them to contact our branch office! If there is no program in your area, check out other ways to Get Involved.

We ask Read Aloud Mentoring Program volunteers to commit one lunch hour every week to build a rapport between volunteer and student. To allow schedule flexibility, however, volunteers can partner with a coworker to read with their student on alternate weeks. Because of COVID-19, sharing a child may not be available at all schools.

You can support Read to a Child® in other ways: become a corporate or community supporter, make a tax-deductible donation, make purchases on Amazon.com via this link or just spread the word about Read to a Child to other adults.

First, check to see if your company participates in our program. If so, contact your company point person and tell them that you’d like to make a difference by reading aloud to a child. If not, recommend our program to the appropriate leaders in your organization and suggest they check out our website. If you are not associated with a partnering company, check the main page of our location nearest you to see if volunteering as an individual is an option for you.

We rely on teachers and other school officials from our participating schools to refer students who could most benefit from our program.

Just 20-30 minutes a week is all it takes to help a child become a better reader and student.

Currently, Read to a Child® programs can be found in the greater metropolitan areas of Boston, Hartford, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Miami. If elsewhere, there are other ways to support Read to a Child. Please check our Get Involved page for more ideas.