OAKLAND, CA, Nov. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For the second year in a row, Reading Partners has been featured in two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof’s Holiday Impact Prize, supported by Focusing Philanthropy.
Reading Partners mobilizes communities to provide students the support they need to read at grade-level using an evidence-based approach. Since its founding, Reading Partners has delivered more than 2.3 million individualized tutoring sessions (both in person and through its new online tutoring platform, Reading Partners Connects) for nearly 70,000 students. Additional volunteers recruited through the 2021 Holiday Impact Prize will help Reading Partners serve exponentially more students in 2021-22 and in the years to come.
“Over the past 20-plus years, tens of thousands of volunteer tutors have raised their hands to partner one-on-one with our amazing students because they know early literacy leads to success for students and communities alike. And while nearly all volunteers get involved with Reading Partners because of their interest in supporting students, many feel like they ultimately get as much out of the experience as their students,” said Adeola Whitney, CEO of Reading Partners.
This year, the $100,00 grand prize was awarded to Seva Foundation, a global nonprofit eye care organization that works with local communities around the world to develop self-sustaining programs that preserve and restore sight. Two runners up – Per Scholas and Panzi Foundation – each received $25,000. Both Reading Partners and Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America were recognized as volunteer opportunities for readers looking to mentor young people in their communities.
Since 2009, Kristof has written an annual “holiday gift guide” column to highlight little-known organizations working to make the world a better place. He began writing the gift guide to bridge a philanthropic gap: readers who wanted to help but didn’t know how, and mission-driven individuals and organizations who needed resources but were off donors’ radar.
The column has helped raise the profiles of organizations that work on the very issues Kristof covers in his journalism—health, education, human rights and women’s rights, both domestically and abroad.
Focusing Philanthropy—a 501(c)3 nonprofit that finds and funds high-impact, scalable programs in the US and around the world—is providing the platform for this initiative by processing readers’ contributions, monitoring and reporting on results, and replenishing credit card transaction costs of donations made on KristofImpact.org so that 100 cents on the dollar will support the winning organizations.
More information about Nicholas Kristof’s Holiday Impact Prize, this year’s winners, and Focusing Philanthropy can be found at KristofImpact.org.
By giving a gift or tutoring a student one-on-one for about an hour a week through Reading Partners, donors and volunteers can make an impact that can quite literally alter the course of a child’s educational experience and beyond.
About Reading Partners
For over 20 years, Reading Partners has helped empower students to succeed in school and beyond by engaging community volunteers to provide one-on-one literacy tutoring. Since its founding, the national nonprofit organization has mobilized over 70,000 community volunteers to provide proven, individualized literacy tutoring to nearly 70,000 elementary school students in over 450 under-resourced schools across ten states and the District of Columbia. Visit readingpartners.org to learn more about our program impact and our Reading Partners Connects online program innovation, or connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Reading Partners is a proud AmeriCorps service partner.
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