History
Started in 2004 at the request of the Coachella Valley Unified School District Superintendent of Schools, Roberta and Clay Klein started a fund at the Desert Community Foundation and asked the pastor of their church for his assistance in recruiting volunteers. Father Howard Lincoln of Sacred Heart Church readily agreed. The District had been using English speaking volunteers to the extent, they could get them to go into the schools in the district that had no English speaking people in the community. Roberta asked the Superintendent if he would provide buses if they could recruit volunteers who were fluent in English through churches and other organizations.
Read With Me was born and now brings volunteers from seven churches to five different schools. The schools are all in areas of high poverty with a majority of the parents untrained in academic English. They love their children but cannot help them with English.
In 2013, Read With Me received a Golden Bell Award for English Acquisition from the California School Board Association. We believe the program is totally replicable in other areas that face similar challenges in providing tutoring and mentoring for disadvantaged children in a classroom setting.
What we do
In the classroom, the teacher assigns individual volunteers to selected students to listen to them read, assisting them with pronunciation and comprehension. The mentor/tutors are typically retired part-time Coachella Valley residents, some with special skills who help specific students go beyond the basic.
Read With Me
Honored with the Golden Bell award for English Acquisition by the California School Board Association and the 2022 GuideStar Silver Seal of Transparency
Volunteer Programs
Event Schedule
2023-2024 Event Schedule
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First Read With Me volunteer training with RCOE Instructional Services
January 29, 2024
At Southwest Community Church, Indian Wells, CA
Exact time and details to be provided in the near future
Read With Me Literacy Field Day for students
April 2 and 3, 2024
(actual name to be determined)
Exact time, location, and details to be provided in the near future
Read With Me Volunteer luncheon at Renaissance Esmeralda
April 16, 2024
Indian Wells
Registration: 11:30 am
Luncheon:12:00 - 1:30 pm