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
July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023
Dear Valued Supporters of Read With Me Volunteer Programs,
We are thrilled to share some incredible milestones and achievements that your unwavering support has helped us
accomplish this year. In the 2022–2023 academic year, we had the privilege of impacting the lives of 14,500 students, a
testament to the profound difference we can make together.
Our dedicated team of 600 volunteers invested over 14,000 hours in tutoring more than 4,800 students. In addition, we
distributed a staggering 35,281 books, worth $98,562, to foster a love for reading among our students.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude for the growth of our staff and for your continued support. We are excited to announce
our new partnership with the Riverside County Office of Education, reinforcing the significance of our mission. They are
providing invaluable support to our Executive Director, enabling us to reach even greater heights.
One remarkable achievement is the data analysis of 933 students at CVUSD. Students tutored by RWM Volunteers
demonstrated an impressive overall improvement of 13%, while those without volunteers saw an improvement of 8%. It’s
noteworthy that students tutored by RWM Volunteers scored on average 66% higher than their peers.
None of this would have been possible without your generosity and belief in our cause. Together, we are transforming
the lives of countless young learners and fostering a brighter future through literacy. We look forward to your continued
support as we embark on new challenges and opportunities in the year ahead.
With heartfelt thanks,
Roberta Klein
To read the rest of the 2022-2023 Annual Report, click here.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SgAHzl7OtfkTiGlCfRXSvpjSVCULRgu4/view