May 21, 2014 – Greenwich United Way Reading Champions Complete 6^th Year

Greenwich United Way’s Reading Champions is wrapping up its 6^th year of volunteer tutoring at eight local elementary schools plus the Byram Archibald Neighborhood Center, Community Centers After-School Homework Club at Julian Curtiss, and the Boys and Girls Club.  Just over 400 students worked individually on a weekly basis with one of Reading Champions 112 trained tutors.

Reading Champions is a United Way Youth Services Council and Greenwich Public Schools program.  Its tutors are all volunteers who work individually with students each week, helping them develop and improve their reading skills.  They focus on fluency, reading comprehension, vocabulary and word use.  Recognition ceremonies, where each child is presented a Certificate of Excellence, a non-fiction book for summer reading, and a Reading Champions Gold Medal are taking place all month.

The Public Schools reading specialists report a 96% success rate of children completing the year of tutoring and meeting reading proficiency goals.

The Greenwich Rotary Club and the Women’s Fellowship of the First Congregational Church of Old Greenwich remain loyal financial sponsors of this program. It is additionally supported by the United Way and community partners including the Department of Social Services, and the Boys and Girls Club.

All tutors must participate in training that is conducted by school Literacy Specialists. The program is always in need of additional volunteers.  Contact Youth Services Coordinator Jenny Byxbee at Greenwich United Way, jbyxbee@unitedway-greenwich.com or go to www.unitedway-greenwich.org.\

Cos Cob Reading Champions “graduates” made the spirited Thank You poster for their tutors. It was presented to coordinator Joan Lowe by Fran Williams, Literacy Specialist at Cos Cob School who added, “Thank you United Way Reading Champions tutors, for all your hard work. It has been a wonderful experience for so many Cos Cob students. They keep telling me how much they love the program and hope that can do it again next year!”