Hartford Jewish Coalition for Literacy

“I am so grateful for all of the mentors and people that…have been involved with my students. Your dedication, time, effort has paid in more than reading gains. Self-esteem, vocabulary, language development and motivation are a few areas where I have seen them grow. I can’t thank you enough.”   ~ Teacher, Lincoln School, New Britain

The Hartford Jewish Coalition for Literacy's (HJCL) mission is to increase childhood literacy and community volunteerism by recruiting and training weekly reading mentors to read with at-risk children in Greater Hartford public schools. Created in response to President Clinton’s America Reads Challenge, HJCL trains and places volunteers as reading mentors for students who are at risk for not being at reading level by the fourth grade. Volunteers read at one of twelve schools in the Greater Hartford area.

The Hartford Jewish Coalition for Literacy currently has three programs:

• Elementary Express: Volunteers read with at-risk K-3 students for 30 minutes a week. Sessions are held with the same child each week, at the school, and during the school day for the entire school year.
• ReadingBuddies: Middle school students from Solomon Schechter Day School and Hebrew Academy read one-on-one with children in Hartford and Bloomfield during the spring.
• Preschool Pals: Volunteers read with pre-school children at the Bloomfield Early Learning Center. Due to the availability of reading times both during the school day and late afternoon, this program has become a popular volunteer opportunity for middle and high school students

By the end of the 2010-2011 school year, HJCL’s 13th year, volunteers had conducted over 64,000 reading sessions with more than 3,800 children.  Over 4,300 brand new books have been donated to the students participating in our program. After receiving a book and enjoying it with his reading mentor, one student said, "I'm going to read this book every day, keep it until I'm grown up and then I'm going to give it to my son."

School staff say:

•  “Our students directly benefit from the dedication of the HJCL tutors and we feel very fortunate to be included in the scope of their work.”
•  “We are so happy to have the volunteers. They enjoy coming here, the kids love them, I love them!”
• “Our teachers love and respect the dedication of their volunteers, and look forward to their weekly visits!”
•  “We at Laurel School sincerely appreciate our partnership with HJCL. We look forward to many more years working together to enrich the lives of Bloomfield’s most precious asset, the children.”

Volunteers say:

• “It’s about reading, but it’s also about special one-on-one time with an interested, non-judgmental adult, and that seems very reaffirming and empowering for the child.”
•  “The tutoring this year has gone very well. I’ve seen progress from the two students I work with, the school has been supportive of our efforts, and I get the feeling that I can really make a difference just by being with and taking an interest in these two youngsters.”
• “I ran into the former teacher of one of my students. She said, “You made a big difference in his [the student’s] life. He’s a good kid and an achiever. A great deal of it is that he can read.”
• “This is my second year reading with E. and when I saw him at our first session this year, I said, “Are you glad I’m back?” He said, “I prayed and prayed that you’d be here – and you’re here!”

HJCL is a program of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford and is an affiliate of the National Jewish Coalition for Literacy. Major funding is provided by the Jewish Community Foundation, SBM Charitable Foundation, and the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Fund and the Samuel Roskin Trust at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

For more information, contact Risa Sugarman, Director at (860) 236-READ (7323).