THERE IS HOPE!

Research reveals that children living in poverty who read proficiently by the end of the third grade have an 89% graduation rate!

Many Thanks to Our Amazing Volunteers!

36

Schools

2022–2023

695

Volunteers

Served 2022–23

648

Students

Coached 2022–23

31,244

Books

Given 2022–23

31

Community
Partners

Our Challenge

39%

of Memphis children live in poverty and are, on average, THREE grade levels behind their more affluent peers in reading.

66%

of students not reading on grade level by 4th grade will likely be incarcerated or need welfare.

61%

of students in low-income families have NO books in the home.

Our Solution

We train volunteers in a simple sight word approach to work with 2nd-grade students in our partner schools.

Our volunteers commit to serve for 1 hour a week, from September to April, coaching students one-on-one.

We provide every 2nd-grader in ARISE2Read schools with 8 – 10 brand-new books each year. Why? Because research shows that children living in poverty who are reading on grade level by 3rd grade have an 89% graduation rate!

Our Results

In 2022-2023, ARISE2Read students gained an average of 346 words or 3.5-grade levels of growth. Only 12% of students pre-tested on grade level. Post-test results revealed that 69% of our students were on grade level for a

478% increase

in students reading on sight word grade level.

A comparative analysis of 2nd-grade students in ten ARISE2Read partner schools who pre-tested below grade level revealed that 66% of ARISE2Read students were on grade level at the post-test, compared to 15% of students not in ARISE2Read.

Save a Child. Save a Family. Save a City.

2/3

of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of the fourth grade will likely be incarcerated or need government assistance. 

13:1

In middle income neighborhoods the ratio of books per child is 13:1; in low income neighborhoods, the ratio is 1 age-appropriate book for every 300 children.

61%

of low-income families have no books at all in their homes for their children.

Learn How to Get Involved

All it takes is one hour a week to help change a child’s life!