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
Executive Director Sean Webb
Hello Read With Me Volunteer Program Supporters,
Welcome back for the the 2023-24 school year! I'm excited to share, we have some volunteers already at work with some of our students!!
We had some exciting events take place this summer,RWM was asked to participate in multiple interviews for radio and social media, see the full interviews below.
I was asked by Instructional Services for RCOE to share data about RWM services for the 2022-23 school year and how it supports the County Literacy by 5th grade Initiative.
RWM Board of Directors voted to hold a Literacy Field Day for students scheduled for Spring 2024, more details to follow.
RWM Volunteers was nominated for Palm Desert Area Chamber of Commerce non-profit of the year. Vote for us before 9/15 by going to the link below.
RWM Volunteer, Pat Harris was nominated for Palm Desert Area Chamber of Commerce citizen of the year. You can vote for Pat by going to the link below.
RWM staff met with Riverside County Office of Education Instructional Services to plan our first partnered training scheduled for January 29, 2024 at Southwest Community Church. More details to follow
I look forward to the upcoming school year!
Thank you for all you do!