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
DeAnn Lubell of DCN News
Original article can be read here.
Read With Me Volunteers (RWMV) – a local 501c3 nonprofit, whose mission is to assist local school children from low income, limited English speaking environments develop to their fullest potential improved reading skills, as well as to comprehend and speak better English – is pleased to announce the appointment of Sean Webb as its new Executive Director.
Mr. Webb grew up in Western New York and graduated from the University of Buffalo, later earning his master’s degrees from D’Youville College and CSU San Bernardino. He has over 20 years of experience as a teacher, assistant principal, district administrator, and community supporter. His dedication to children and their education has always been a top priority to Webb. Most recently, he was director of the Desert Sands School District’s Community Engagement and Education Foundation. His motivational skills, along with being an accomplished fundraiser, grant writer, and community leader have helped enhance the lives of many students in the Coachella Valley
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“In choosing Sean,” said Executive Board Member, Dan Giovannitti, “our board felt that he will lead and grow RWMV as he has helped direct the community engagement at Desert Sands, while increasing the funding raised for the foundation and establishing new programs. Sean’s appointment is part of a larger transition in leadership and management for our organization. Beginning this year, RWMV created a partnership with the Riverside County Office of Education to set the stage for the expansion of our missions. As part of that partnership, Sean becomes an employee of the RCOE dedicated to RWMV programs. We are confident that Sean will assure that our organization will remain a leader in helping kids learn to read for years to come.”
Sean lives in La Quinta with his wife, Tara, and daughter, Brooklyn.
For more information about Read With Me Volunteers please go to www.readwithmevolunteers.com