Read to Succeed awarded $50,000 from Margaret L. Wendt Foundation

Funding will support the ongoing implementation of science-based, data driven literacy programming

Press release 

Read to Succeed (RTS) announced the organization was awarded $50,000 from the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation. The funding will support the ongoing implementation of Read to Succeed’s direct service literacy coaching programs including CARE child care, CARE preschool, high-impact tutoring, and dialogic reading training for families and caregivers.

Building on these programs will strengthen Read to Succeed’s impact on student achievement by creating a coordinated continuum of evidence-based, developmentally appropriate literacy and child development practices for children, and the practitioners who care for and teach them across Western New York from birth through age 8.

“By increasing access to high-quality literacy supports from birth through third grade, Read to Succeed is providing the supports that can level the playing field for economically disadvantaged children, and set them up for academic success, regardless of the ZIP code in which they were born,” Read to Succeed Executive Director Anne Ryan said.

RTS’s continuum of community alignment for reading excellence (CARE) programs is a quality improvement literacy infusion strategy ensuring that the environments where children, primarily economically disadvantaged children, spend the majority of their day: licensed childcare, preschool and the early grades in Buffalo and Niagara Falls are as high quality and literacy rich as possible.

“We are extremely grateful to The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation; their support allows us to expand and enhance our services to where we can have the most significant impact,” Ryan said.

Read to Succeed Inc. began in 2008 in response to the staggering literacy deficits among the citizens of Buffalo. Today, RTS sharpens its focus where it can have the most impact – increasing early childhood literacy and third grade reading scores by preparing children for kindergarten and the early grades through improved exposure to developmentally appropriate, literacy-rich environments wherever they are, including childcare, preschool, public school, or home with a parent or caregiver. The nonprofit organization works to develop models for improving literacy that create systemic change in how the community prepares children for success in school and supports them once they enter public school. 

For more information, visit www.readtosucceedbuffalo.org.