Provide lunchtime reading mentors to 1,000 at-risk youth in 14 citiesEverybody Wins! USA

Every day, low-income students fall farther behind their more affluent peers in reading and thousands of low-income students drop out of school. Our nation's future depends on our children's education. Their education depends on literacy. Reading aloud with children is the single most important activity for helping them become successful readers. By bringing volunteer mentors into schools for weekly one-on-one reading experiences, Everybody Wins! can help bridge the literacy gap. We will expand our school-based Power Lunch literacy and mentoring program by recruiting 1,000 adults as reading mentors to 1,000 at-risk youth on waiting lists in 14 communities. For 25 weeks during the school year, volunteers from the local community read books aloud to the same child and share conversation for 40-minute sessions. The Everybody Wins! equation is simple - one mentor, one child, one book at a time - but has a profound impact on a child’s reading-related skills and self-esteem.