NBME has always looked for ways to be involved with the local community. In 2008, a staff member suggested the company participate in the Philadelphia READS’ “Power Partners” program, which matches socially conscious organizations with children from Philadelphia classrooms for one-on-one literacy coaching sessions that run from October through May of each school year. During weekly visits to NBME, these children receive both academic support and exposure to positive adult role models.
Since that time, NBME volunteers have worked with a number of different schools. Volunteers become reading coaches for the program and are given the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with a child. In addition to reading books, the coaches get to know the child they are partnered with, sharing information about the world, their own lives, and common topics of interest. This one-on-one interaction helps the students to gain confidence as their reading level increases.
“When you have a breakthrough with your reading partner, it is really rewarding,” says Jesse Delaney, a senior case developer for NBME. “Sometimes that breakthrough is as simple as finding a topic the student enjoys and tailoring the reading list to that interest. Other times, it is seeing a student flawlessly and effortlessly read a word aloud that he or she struggled with earlier in the year.”
Pat Callahan, program support specialist for Philadelphia READS, says that the program allows the children to interact with positive role models and experience authentic volunteerism in the workplace. The students value their time with their reading partners, with teachers noting that attendance seems to be highest on the days when they are scheduled to participate in the program. NBME staff members are equally excited on those days and take great joy in making a difference in a young person’s life.
Philadelphia READS is a child literacy nonprofit program with a mission of providing access to books and community programs to foster a love of reading and increase literacy in Philadelphia. NBME is proud to be a part of a program that generates and encourages the love of reading in Philadelphia.
