August 30th, 2012 
Calling all volunteers! The United Way of Miami-Dade needs your help. They are recruiting 300 volunteers to become readers at more than 30 early learning centers throughout Miami-Dade County as part of its ReadingPals program.
Photo Credit: United Way of Miami-Dade
Did you know? Research shows that children who are reading on grade level by 4th grade have a better chance of graduating from high school. In Florida, more than a third of 3rd graders in public school cannot read at minimum levels of proficiency.
How it works: Sign up to read to students once a week for 24 weeks, starting the week of Oct. 15.
A $116,000 private grant for each of the next three years from Carol Jenkins Barnett, chairman and president of Publix Super Markets Charities, and Barney Barnett, Publix vice chairman, is helping United Way expand its current volunteer reader program, to engage more volunteers and help more young children improve their literacy skills.
Joining United Way in this ReadingPals initiative are local partners: The Children’s Movement of Florida, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, The Children’s Trust and the Early Learning Coalition.
So what are you waiting for? Sign up to volunteer for the ReadingPals program today. For more information click here and contact the United Way at readingpals@unitedwaymiami.org or 305.646.7021.
Truly an adequate manner of providing for the young people in the community. Unfortunately, it seems as though the youth of this generation have allowed the upgrade in technology to downgrade their academic and intellectual forté; thank goodness for such programs that can offer the new purple lable of reading programs to respark the interest in a necessary attribute of intellectualism.