Reading Partners was founded in 1999 by three Menlo Park community members with the vision that all children will have reading skills needed to reach their full potential.

The program was first lunched in Belle Haven Elementary School in Menlo Park, and now encompasses 15 schools both in the Bay Area and Los Angeles County in California. The budget, which comes from grants and donations stood on $1.9M in 2009.

The Reading Partners program focuses on children from low income backgrounds, who are struggling to read. Teachers from partner schools refer K-6 students, who are struggling with reading, to the program, where they will receive one-on-tutoring. These 45-minute tutoring sessions take place twice a week and are offered by volunteers who follow a structured curriculum, developed by education specialists.

Reading Partners mission is to help children become lifelong readers by empowering communities to provide individualized instruction with measurable results.

On average, students participating in Reading Partners jump an entire grade level in reading skills after only 25 torturing sessions.

Pre and post-assessments showed that participating students progress at a rate of 1.75 years for every year in school. Furthermore, teachers report that the students gain confidence which enables them to participate in class and read aloud.