READ 718 Launches Indiegogo Campaign: New Nonprofit Focused on Literacy Tutoring for 3-8th Grade Students in Brooklyn, NY

BROOKLYN, NY--(Marketwired - May 12, 2015) -  READ 718 announced the launch of an Indiegogo campaign, to raise funds for its personalized reading instruction program for low-income students in Brooklyn, NY, to improve literacy rates. Nonprofit READ 718 provides individualized reading instruction and literacy mentorship to Brooklyn's low-income children in grades 3-8, who are reading below grade level. To donate, go to http://igg.me/at/read718.

In Brooklyn, 75% of low-income 3-8 graders are reading below grade level, according to the 2014 English Language Arts test results. And, 70% of students entering high school are not proficient in reading.

"READ 718 intends to close our community's literacy gap, with personal, personalized reading instruction," said Emily Kirven, founder of READ 718 and a former language arts teacher. "It has been a fantastic few months, and now we need more funding so READ 718 can thrive and grow in the next year, and help more struggling students on the path to literacy."

READ 718 was founded in Jan. 2015 by Emily Kirven, a former public school English teacher in Brooklyn. She created READ 718 to address a problem she'd experienced firsthand: many of her middle school students were reading below grade level. These students needed more targeted support than she was able to give as a classroom teacher. And, besides, her training as a secondary English instructor had not prepared her to strategically address these students' needs. Emily returned to Teachers College at Columbia University to become a reading specialist, with the goal of opening READ 718.

READ 718 exists because strong reading skills are essential to success in high school and beyond. Many students simply need added support to achieve these necessary skills and they need this support well before entering high school. READ 718 believes that all children deserve to be given the support they need, but by the 5th grade, students often receive little to no explicit reading instruction in the classroom.