Jennifer's North Texas Giving Day Fundraiser

This North Texas Giving Day feels a little different for me.

After many years with Reading Partners, this past year has given me a new perspective on an organization I thought I already knew pretty well. Stepping into the Executive Director role last spring has been one of the most rewarding—and challenging—chapters of my time here.

Leading a nonprofit means navigating a lot of uncertainty. Schools change. Funding landscapes shift. Plans you’ve spent months building sometimes have to be rebuilt. There have certainly been moments this year when I’ve wondered, “How are we going to figure this one out?”

But through all of that change, I’ve found myself coming back to the things that make Reading Partners special.

The power of community. Volunteers who show up week after week. AmeriCorps Volunteers and staff who pour themselves into this work. School partners, donors, board members, and community partners who believe helping children become strong readers is something we can—and should—do together.

The impact of individualized instruction. Before Reading Partners, I was a reading teacher, and I still believe deeply in what can happen when a child gets focused instruction that meets them exactly where they are. I’ve watched students build skills, confidence, and an entirely different sense of what they are capable of.

And the urgency of literacy. At our 12 partner schools this year, only an average of 35% of students were reading at grade level at the end of third grade. That means about two out of every three were NOT reading at grade level and face an uphill battle to get there. These are children who deserve the time, instruction, and support they need to become strong readers.

The details of how and where we do this work may evolve, but the reason we do it doesn't. Reading changes what is possible for a child.

This year has reminded me that our strength isn't simply a program or a curriculum. It's a community of people committed to the idea that every child deserves the opportunity to become a lifelong reader. That commitment has powered Reading Partners through change, and it has powered me through some of the hardest moments of leadership.

This North Texas Giving Day, I hope you'll be part of that community. Your support helps us keep showing up, adapting, and doing what we do best: helping more North Texas students become confident, capable readers.