AVID Readers is a grassroots literacy program.
We recruit volunteers from the community to read books with children.
We believe that by modeling reading in the home, school and community,
and tutoring those who struggle with learning to read through
literacy based activities, we can dramatically increase
the likelihood of a child becoming an avid reader
and a lifelong learner.

Nearly 200 volunteers are reading with 400 children at 10 child care centers here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Youth and adult volunteers share their passion for books on a weekly basis as part of AVID Readers. This program was developed in response to the need for early literacy outreach. According to the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress, 38 percent of fourth graders across the nation cannot read at grade level. Research shows that 75 percent of children who read poorly at the end of third grade never become successful readers (National Education Assoc.) Thus, a future is possible where 29 percent of adults cannot read at a functioning level as compared with the current average of 21 percent.

"To lay the foundation for reading successfully and to develop strong language skills, children need to be read to beginning at birth." (National Research Council's Report on Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, 1998)

"These are all our children.
We will all profit by, and pay for,
whatever they become."
James Baldwin