READ USA had a record response to our call for teen tutors for the summer tutoring session! We were so impressed by the more than 700 local teens who applied to be trained and paid as tutors during Summer 2023.

READ USA currently has funding to hire around 200 teen tutors, who will tutor nearly 800 elementary students this summer at public elementary schools across Duval County. Imagine if we could hire all 700 teens – we’d be able to tutor up to 2,800 elementary students! With supporters like you, together we can close the literacy gap even further and solve illiteracy in our community!

On Monday and Tuesday this week, as well as this coming Saturday and Sunday, READ USA trained and prepared teen tutors and teacher coordinators for the summer tutoring session. The training covers everything from lesson structure to implementation, best practices, motivating student focus and engagement, and other topics to ensure our teens can hit the ground running!

Multiple community partners also routinely participate in READ USA’s training sessions, and we are so grateful for the following organizations and individuals who shared highly valuable insights to help set our teen tutors up for tutoring, educational, and future career success:

• Hope Street’s Jacquelyn Green and Robin Staley conducted a three-hour training on Trust-Based Relational Intervention^®, an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the needs of all children, and especially the complex needs of children who have experienced trauma. The root of this training is to help teens form trust-based connections with students that is aware of and responsive to each student’s unique background.
• VyStar Credit Union’s Marc Streebel addressed a variety of financial education topics for students to learn how to manage their newly earned paychecks, manage bank accounts, and other financial topics as part of READ USA’s focus on facilitating workforce development skills.
• City Year’s Warren Buck discussed the opportunity for READ USA’s teen tutors, 18 years of age and older, to join City Year this fall for one year of service as a paid AmeriCorps member with benefits and a scholarship to use for next steps in their career. READ USA trains and coaches teens to tutor young children in reading, which makes City Year the perfect next step where teens can use the workforce development skills and education training gained from READ USA to work as a paid intern under a certified teacher with City Year.
• University of North Florida’s Dr. Rudy Jamison facilitated a thought-provoking discussion with tutors about future career opportunities: how to leverage your skills and passions to choose your career path, how to chart and pursue that path, and topics to keep in mind as they consider higher education opportunities. You could just feel the young minds in the room abuzz with inspiration for their future!

We cannot say THANK YOU enough to our partners who joined us! Each of you greatly enhance the value that teen tutors derive from READ USA’s Literacy Tutoring program.