Our Programs
Reading Allowed was founded in 2019 by Angela Marks who passionately believes that reading is a social justice issue. There are numerous sobering articles and much research that describe the long-term effects of illiteracy in our society.
Current Programs
- Partner with underserved school and community organizations: We support faculty in screening and identifying students at risk of reading failure and providing small group and individual instruction to those students. Reading Allowed closely monitors the progress of all students to ensure that interventions are appropriate and effective. Reading Allowed works with 150+ low-income students across multiple schools with diverse student populations that have high levels of English Language Learners and nearly all students living in households below the federal poverty line.
- Provide individualized structured literacy tutoring on a sliding scale basis. We utilize a pool of rigorously trained, certified instructors to provide these services. Fees are charged on a sliding scale model based on household income. Under this model, Reading Allowed serves students in the Philadelphia region aged from kindergarten through adult.
- Offer training in structured literacy certification. To date we have funded structured literacy certification for more than 45 individuals for whom this training would otherwise be cost prohibitive. We are broadening and diversifying our pool of instructors to reflect the diversity of students we serve.
Who is Currently Supporting Us
- The William Penn Foundation
- Connelly Foundation
- K-10 Foundation
- HDR Foundation
- Vert Charitable Foundation
- Dollar General Literacy Foundation
- Scholler Foundation
- Patricia Kind Foundation
- Caroline Alexander Buck Foundation
- Corporate and Individual donors
