Literacy Now will host its fifth annual and largest Houston Reads Day on Friday, February 28, 2025, with over 425 volunteers coming together to support and read to more than 15,000 Pre-K–3rd grade students at 39 Houston area elementary schools. This single-day event is for Houstonians to come together to read to students, support Literacy Now’s critical Reading Intervention program, and bring awareness to the literacy crisis in our city. Collins Elementary School will serve as the “hub” for Houston Reads Day and feature special guest readers from the community. Major event sponsors include Castex Foundation, Phillips66, EIV Capital, CoreWorks, and Vinson &Elkins. This year’s event will feature books by local Houston children’s authors. Some lucky students will have the opportunity to meet the authors as they read to select classrooms. • Pre-K & Kindergarten: The Day I had a Bulldozer by Ashley Wall • 1st & 2nd Grade: Acire’s Journey to Forgiveness Mountain by Erica Henderson • 3rd & 4th Grade: Smitty Tackles Bullying by Wade Smith • 5th Grade: Count on Me by Varsha Bajaj Right now, only 27% of Houston area 3rd graders are reading on grade level. Research shows the correlation between reading difficulties and a variety of adverse outcomes, including serious behavior problems, joblessness, crime, and homelessness. Literacy Now’s mission is to empower children and families through literacy and life skills with a vision to have all students reading at grade level. Literacy Now provides reading readiness and reading intervention programs, parent engagement, and trained volunteer mentors for our Lunch Bunch program – all elements contributing to children's long-term success. They support children and their families throughout Houston with our overarching goal to empower students to read at grade level, thereby increasing the likelihood that children will graduate from high school and be ready to pursue post-secondary goals. Literacy Now has empowered more than 26,000 children and their parents, and our impact continues to grow. Despite these accomplishments, we are currently serving less than 23% of the projected children who desperately need our program.
