Partnerships

The Reading Center’s mission is to serve the needs of people affected by dyslexia.  Our motto is “Literacy for All,” and as such, we care passionately that all students receive good literacy instruction as the foundation of education.  We know that dyslexia is an equal opportunity learning disability, affecting about 1:5 people regardless of race, income level or geography.  Students of color are negatively affected by the achievement gap. Having dyslexia exacerbates that gap, and The Reading Center seeks to get more of its high quality reading instruction to a broader population of students.

In partnership with many fantastic organizations throughout Minnesota, we are serving students in need of remedial reading instruction throughout Minnesota. With the help of our generous donors and philanthropic partners, our list of partnerships is growing.

Urban Ventures

In 2020, The Reading Center and Urban Ventures (UV) began an exciting new partnership to serve at risk and dyslexic students of color in urban Minneapolis.  

UV is located just south of downtown Minneapolis. Most of the students and families served are Hispanic and Black. An important element of its programming is literacy instruction and many UV students are reading under grade level.  This partnership will help more UV students bridge the gap and gain critical reading skills.   

To find out more about Urban Ventures, visit their website here.

School Partnerships

The Reading Center cooperates with schools to bring their highly trained OG tutors into the schools to provide free tutoring to students who are identified as needing extra help to catch up in their reading skills.  This OG tutoring is barrier free to students due to the generosity of donors. The Reading Center is currently working in the following public schools:

Journey School - St. Paul, MN * College Prep Elementary - St. Paul, MN * Gage Elementary - Rochester, MN

Jeremiah Program

The Reading Center brings its unique reading readiness programming directly to the kindergarten aged students at Jeremiah Program Rochester, helping them begin 1st grade ready to read with knowledge of the alphabet, phonemes and print concepts.  This instruction is free and provided on-site due to the generosity of donors.

Reading Champions

Since 2014, the Reading Champions serves children and adults with dyslexia who are unable to pay for testing and tutoring. Volunteer tutors are trained by The Reading Center in our full Basic Orton-Gillingham Training Program, including practicum, at no cost. They then agree to tutor two students over the next two years for free.

Organizations involved in this partnership include the Rochester Public Library, Olmsted County, Hawthorne Adult Literacy, Rochester Boys & Girls Club, and Minnesota Adult & Teen Challenge.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer tutor for this program, or to enroll yourself or your child, please contact Tammy Fritz at the Rochester Public Library at (507) 328-2373 or read@rplmn.org.