A Holistic Partnership Model Built on a Decade of Leadership Support 

New York, NY (March 10, 2022) – Read to Lead announced new support from the New York Life Foundation that will help the edtech nonprofit engage and empower middle school youth nationwide to build their literacy, life, and career skills. 

The New York Life Foundation’s latest grant of $1.5 million over the next two years will enable Read to Lead to expand its community of educators and youth, ensuring that even more young leaders have free access to Read to Lead’s suite of online learning games, curriculum, and resources. 

The contribution continues the Foundation’s legacy of more than a decade of leadership support, including nearly $5 million of philanthropic grants and hundreds of volunteer hours. New York Life employees have engaged in a range of volunteer activities that have advanced Read to Lead’s mission, from building a new and expanded data warehouse to providing notes of encouragement to students learning from home. Likewise, Read to Lead has supported New York Life employees by providing interactive webinars on virtual learning best practices and trends in education that resulted from COVID-19.

“Read to Lead is providing academic and social-emotional support to middle school students nationwide, ensuring they can transition to 9th-grade on-time and on-track in spite of the changing circumstances they continue to face at school and in their communities,” said Marlyn Torres, Senior Program Officer, New York Life Foundation.  “As a longtime partner, we are proud to help the organization leverage its experience in the education technology space to scale its impact at this unique moment.”

The New York Life Foundation’s support comes at a critical time. As the pandemic continues to affect the lives and learning opportunities of middle school youth, Read to Lead will be able to design and deliver learning experiences, features, and solutions that meet the needs of educators and students across the country more quickly and effectively. This includes introducing students to new workplace scenarios where they can apply their literacy and social-emotional learning (SEL) skills and providing teachers with greater insight into their students’ progress and development. 

Read to Lead Board Chair Lewis W. Bernard shared, “The New York Life Foundation’s generous support has made it possible for Read to Lead to expand its reach and work with middle school youth on a national scale. We are especially appreciative of the many ways in which the Foundation has stepped forward to provide additional support at a time when educators and students are facing such significant challenges.”

About Read to Lead  

Read to Lead’s mission is to empower middle school students to develop their literacy, life, and career skills. Our unique model combines scenario-based learning games where students get to “be the boss” in an immersive professional workplace with research-based curriculum. Since our founding in 1992, we have impacted more than one million students nationwide. Learn more at: https://readtolead.org/.