Reading Reform Foundation Honors New York City Councilmember Gale A. Brewer
Reading Reform Foundation of New York, a nonprofit literacy organization now in its 25th year of training teachers to better teach reading, spelling and writing using multisensory phonics-based techniques, honored New York City Councilmember Gale A. Brewer (District 6) at a recent breakfast celebration, for her commitment to education. Reading Reform’s founding trustee Sandra Priest Rose and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer offered congratulatory remarks. Other guests included City Council members Maria del Carmen Arroyo (District 17); Daniel R. Garodnick (District 4); Esther Klein Friedman, director, office of Intervention Services, New York City Department of Education; Martine Guerrier, Brooklyn representative to the Department of Education; New York City public school principals and administrators, and members of the Reading Reform Foundation Board of Trustees, members and teaching consultants.
Reading Reform President Louise Arias read aloud a citation, recognizing Brewer’s “diligence, careful study of a wide range of areas of need, and energetic, hard work as a member of the New York City Council. She is readily available to her constituents in Clinton and on the Upper West Side to whom she listens with thoughtful understanding.” In addition to her City Council work, Brewer has served on over two dozen neighborhood and non-profit boards and has taught urban policy at many colleges. Her interest in education extends from early to higher education.
Sandra Priest Rose briefly described the work of Reading Reform. “We are in 95 classrooms, 21 schools throughout the city,” she said. “What distinguishes us from other literacy organizations is the amount of time we spend with a teacher and a class—twice each week, totaling almost sixty hours over the course of a school year. Plus, we charge only 20% of our costs and knock ourselves out raising the other 80% !”
This year alone, 98 New York teachers were trained by Reading Reform, and 2,700 students benefited from these teachers. As one Manhattan principal observed, “Never before have my students taken such an active role in their learning to read…My only regret is that I did not adopt the program sooner.” Reading Reform’s major fundraiser, honoring Wynton Marsalis and featuring a performance by Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, will take place Thursday, April 26. For more information call (212) 307-7320, or visit www.readingreformny.org.#
