By 2017 and beyond, 100 percent of students who entered ninth
grade four years earlier in Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento
and Yolo counties will graduate from high school with the
necessary skills to contribute to our regional economy, will be
prepared for life and will be positively engaged in the
community.
The Facts:
Our region’s teachers are some of the best, but they need
additional resources to reach every child – that’s where we come
in.
56 percent of fourth grade students in our region do not read
at grade level.
Graduation rates in four of our five counties have declined
an average of 5.3 percent in the last three years.
Dropouts earn $15,000 less each year than high school
graduates, and four out of 10 young adults lacking a high school
diploma receive government assistance.
70 percent of inmates in American prisons cannot read above a
fourth grade level.
Children entering school who have not developed basic
literacy skills are three to four times more likely to drop out
in later years.
United Way’s Project
STAR Readers is preparing children at a young age to ensure they
have the skills needed to be successful in school. Up through
third grade, children are learning to read. From fourth grade on,
they are reading to learn. We are working to ensure all children
are reading at grade level by fourth grade, so they have a solid
foundation for high school.
United Way’s partners:
Amador-Tuolumne Community Resources
Boys & Girls Club of Auburn
Boys & Girls Club of El Dorado County
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Sacramento
Davis Bridge Foundation
New Morning Youth and Family Services
Sacramento Children’s Home
Sacramento Chinese Community Center
If you are interested in joining the group of volunteers on
the Education Impact Council that oversee this project,
contact impact@uwccr.org.
Jacqueline has always been a shining example – enthusiastic,
outgoing, well-behaved and completes her assignments. But the
third-grader at Maple Elementary School in South Sacramento
struggled with reading fluency and comprehension in a
predominantly Spanish-speaking family living in a low-income
neighborhood.
A Starry Night with STAR readers featured authors from our book
selection for a fun storytelling event complete with milk and
cookies. Paper stars decorated by our 615 kids in the STAR
Readers program lined the children’s book area. (These stars were
later mailed to donors as token of our appreciation.)
I can’t believe it! We held our first United Way STAR
Readers Book Drive and it was a huge success. People
throughout the region donated over 600 brand new books so that
every child (all 615 of them) in our STAR Readers project would
be able to take a book home to read. This project focuses on
helping children read at grade level by fourth grade so they are
more likely to graduate high school.
WOW! Our first STAR Readers Book Drive was a grand success with a
collection of 615 books! Thanks to a final large donation we have
helped local kids reach for the stars! We are so excited and
grateful for the generosity of everyone.
Thank you to our wonderful partners! Barnes & Noble,
Sacramento Bee and Sacramento Public Library. You have each
played a significant role in this success.
The drive benefited United Way’s STAR Readers project that is
helping children across the capital region read at grade level by
fourth grade so they will be more likely to graduate high school.
On June 17, nearly 150 guests including teachers,
administrators, nonprofits, community organizations, parents and
concerned citizens from Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and
Yolo counties joined together in Sacramento to learn first-hand
about the Education Collaborative’s vision and goals. The event
was quite a success with speakers giving great insight
into improving the future of education
and breakout groups of students and adults engaging
in discussion topics and tasks.
