
A Program with a Purpose:
- Positive Male Role Model: Nearly One-fourth (23.7%) of America’s children live in mother-only families.
- Real Men Read volunteers provide a positive male role model to 2nd and 3rd grade students by making 5 visits to the classroom throughout the school year to read a book and engage the students’ interest in reading.
- Books for Children: Two-thirds of America’s children living in poverty have no books at home.
- Each child in the Real Men Read program receives their own books to keep.
- Since the program began in 2009, over 160,000 books have been given to children in Allen County.
- The presence of books in the home has a greater influence on a child’s level of education than does the parent’s income, nationality, or the parent’s level of education.
- Through the 3rd grade, students are learning to read; after 3rd grade they are reading to learn; it is important to engage these students and enforce with them the importance of reading.
- In 2013 22.1% of 3rd grade students in FWCS and EACS did not pass the English/Language Arts portion of the ISTEP and 14.1% did not pass the IREAD exam.
- 89% of teachers agree that the RMR program is a valuable resource to help students build literacy skills.
Application Process:
- Program Application
- Copy of Driver’s License
- Background Check
Training Schedule:
October 8th at 5:30pm OR October 10th at 12:30pm at Big Brothers Big Sisters 2018-19 Reading Dates*
Visits are scheduled for 9 am:
- October 19th
- November 15th
- January 17th
- February 21st
- March 21st
*Visits can be rescheduled with classroom teacher as needed
For more information contact: PROGRAM COORDINATOR Erika Heidinger: 260-456-1600 or Erika.Heidinger@bbbsnei.org