Looking To Volunteer In Retirement? Help Kids Read
In my 30 years at Hewlett Packard, I was proud of what we did to assist the good causes in our communities, from donating printers to encouraging employees to take time off for volunteering. Yet when I began my retirement, I noticed an enormous missed opportunity for corporate retirees — the chance to connect them with the needs for their talents at nonprofits and provide retirees with a sense of purpose.
Why Reading Matters
This observation is why I became a champion of the encore movement, which places corporate retirees (or soon-to-be-retirees) in nonprofits and other social-sector organizations and joined the Encore.org board. My Encore.org experience provided me with the context to understand the importance of Why Reading Matters and What to Do About It, a 2016 report from Business Roundtable (a consortium of CEOs of America’s leading companies).
The issues raised in the report affect far more than “elite” leaders. I believe everyone with a stake in the future — which basically means everyone — has a reason to care about childhood literacy, because basic literacy unlocks knowledge. I also believe strongly that Americans in their 50s and 60s can help kids, themselves and the nation by spending time teaching young children to read.
Why Reading Will Be the Economy’s Magic Bullet
According to the report, reading will be the magic bullet for the U.S. economy in the coming decades. Reading proficiently by Grade 3 is broadly recognized as a predictor of academic success: Children who aren’t competent readers are four times as likely to drop out of high school as their literate peers. Yet only one in three students overall are “proficient” readers. The grim statistics worsen for students of color and those in economically-challenged circumstances: Only one in five black, Hispanic and lower-income students demonstrate reading proficiency by the 4th Grade.
Why Reading Matters sets the issue in concrete, explicit relief: Reading, the report says, is “one of the most commonly and intensively used skills among all types of jobs across the entire U.S. economy,” essential to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) mastery and to “softer skills” like critical analysis and effective communication. But nearly 98{b163ed859cc9a16ba73837184ee02d2cdeccd9aa6dd670f1698634a383290a0c} of CEOs report their companies experience “skills gaps” that undermine success. Economists predict a shortfall of 5 million workers with sufficient post-secondary education and training by 2020.
Volunteering Opportunities to Teach Reading
The Business Roundtable Action Plan offers recommendations for state policy, but I believe that individuals can make a powerful difference to promote reading. Most school districts have volunteer opportunities for literacy tutors; national and regional organizations like AARP Experience Corps, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Jumpstart have years of experience matching tutors with young students — with outstanding results for all.
Read more at Forbes.
